Our Book Arrived! There's A Woman In the Pulpit

The RevGals book arrived at my door yesterday afternoon, not too long before I was supposed to leave to prepare and preach for our Saturday evening worship service.  I'll confess, though:  the night before I broke down and bought an e-copy because I couldn't stand it any more.  I had to start reading, even though I had (have) more than enough to do.

I have an essay in this book (I'm not ashamed to admit), but I haven't read as far as my essay yet.  In fact, I have just tonight gotten as far as page 58.  I had tears in my eyes when I finished reading "By Water and the Word," by my friend Jennifer Burns Lewis.  She is my friend from Western Springs:  I even met her once, when were visiting family in Chicago.  In true RevGals fashion, we took pictures of our shoes (many of us blogged anonymously back then).

Some of the women in the book are "virtual" friends:  people whose blogs I have been reading, off and on, from April of 2007 when I created my own blog with the very basic instructions from one of my stepsons:  "Go to www.blogger.com and do whatever they tell you to do."  About a month and a half later, in ignorance of the rules that said you had to be blogging for six months to join the "RevGalBlogPals" blog ring, I requested permission and became a member.  I began to "meet" other women in ministry from other traditions and other areas of the country, learning about their lives and their families and their hobbies, the joys and the struggles of ministry where-ever we were.

So, the book I now hold in my hands is a writing project, and I'm excited about that, but it's also the product of a community.  It is a virtual community which is a real community of support:  we share stories and wisdom and advice; we read each other's thoughts; sometimes we even get a chance to meet in person.

I'm excited and proud to be a small part of this book, which includes so much honesty, so much wisdom, so much diversity.  They are doors left open into our lives, and the lives of our congregations and our families, if you are curious at all.  

Should you read this book?  Yes.
Should you buy this book?  Yes.
Will you laugh?  Will you cry?
I did.

(There's a Woman In the Pulpit is available from Amazon; also check your local bookstores!)