Grits and the Gospel - July 13, 2025

Hello friends and welcome to this week's episode of Gritzen the Gospel. My name is Reverend Katie Griffiths I'm so excited to be here with you today We are getting back into our sermon series or I mean it's not really Anything that's connected together although the theme is So you don't have to have listened to the other ones to understand The messages and the next few weeks, but We are talking today about Margaret Newton van Kacht and I cannot wait to bring you her story Today it is the fifth Sunday after Pentecost and it is good to be with you Let us come together now on a time of worship the Lord be with you and also with you Today's Old Testament lesson comes from the prophet Joel The second chapter verses 28 through 32 here now the word of the Lord Then afterward I will pour out my spirit on all flesh your sons and Your daughters shall prophesy your old men shall dream dreams and your young men shall see visions Even on the male and female slaves in those days I will pour out my spirit I will show Portance and the heavens and on earth blood and fire and columns of smoke the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape as the Lord has said and among the survivors Shall be those whom the Lord calls the word of God for us the people of God Thanks be to God Let us come together now and remind ourselves of those tenants of our faith friends. What do we believe? I believe in God the Father Almighty Maker of heaven and earth and in Jesus Christ is only Son our Lord who was conceived by the Holy Spirit born of the Virgin Mary Suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead and buried the third day he rose from the dead He ascended into heaven and siteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty From thence shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit the Holy Catholic Church the communion of saints the forgiveness of sins the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting I'm in Let us pray who Lord I come to you today just humbled to be a part of a long line of all of those who are called to the ministry But especially those who have had to stand up and say I am worthy to be called When all around them said that they were not What an example that they give to all of us Be with us today as we hear your word and reflect on it Let us all go out this week and take your word with us to all people Who deserve to hear it Hear us now as we pray those words that your son taught us to pray our Father who art in heaven Hello, be thy name that I kingdom come that will be done on earth as it is in heaven Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from able for that is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever Amen Today's lesson from the epistle comes from the book The letter written to Timothy the first letter by Paul we are in the fourth chapter versus 11 through 16 Here now the words of Paul inspired by the Lord Command and teach these things Let no one despise your youth Let's set the believers an example and speech and conduct and love and faith and purity Until I arrive give attention to the public reading of scripture to exhorting to teaching Do not neglect the gift that is in you Which was given to you through prophecy with the laying on of hands by the council of elders Put these things into practice devote yourself to them so that all may see your progress Take close attention to yourself and to your teaching Continue in these things for in doing this you will save both yourself and your hears The word of God for us the people of God Thanks be to God would you pray with me through Lord? I am so thankful that I am given the words each week be with me as I proclaim these words that the hearer and the listener may be impacted equally But the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable and I cite oh Lord my strength and my Redeemer I'm in I Am a princess I Own it Part of the reason I am such a princess is that I was the first born on both sides of my family being the first has its perks The new has not worn off yet like when the second born comes along I have a fully filled out baby book where my brother does not There are cassette tapes of me singing and reciting my ABCs when I was very young No one cared enough to record my brother Being first it's not a bad gig. I Was totally the favorite until those pesky grandkids came along But being the first at something does not always come with a ticker tape parade and a crown Sometimes being the first is more about breaking barriers and fighting for equality Sometimes being first can be a hard thing to accomplish Sometimes being the first and a woman is even harder Think about little Ruby bridges who integrated the Louisiana school system in 1960 at six years old She had to be escorted by armed guards to school Being the first is not always a cake walk Margaret Newton van Kott was born in the 1830s in New York To an Episcopalian family In the late 1850s she joined the Dwayne Street Methodist Episcopal Church She studied the Westland Methodist traditions and received a call to preach Today to become a method at United Methodist pastor there are many steps for the first is to go before your congregation and your home church The people who know and love you the best and seek their approval When I received my call the first thing I did was sit with Reverend Creed Henshaw Reverend Tommy Martin and Reverend Dr. Marcus trip They were encouraging and kind to the whole process Poor Margaret couldn't get past her own pastor and had to fight for her right to receive and live out her calling from God She fought for that right and told her pastor at Dwayne Street I believe my tongue is my own John and I will use it when I please Where I please and as I please That microphone's in 1850 surely she would have dropped it It took courage to stand up for herself back then It takes courage to stand up for yourself now some days She received a license to lead prayer meetings in September of 1868 But by March 1869 she had been given an official local pastor's license by the New York conference in which she lived Even though it was not ordination she was the first woman to be licensed with this privilege and the Methodist Episcopal Church It was another almost 100 years Before women were given the right to become ordained in 1956 It was another 24 before we had our first female bishop Margaret