[CrimsonTide4]

Female bishop delivers a message
Leader who broke gender barrier talks at AME church

By Kevin Lynch
Tribune staff reporter
Published April 1, 2002

Women's Day in the African Methodist Episcopal Church is an annual opportunity for its female members to lead church services, which have been historically dominated by men.

But that tradition was turned on its head Sunday in Grant AME in the Oakland neighborhood, where the pulpit was turned over to a woman who outranked the pastor.

Rt. Rev. Vashti Murphy McKenzie, who in 2000 was elected the first female bishop of the 215-year-old church, delivered a combined Women's Day/Resurrection Day service to Grant's congregation, which swelled with visitors to roughly 600.

McKenzie used the biblical story of three women who tried to anoint Christ's body after the crucifixion to illustrate how faith can help people advance against seemingly insurmountable odds. When they set out for Christ's tomb, McKenzie said, the women had no idea how they would move the giant stone that sealed its entrance.

"None of these women could power lift," McKenzie said in the sermon. "None of them had the muscles to roll away this stone. None of them had a degree in stone rolling. But they moved forward anyhow. They didn't sit down and waste a lot of time worrying about worst-case scenarios."

When they arrived at the tomb, the stone had already been rolled away, according to the Book of Mark.

McKenzie said the lessons of the ancient story are relevant for women today.

"These women started early, while others were asleep, while others were afraid they'd be crucified if they took on this mission. If you're going to be successful in your career or in anything, you've got to start early and have faith. God will take care of those stones, whatever they are," McKenzie said after the service.

"Don't be afraid to try the thing you're not trained in, that you don't have the degree in, that you don't have experience in. This just may be your opportunity to gain that experience," McKenzie said.

For 18-year-old Tiffany Johnson, meeting McKenzie after the service encouraged her to pursue her dream of becoming a minister.

"I'm almost in awe," Johnson said as she waited in line to have McKenzie autograph a copy of her book, "Not Without a Struggle," which offers leadership strategies for African-American women. "I never thought I would meet a female bishop. To see someone who is female and African-American reach that stature is very inspiring to me," said Johnson, who lives in Frankfort and will begin classes in the fall at the University of Chicago.

Sunday marked McKenzie's first visit to Grant AME. She was serving as pastor at Payne Memorial AME Church in Baltimore in 2000 when she was elected as the national church's first female bishop. Soon after, she was assigned to the church's 18th Episcopal District in southern Africa, where she heads a 200-church network with 10,000 members in Botswana, Swaziland, Mozambique and Lesotho. McKenzie spends about eight months a year in Africa and is in the U.S. to visit family and other AME churches.