Traveling Companion

Me and Mary Ellen at Mar Saba in the Judean Wilderness

Traveling companions can make a trip. In Frankfurt, my good friend and pastoral colleague, Mary Ellen Azada, joined me and off to Israel we flew. We had our crazy stories to tell of deeply religious people who could not bear to have their items moved in the overhead bins, a spontaneous synagogue formed in the airport waiting area, and men who refused to speak to, have eye contact with, or stand next to women who are not related to them.

That is not to say Mary Ellen and I don't represent our own form of unusual religious devotion.  We too stand out as pastors - girl pastors!  What might seem normal to us as Presbyterians is highly unusual here.  I can't begin to tell you the confusion I encounter here when I tell people I am a minister.  I will never forget the incredulity of this one Catholic priest in Ramallah who was so sure I could not be a pastor much less a Christian that he insisted on telling me all the details of the Christmas story. It is not much of a leap to think that religious Jews and Muslims would have trouble imagining women in pastoral ministry.

But here we are here in the Holy Land forging our own way on our own terms as we vacation in one of the most religiously fraught places on the planet. I'm glad we have each other to process our observations and insights.  Our friendship was formed through many years of ministry together at the Berkeley Church. Now that we have moved on to other ministries, we get to experience the shared joy of relaxation and fun in the Holy Land. We both wonder where the Spirit will lead us!