Marjorie Swank Matthews in 1980 And another four years in 1984 before we had our first female bishop of color with the election of Leotine Kelly And their own ways they each had to do what Margaret Newton Van Cot had to do Stand up and say they were worthy of being called to the life of ministry and leadership in to which they were elected The men and power at the time of Margaret Newton Van Cot especially the preacher of hers That scoundrel John thought they knew better than God They put themselves between God and someone's called the ministry They put up roadblocks and barriers that women like Margaret had to fight to overcome They used scripture to do it too The most infamous is first Corinthians 14 Women keep silent in the church But that's a very limiting view of Paul Another letters he praises women's mission women missionaries preachers and decons like Phoebe Who was one town over from Kaurat He also mentioned others like Julia and Priscilla Jesus valued greatly the women in his life The first person to share the gospel of the resurrection of Christ was Mary Magdalene Making her the first female pastor But it goes even further back than that And the text that was read from the Old Testament prophet Joel we see that sons And daughters will be called to prophesy God can use Anyone he chooses to be his proclaimer of the good news Everyone is made in his image and everyone is a child of God and everyone has a calling To limit God's ability to call people at all no matter who or how is limiting his power. It is a dangerous practice I for one Not brave enough to think that I can limit God in any way Do there need to be ways to make sure that there is a good fit with the nominal standards Sure, I will jump through any hoops that you put in front of me because my call to ministry is personal and real But that should be about specific theology It should be about those things that Paul outlines To young Timothy speech and conduct and love and faith and purity Not about our physical being One of the things I love most about this church was highlighted By the leadership team when we were forming our new mission and vision statements When we were putting together words that we wanted to build our statements around the first word that was used Was inclusive No matter who you are No matter what your background is what your struggles are what your calling is you are Welcome here We will not stand between you and a true call from God All are included at the table all are included in missions and worship and spiritual growth As our signs said how lowly y'all Sally Rod was the first female American astronaut She wasn't the first female into space because we let the Russians beat us The minute NASA had the chance to break that barrier but chose not to Before there was Sally Rod there was a woman named Geraldine or Jerry as she chose to be called Cob Her father was a pilot and from a young age she wanted to be one too She worked hard about the age of 16. She had a pilot's license In 1960 she and 13 other women were admitted to the mercury program at NASA And despite passing every test They were never allowed to go to space and the program was canceled But she kept fighting And part of her letter to President Kennedy she said this I have discussed this matter with Vice President Johnson and Dr. Welsh of your space council As well as many of your country's top space scientists The reaction has been one of general acceptance. Why don't we do it now before Russia The scientific reasons more than justify the cost What are we waiting for are typical of the response That is I'll accept the top echelon of NASA James Webb He appointed me to a consultant to NASA over two years ago but never used my services One man thought he knew better than all the rest He put himself between a woman and her dreams of going to space Without women fighting like Jerry Cobb there would be no Sally Rod Even she saw the need to keep pushing boundaries and limits One of Sally's Best quotes is this we need more young women who are willing to be courageous To speak up to take risk and to keep pushing the boundaries to create a better world Without Margaret Newton Vencott there would have been no Georgia Harkness A Marjorie Swank Matthews Or this Matthew Broad We all have a calling It may not be the pulpit ministry but we all have a call to do some mission in this world While it's easy to look around and see people who are standing between us and God and point out their blocking of our faithful call Sometimes we have to ask the hard question Are we the ones standing between God and others Are we the ones getting in the way of God being able to work the way he wants to in people's lives We all do it We are all human and fall short But the key is that we need to recognize those roadblocks that we are inadvertently putting up for others For ourselves as well And work to remove ourselves from being someone's obstacle When we see those obstacles to faith or find ourselves becoming the obstacle we can remember Margaret Newton Vencott's best piece of advice I believe my tongue is my own John And now we'll use it when I please Where I please And as I please And we can also think about Paul who gets a bad ramp for a few choice versus When he gave young Timothy some words of wisdom He said give attention to the public reading of scripture To exhorting to teaching Do not neglect the gift that is in you Which was given to you through prophecy with the laying of hands of the council of elders put these things into practice Devote yourself to them so that all may see your progress Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching Continue in these things For in doing this you will save both yourself and your ears Margaret Newton Vencott did this with her call to ministry Ruby Bridges did this as she simply walked to school Jerry Cobb and Sally Wright did it in a very male dominated world of other worldly exploration Today, let us all follow Paul's advice and lift each other up As we find our own ways of teaching and witnessing So that we can save both the hearer And ourselves Amen As we get throughout our week, let us look for those ways Where we can remove obstacles for ourselves or for others And where we can recognize ourselves as the obstacle and choose to back away and write God do his own work And life And death And life beyond death God is with us We are not alone Thanks be to God Amen