Order of Worship for March 14, 2026: The Fruits of Discernment

Call to Worship - Those of you joining us from home are invited to light a candle to welcome the presence of the Holy Spirit

Our Town - Iris Dement - El Dorado

Welcome - Rev. Dr. Mandy McDow

King of Glory - Jesus Culture - El Dorado

Passing of the Peace: Through the act of passing the peace of Christ, we offer our sincere desire to love our neighbor.
You are invited to greet one another in the live stream chat on Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook. 

Lent Book Study: The Way of Discernment

Wednesdays 10:00-11:00 am PT - Class resumes March 11 at 10 am PT.

Zoom link here

In American Methodism in the late 19th century, few women served as preachers and even fewer were ordained as clergy. Anna Oliver was the first woman among the Methodists to graduate from seminary and press the matter of ordination and full clergy rights for women.

Born Vivianna Olivia Snowden, Oliver was well educated. She received a master’s degree from Rutgers Female College, a private women’s seminary, in 1862. Following her graduate studies, she began teaching school in Connecticut and became involved in the temperance movement.

After the Civil War she moved south to be a missionary teacher for Black children in Mississippi. Her time there was brief. When she discovered about a year later that the Mission Board paid male teachers twice as much as female teachers, she resigned in protest. 

She left the South and moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, to continue her studies, this time in art. While there, she felt called to the ministry. While her family was unsupportive, her brother — rector at a prominent Episcopal church in Brooklyn — was especially upset over her decision to pursue the ministry, calling it a public disgrace. In response, to avoid further embarrassment to her family, she changed her name to Anna Oliver.

Oliver attended the Boston University School of Theology, the Methodist seminary in Boston, and in 1876 earned the Bachelor of Divinity, the first woman in America to attain that degree. She was one of four students chosen to address the graduates at graduation.
As a new seminarian with a local preacher’s license granted by the Boston district, Oliver became pastor of a Methodist Episcopal church in Passaic, New Jersey. The congregation was struggling after the stock market crash of 1873.  While there, she collaborated with Amanda Smith, a Black evangelist, for the care of needy children and limits on alcohol sales. The women’s efforts significantly increased the membership of the church in just a year. Despite their success, they were replaced by an ordained male pastor the next year.

News of her success as a woman preacher spread quickly. Oliver received an invitation to deliver a sermon at a meeting of New York Methodist preachers. The Rev. James Monroe Buckley, pastor of a large church in Brooklyn and a strong opponent of women’s rights, argued against allowing her to preach, saying, "I am opposed to inviting any woman to preach before this meeting. If the mother of our Lord were on earth, I should oppose her preaching here." Oliver’s invitation was subsequently withdrawn.

In 1879, Oliver was invited to pastor another struggling congregation, Willoughby Heights in Brooklyn. This church also prospered under her leadership, growing Sunday school and church membership into the hundreds within the year.

In 1880, Oliver petitioned the New England Conference of The Methodist Episcopal Church to approve the ordination of women. She was recommended for ordination as a deacon by the Jamaica Plain District and the alumni association of Boston University School of Theology.

She was not the only woman sponsored for ordination in that conference that year. Anna Howard Shaw was also being put forward. Bishop Edward G. Andrews refused to allow either of them to be presented to the clergy session as candidates because church law did not authorize the ordination of women.

When they asked Bishop Andrews for further explanation and counsel, he advised them to leave the Methodist Episcopal Church if they wanted to continue pursuing their dream. Shaw did just that and later that year was ordained in the Methodist Protestant Church. Oliver took the path of resistance and decided to continue her fight to the highest legislative body of the church, the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

The 1880 General Conference met in Cincinnati. Oliver brought a suitcase full of pamphlets she had created to distribute to the delegates, appealing the decision of the bishop and requesting ordination. In her petition, she explained the sacrifices she made to be in ministry, including losing the esteem and support of friends and family. She addressed the General Conference: “It presses me also, and the Church and myself must decide something. I am so thoroughly convinced that the Lord has laid commands upon me in this direction, that it becomes with me really a question of my own soul’s salvation.”

