WHAT WOMEN WANT
In the year 2000 Mel Gibson made a movie with Helen Hunt entitled "What Women Want." It was a story of romance and the reversal of traditional roles. It was also a story about a man who could, because of a fluke accident, hear everything that women were thinking and therefore could know the wants and anticipate their needs. Of course at first he used this unusual gift for all the wrong purposes.
The title “What Women Want however is well suited to this meeting of United Methodist Women.
For it was What women want, which was behind the birth in 1869 of the Methodist Woman's Foreign Mission Society, which later morphed into United Methodist Women -- UMW has been, since 1973, defined officially as the Women's mission organization of the United Methodist Church.
The History of UMW is an adventurous and generous history of response to need. It is a story of women advocating for women who could not advocate for themselves. In a time in our history when women --even in the United States-- had few rights and were considered the property of their husbands, 6 women united and took a stand for women, not themselves, but women they would never meet or know. They may not have thought it at the time, but they initiated a justice movement when they responded to the pleas of two missionary wives on furlough from their work in India. AS the 6 Bostonian Women listened to Mrs. Butler and Mrs. Parker speak about the plight and desperate need of their sisters abroad, they immediately responded with their empathetic and compassionate hearts, not to mention their highly organized, creative and committed spirits. They stepped out of their own somewhat provincial existences and put their hearts, hands and resources to work helping women thousands of miles away in India. They did not see an insurmountable problem set before them; they saw a project that needed to be undertaken immediately. Women in India were dying because they could not receive medical care –they could not be examined, that is by a male doctor. Well, if women in India couldn't receive medical attention when they needed it, because they could not be examined by a male doctor, then the obvious solution was not to change the archaic, sexist, inequitable and unjust thinking of that society, but to provide the women of India with a woman doctor. And, on top of that, since the women of India were not offered an education, provide them with an equal opportunity to become educated so that they could become doctors themselves. Inspired, empathetic and practical, that is the work of women in mission. Those 6 women got together and wrote a constitution, recruited members and organized themselves into the Methodist Woman's Foreign Missionary Society. They raised the funds necessary to send two single women to India -- an educator and a physician -- who would bring not only help and relief, but life opportunities to women whom these Bostonian ladies would quite likely never see. There were few medical schools in the America that allowed women to matriculate, but in the middle of the century a few visionaries had recognized the need for women physicians. Dr. Clara Swain, a Methodist and a graduate of the Female Medical College of Pennsylvania, established in 1850, took on the incredible challenge to be the first woman missionary doctor in India. She gave her whole life to that work. Isabella Thoburn was the educator who took on the mission and started her school in Lucknow, India with 6 girls. What is now Isabella Thoburn College is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year in November.
Today there exists in the city of Lucknow the University of Lucknow which grew out of the Canning College, King George's Medical College and the Isabella Thoburn College which was is known as the very first women's college in all of Asia.
Women in Mission grew with purpose and news of need in other parts of the world. By 1875 Mission work supported by women had expanded to Africa always in response to need. The need was not focused on a necessity to convert heathens to Christianity, but to care for their physical beings and needs so they could rejoice in the goodness of God, whatever name they gave to that deity.
The motivations that inspire women in mission throughout history are many and varied, but they have always been powered by an overarching desire for equanimity and justice, a heart jarring sense of compassion for others, the determination to see right prevail, and a response to need. With all of these personal and collective motives it was their faith in God and the hopeful, responsive nature of their work that brought their hopes and dreams to fruition. This is the legacy of UMW today.
Two incredible biblical women come to mind today. You have all heard their stories before, but it is important for us to remember today that it was their need to be a part of the world, not to be trampled by it that motivated them to reach out and connect with the Son of God.
These women had a need and a want. The woman with the hemorrhage whose story is told in Matthew 9:18-26, Mark 5: 25-34 and Luke 8: 43-48 took power from Jesus.
The Syrophoenician Woman, the woman who was a foreigner and a gentile whose story is told in Matthew 15:21- 28 and Mark 7: 24-30 changed how Jesus related to Gentiles.
Both were courageous women who stepped beyond their fear and their isolation to reach out to opportunity, to recovery, to restoration and healing. They mustered the courage to truly connect with and partner with a compassionate God in order to bring healing to themselves and to another.
What women want is what God requires: To do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with God. Women also want adventure.
Those 6 women in Boston were not seeking adventure when they sat to listen to the two missionary wives who came to tea. But they responded to the story with their hearts and were drawn into an adventure.
Women in Mission today still need to be adventure seekers.
Heart Adventures powered by Empathy
Foreign and Domestic Mission Adventures that require Hands on Outreach and caring.
Learning Adventures: tapping into what is happening in the world around us fuels creativity and inspires the Who, Where, What and Why -- Work.
Justice Adventures: it is the Pursuit of Justice for all the world that is part and parcel of the commandment to love one another even as I have loved you.
I have heard your leaders say, “UMW is in need of renewal.”
Perhaps, it is time to connect once again with what you want: that is what women want, what women need, what the world needs motivates women in mission and inspires women's incredible work.
Let it be an adventure once again. In this business minded world it is hard to remember the days when there are no predictable outcomes. You tried something to see if it worked and if it didn't you tried something else. We get paralyzed by a fear of failure, or the threat of loss of revenue or money, instead of believing that stepping out in faith and taking a risk on behalf of someone else might just solve a problem. One problem at a time, one person at a time, will make a difference. It may not change systems and entire social structures, but as we learned from the pioneers of this movement, who sponsored one woman at a time: one educator grows a University; one woman doctor grew a movement to educate and train female medical doctors all over India.
Caring for one, responding to a need, can start an entire chain of wonderful events. It is important to remember that as vast as the problems are that plague this world, working on one at a time can be enough.
Sometimes it is getting back to basics that spurs new birth. It may be as simple as remembering that you are adventure seekers. Your Adventures of the Heart, are adventures of Caring; they will be Creative; they will be Inspired and as they always have, they will seek Justice. Remember what you want in and for this world and partner with God to renew your joy for mission.
Amen.
Rev. Dr. Amanda J. Burr
September 24, 2011
resources UM Women's webiste and Wikipedia
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