On the Women Shepherds: A response to those objecting to the new Archbishop of Canterbury

The chair of St. Augustine is the cathedra of the Archbishop of Canterbury. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

Friends, we stand at a threshold that some have spent a lifetime trying to bar. Today, the installation of the first female Archbishop of Canterbury is not merely a change in title or a shift in ecclesiastical furniture. It is a profound recognition of the Spirit’s movement, which has never been confined by the narrow definitions of man.

To those who object, who claim this day violates the order of the Church: Your vision is too small for the God we serve.

We are a people of the Word, yet some use that Word as a shield against progress rather than a lamp for our feet. You point to tradition, but our tradition is one of constant reformation. You point to ancient restrictions, but the Gospel is the story of restrictions being torn down.

In my own Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), we have long understood that the call to lead is not a matter of biology but of grace. When God calls a servant, the Church’s only faithful response is: Get out of the way.

In my own context at our Edgewater Kirk, we have seen this grace in action for the past twenty years. We have been blessed by the leadership of women who were called by God to shepherd us.

We remember the steady hand of the Rev. Dr. Barbara Cathey and the faithful service of the Rev. Amy Pagliarella. Today, we continue that journey with our current pastor, the Rev. Kristin Hutson.

These women did not lead because of a political movement; they led because the Holy Spirit gave them the gifts to do so. To deny their calling would be to deny the very work of God in our own pews.

Consider the words of the Apostle Paul in Galatians 3:28, "There is no longer Jew or Greek; there is no longer slave or free; there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus."

If we are truly one in Christ, then the pulpit and the chair of St. Augustine are open to all whom the Spirit anoints. To suggest otherwise is to suggest that the Sacraments and the Word are somehow diminished by the hands that offer them.

The history of our faith is paved with the courage of women who led when men were silent. From Deborah to Mary Magdalene, the first witness to the Resurrection, God has always chosen the voices that the world sought to quiet.

Today, the Church of England catches up to a truth that the Gospel has shouted since the empty tomb.

Do not be moved by fear or the comfort of the status quo. Instead, be inspired by the breaking of this glass ceiling, seeing it for what it truly is. It is a door being opened by the hand of God.

We celebrate this historic moment not because it is modern, but because it is right. The Church is not a monument to the past. It is a living body, and today, that body breathes deeper and sees more clearly.