Despite pleas from her Brooklyn church and several clergy supporters, the General Conference not only refused to make any changes to allow women to be ordained but also revoked the preaching licenses of all women who held them, including Oliver, stating that “the Discipline of the Church does not provide for nor contemplate the licensing of women as local preachers.”

Oliver continued to serve her local church, which referred to her as "The Rev. Anna Oliver," despite her lack of ordination, license, or a regular appointment. However, the church’s finances began to suffer, and it closed three years later. Oliver kept herself in a life of public speaking through her work with the Women's Christian Temperance Union, even as her health began to suffer. She died in 1892.

It took 75 more years before full clergy rights were granted to women. In 1920 the Methodist Episcopal Church granted women the right to be licensed as local preachers, and in 1924 it granted them limited clergy rights as local elders or deacons, but without conference membership. It was not until the 1956 General Conference that women were granted full clergy rights, effective in 1957.

Anna Oliver, a courageous and faithful servant called by God, who bravely and persistently advocated for including the gifts of women in the leadership of the church, continues to be an inspiring example today.

In 1989, the Southern New England Annual Conference apologized for the actions of the 1880 General Conference and granted Anna Oliver and Anna Howard Shaw posthumous clergy membership.

Source: https://www.umc.org/en/content/ask-the-umc-pioneers-in-methodism-anna-oliver

Know Your Rights:

You have constitutional rights:

• DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR if an immigration agent is knocking on the door.

• DO NOT ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS from an immigration agent if they try to talk to you. You have the right to remain silent.

• DO NOT SIGN ANYTHING without first speaking to a lawyer. You have the right to speak with a lawyer.

• If you are outside of your home, ask the agent if you are free to leave and if they say yes, leave calmly.

• GIVE THIS CARD TO THE AGENT. If you are inside of your home, show the card through the window or slide it under the door.

I do not wish to speak with you, answer your questions, or sign or hand you any documents based on my 5th Amendment rights under the United States Constitution.

I do not give you permission to enter my home based on my 4th Amendment rights under the United States Constitution unless you have a warrant to enter, signed by a judge or magistrate with my name on it that you slide under the door.

I do not give you permission to search any of my belongings based on my 4th Amendment rights.

I choose to exercise my constitutional rights.

These cards are available to citizens and noncitizens alike.

The Winter Shelter Program is held annually to protect people experiencing homelessness during Los Angeles's colder months. Winter Shelters are located all across the County, and will be operating 24 hours a day.

People in need of transportation should go to 211la.org and use the chat feature to request a ride.

For any inquiries, please email wintershelter@lahsa.org

CALL TO PRAYER: Teach Your Children - Graham Nash - El Dorado

Joys and Concerns: Prayers of the People We believe that the best way to bear our burdens is to share them with one another. You welcome to share your joys and concerns so that our community can hold these things in our hearts as we lift them to God together. 

You are invited to share your prayers in the Facebook Live Chat, or on the YouTube Live chat.

Epistle Lesson: Galatians 516-18, 22-26: NRSV

Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law.

The Fruit of the Spirit

By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. And those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, competing against one another, envying one another.

One: This is the word of God for us, the People of God.
All: Thanks be to God!

SERMON: The Fruits of Discernment - Rev. Dr. Mandy McDow, preaching

HOLY COMMUNION

Invitation to the Table: As we understand the Body of Christ to be inclusive, we understand God’s table of grace and fellowship can extend into our homes. As you’re able, bring your own elements to this time.
Bread, Juice, Coffee, Muffins… the Body of Christ is comprised of wonder and mystery. Today, we celebrate that God can reach us where we are, even if we are not together.

The Great Mystery of our Faith
All: Christ has died
Christ is risen. 
Christ will come again.

The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name, 
thy kingdom come, thy 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 evil. 

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, 
for ever and ever. Amen.

CLOSING: Say So - Israel Houghton & Michael Gungor - El Dorado
Benediction

And remember:
God is with you,
God is for you, 
God refuses to be God without you. 
And may all of God’s people say: Amen!

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