By Carol Copeland, Synod Moderator –
Dear Ones,
As your new Synod of Living Waters moderator, I write to thank for the opportunity to be intensely involved in the work of the Holy Sprit as I have long viewed the Spirit as the part of the Trinity that is feminine. Today I want to share about the work of the Spirit with two clergy women.
These two women come from entirely different backgrounds–one reared in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in rural north Alabama, and the other reared in a city church in Pennsylvania, within 45 minutes of Princeton Seminary. Both heard that they had gifts for the ministry from a male pastor.
The first young woman is the Rev. Dr. Peggy Jean Craig who presently serves a church in Germantown, Tennessee. Peggy is the grandchild of a Japanese woman who married an American GI after WWII. She was reared in Limestone County, Alabama (incidentally where I was born and lived most of my life) by her blonde haired mother who was a teacher and her Asian appearing father who became an attorney and judge in our county. Peggy went off to New York City for undergraduate school and thought she would eventually marry her childhood sweetheart. When that did not work out (Spirit at work) perhaps because she was Asian, or perhaps because she did not attend the strictly conservative Church of Christ as did her sweetheart, she was at loose ends. She found herself wondering what she might do with her life in the business world.
One day she had breakfast with her local pastor and he suggested that she had gifts for the ministry. Immediately overcome with emotion, she began to sob almost hysterically. Picture the Asian girl, just past her teenage years, crying profusely in the McDonald’s in Rogersville, Alabama with an old grey-haired man (forgive me Pastor Pat).
Shortly thereafter, she decided to come home from Nashville, where she was working in high tech, and got a job as a teaching assistant in the church day care. That summer she went on a three-day mission trip to Laos to take supplies to a new church. When the group left for this mission adventure, 50 people from that small church came to the airport to say good-bye.
Moved by this experience she signed up to work for six months at a retreat center for young people in Laos. There she joined students from Laos, Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia and other countries. All spoke their own native languages and worshiped from 5 in the morning until late at night. She drove a supply truck and was very tired by evening worship and often dozed off, even though there was loud, contemporary music in a cacophony of tongues, almost like Pentecost.
One night inside the loud room, she heard a voice coming from somewhere outside of her saying, “Do you love me?” The scripture being read was from the Old Testament and she was confused, remembering Jesus’ repeated questions to Peter in his resurrection appearance on the beach. Even a bit confused, she knew her answer, “Yes Lord, I love you.” Again she heard the voice and again she answered and her journey then took a remarkable course that led her to this moment.
Now a married mother of twin girls and nine years post ordination, Peggy leads the Covenant Church in Germantown, Tennessee. That church is in the process of separating from the Cumberland Presbytery in hopes of joining the PCUSA, in large part due to diversity issues. Even as Germantown is an affluent, primarily white community, the Sprit has led this congregation to answer needs in greater Memphis to establish a food pantry for Spanish speaking immigrants. Even though church members speak a little broken Spanish, they have created a community of people who come for food, bring clothing to share out of their limited resources and spend every Thursday morning sharing with each other. Last Thursday they had about 150 families who came and experienced the hospitality of the church with almost 700 individuals served.
The day that Peggy and I spoke while the families being served were getting their needs met and sharing life together in that safe space, two children got into a fight over a book. Many families in the community do not have any books in their homes, and yet we witnessed two children valuing a book so highly that they would fight for it! What a gift to help children with language and literacy! This summer Peggy Jean will be a featured speaker at the Youth Triennium along with Cecelia Armstrong and Bruce Reyes- Chow.
Next edition, I will share the story of Sara Hill, Parish Associate, First Presbyterian, Nashville.