An Apology from the Editor
Dear Wave readers - Last week we shared the happy news about the long standing relationship between Grace Lutheran Church and the Rainbow Partnership. Unfortunately we missed captioning the picture of those pastors in the partnership accurately, neglecting to include Pastor Julie's title. This happened the week after an anti-bias training took place for clergy - emphasizing the importance of lifting up leadership and the voices of those who have been less embraced or even silenced by the church.
I had a phone call with Pastor Julie and was thankful for her grace and understanding. Together we talked about being women in ministry - and how sometimes it's hard for people to remember you're "pastor" and call you that in a church that is ever being made new. I asked her if she would be comfortable with a public apology to use this as a teachable moment and she agreed that would be meaningful.
You may be thinking, “It’s such a little thing - why make such a big deal?” When I had started out in ministry I was twenty-nine years old and a single woman. On my second Sunday ever - I was asked, "Can I call you pastorette?" in a tone that assumed the question was totally appropriate. I responded casually because I was stunned. Through stories of colleagues and my own lived history, I know this kind of casual sexism persists in our church. It doesn’t need to. But little things like missing titles contributes to the dynamic.
The little things are sometimes called “micro-aggressions.” Maybe we don’t even mean them on a conscious level - but they exist. Comments on hair styles, shoe styles, body types, marriage, family, how people would talk about the cost of my benefits - all of that stuff really does begin to collect into a pile of questions about identity and who is truly meant to be a pastor and a leader in the church. Women have been able to be ordained in our denomination and its predecessor bodies for the whole of my life - but that’s not true for everyone - and it’s still new for some. And yet, it’s really not new… (i.e. The Samaritan woman at the well, the women at the cross, at the empty tomb, Mary the mother of Jesus singing her heart out in Luke 2, Tabitha, and so on…)
We could have left it at that but wanted to share the follow up with you, too - because many colleagues caught the error and said something. (Those colleagues that said something were all women, too… and I’m still trying to figure out what to make of that.)
It’s actually a bit of a communal apology. The Wave is edited and isn’t created just by me. It’s curated by a collection of contributors and then it’s really at team approach to get it to the finish line. You may have noticed we’ve been working on shortening articles to get people moved to the website for more content or for reading. That’s intentional. Your time is valuable so the meal should be meat and potatoes… with the salad and all the fixings on the website for those interested in more. So when you have time with the Wave just know - we hope it’s helpful and accurate 100% of the time.
We are grateful and appreciate appropriate feedback and correction when it is called for as we all endeavor to do better. Thank you for your grace, too.
Pastor Jenn Pockat
Associate to the Bishop,
Director for Communications and Community
