As International Women’s Day was on March 8th, I’d like to take this space to honor women whose lives have been a fine witness to the Christian faith over the years and have touched so many with their lives. Everyone of faith knows a story and a person who is or was a strong faithful witness and who handed down faith in Jesus Christ to them.
For me, such a witness was Viola “Vi” Vick, a Sunday school teacher in a very small Presbyterian church in which I grew up in Westbrook, Minnesota. Vi knew her Bible, and more than that, she desired to share her deep knowledge of scripture through stories. She particularly liked the great stories of the Old Testament. I was her 4th grade student, and there were no other students in my class nor in the 3rd and 5th grades. It was just Vi and me during those hours on Sunday mornings. I had her knowledge all to myself. She also, in her quiet way, taught me to be patient, to be of devotion (she never missed a class and was always prepared with her lesson), and she possessed a kind demeanor. Vi’s impact on who I am, especially as a pastor, rings strongly today.
For all of you who go about common, dedicated ministry each day, whether in lay service or professionally, remember that your devotion and actions and witness do count. Vi, Beulah, Marilyn, Dolly, and my mother led the Sunday school in my primary years in that small church. They did so to the glory of God. I saw in them that ministry was work—it didn’t just happen. I saw that there were lay people who also prayed out loud and showed their love of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, besides just seeing this from the pastor.
There is a long lineage and witness of women sharing their faith down through the ages that we read about in the scriptures: From Hannah and Miriam who spoke God’s truths to a people direly in need of hearing them, to Esther and Rahab (yes, Rahab!) who became unexpected heroes of the faith in the Old Testament. During Jesus’s time, Mary and Martha of Bethany showed the strength of listening to and serving Jesus, and Mary Magdalene was the first witness to share that the tomb was empty and that Jesus had been resurrected from the dead. All of these women were powerful in their own roles. And certainly, last but not least, Mary the mother of Jesus was obedient to her son, our Lord, and was faithful in her meekness, humility and patience, and prayerful in aiding Jesus’s disciples. She readily consented to God to be the mother of our Lord, even as it confused and challenged her.
To me, women seem to be the backbone of so many of our churches today. If you have been influenced by the loving hand of a woman of faith, take some time to send them a note to express your gladness that they had such an impact upon you, your values, and your faith. Though Vi is now gone from this life and with her Lord, I am going to write and thank other education leaders who influenced me in childhood. Even the practice of giving thanks first came from them.
