2017 – WellSprings Journal

Lament, Gospel, Response

2017 Theological Reflection

Five ordained women come together to lament, confess, celebrate, and ultimately reclaim an embodied and faithful way to move in their professional, spiritual, and personal lives.

Mujer: A Body of Dangerous Memories

2017 Editorial Circle

Rev. Cristian de la Rosa, of the Baltimore-Washington area of the United Methodist Church, takes a critical look at how many of the violent practices and processes that have led to the marginalization of women of color are intrinsically related to the introduction (as Catholicism) and re-introduction (as Protestantism) of Christianity in the Americas.

The Body Re-Members

2017 Highlights

Stephanie Anna Hixon, of the Susquehanna Area of the United Methodist Church, focuses on reconciliation and restoration. She says how the body knows and remembers reminds us that responses to traumatic events, violence, harm, or oppression are matters not experienced solely in cognitive ways.

God in Flesh Is Just Like Me

2017 Younger Voice

Courtney McHill, of the Oregon-Idaho Area of the United Methodist Church, shares how many of her male clergy contemporaries were surprised to hear about some of the challenges that clergywomen still face today, and how she deals with them by remembering that God created her in God’s image, as good and whole, in female flesh.

A Liberating Incarnation: Bodies, Suffering, and the Church

2017 Windows to a Wider Sisterhood

Dr. Hwa-Young Chong, of the Northern Illinois Area of the United Methodist Church, shares how the incarnation of God in human flesh liberates us from all dehumanizing systems and structures of the world, so that we may freely and joyfully participate in creating our world as a more loving, compassionate, and peaceful place to be.

“Come and See Harare”

2017 Windows to a Wider Sisterhood

In 1984, there were only two ordained clergywomen in the Zimbabwe Annual Conference. Today, Africa has more than 300 clergywomen. Beauty Rosebery Maenzanise, of the East Zimbabwe Area of the United Methodist Church, shares the struggles of the Rev. Anne-Grace Chingonzo, one of the first Zimbabwe clergywomen, and her struggle to gain acceptance, and how the words in a dream provided the inspiration to persevere.

The Call of the Wheel and the Loom

2017 The Creating Spirit

Dr. Safiyah Fosua, of the Greater New Jersey Area of the United Methodist Church, shares how a loom and a spinning wheel became God’s instruments to awaken her soul and release her creative spirit.

Oppression and Empowerment of Native Americans

2017 Spinning the Sacred Yarn

Robin Starr Minthorn, of the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference, recounts the oppression Indigenous peoples have faced and explains why it is important to understand the past that lives within the generations of today.

Release to the Captives

2017 Spinning the Sacred Yarn

The Rev. Anita Phillips executive director of the Native American Comprehensive Plan of the United Methodist Church, shares her perspective as a Native American clergywoman on the matter of bodies, oppression, and the Gospel. She responds to the oppression visited upon indigenous people, and particularly Native American women, by proclaiming release to the captives.

2017 - BODIES, OPPRESSION, AND GOSPEL