I might be wrong… but I’m pretty sure that this is a LUTHERAN seminary and not a Wiccan circle. If this is indeed a seminary, why was I and quite a few other people subjected to a sermon this morning that was like a New Age blessing rite except with random verses thrown in? The people who read were good readers, but that’s the only praise this “sermon” deserved. L was preaching on a text from Revelation which parallels the Isaiah 55 passage where the prophet calls for all to come. I was expecting a bona fide sermon which might actually say something about God, not a bunch of New Age chanting!!!!

The worship music was good this morning (probably because the person organizing the band wasn’t there). They managed to do the music some justice. (Incidentally, the person who organizes the music this week was being arraigned on trespassing charges. He was arrested at a sit-in at Senator DeWine’s office regarding issues of the School of the Americas and the issues going on in Colombia.) The anthem we did (“Come to the Waters” by John Foley SJ) was really good and I sang soprano to balance things out because we would have had 2 sopranos, 5 altos, and 3 men otherwise.

The benediction was this:
And now as you go, may God go with you.
May she go before you to guide you,
behind you to encourage you,
and beside you to be your friend.
May she go above you to watch over and care for you,
and beneath you to catch you when you fall.
And may she be forever in your heart;
filling you with her peace, her joy, and her love.

The last time I checked, “she” was a gendered pronoun. If we’re forbidden to use “he” because it is a gendered pronoun, shouldn’t the same rules apply to “she”??????? Maybe some people at this seminary have a problem with matriarchy and would prefer not to have it shoved in their face!!! It just seems like there is a double standard: I use “he” and have people jumping down my throat, gossiping about how “un-enlightened” I am, and ripping on me in class; but L can get away with using “she”.

I would have walked out this morning but I’m too much of a coward to stand alone and protest it. I didn’t have my cell phone on me so I couldn’t blame my walking out on that. I basically just said “he” under my breath when all the “she” instances arose and substituted “him” under my breath for “her”.

Why does this irritate me so much? These people actually think this will work in the parish. I wish I could be a fly on the wall during the meeting after her first sermon when her church council objects. When I supply-preached, I asked the pastor what would be appropriate and his response: if you use any pronoun other than “he”, you will lose the congregation and NEVER be invited back again.

How I wish the seminary could actually be in touch with the real world…