Revival 2012 - Day 3

Last day of Revival was awesome. We began with Dr. Amy Oden, who is dean of Wesley Seminary in Washington, DC. She talked about three women not very well known within Christianity.M acrina from 4th century Turkey. She was the oldest of 4 children and was the mentor to two of her brothers, Gregory of Nyssa and Basil the Great. These three people were also the earliest Universalists. She was well educated, especially in science and math, which was quite unusual for women in the 4th century.  Macrina's ideas about theology were very forward thinking. When her brother Basil died, her other brother Gregory of Nyssa had a crises of faith. Her words were written down by her brother Gregory.
Then she talked about Sor Juana Inez de la Cruz. She was a nun in 17th century Mexico.She was the daughter of a Conquistador and a native woman, i.e. illegitimate.  She was not educated fully until she decided to become a nun as she really didn't want to marry someone her father would pick out. She was a poet, playwright and architect. The description of her writing indicates she was very bright. Her thoughts and ideas were not excepted in the Catholic church and she was demoted in her religious community.
The last woman talked about was Jarena Lee. She was an African-American woman born of free parents in 1783 in New Jersey. She had no formal education, but memorized Scripture. She tried to become a licensed African Methodist Episcopal minister, but she was rejected because of her sex. But, nonetheless, she still went out and preached the Good News. She believed that there are essentially two ways of perceiving God - cognitive and experiential. Faith is a process.
Our last speaker of the day was Mary Hunt, who laid out the situation of women in today's religious and secular worlds. It's looks a bit bleak right now. However there is much that is going on that can give one hope that our society will become a better place for women as a whole. Women in the religious realm are still striving to keep their place within it and to expand it, though there seems to be some contraction in their influence at the moment.
After Ms. Hunt spoke, I had my workshop on "Symbols of the Feminine Divine". The technology didn't work, though it did when I had set it up. Oh, well. It was not quite as dynamic as I had hoped, but I hope that the attendees got something out of it.
Finally, we had the closing service, which is the regular Saturday afternoon service at Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Fairfax. It was wonderful. The whole three days were fabulous and I gained some insight into some baggage I carry. Now, I hope to really work on these issues and find a way to leave them behind.