Barbara Ordway, a lifelong member and parish leader, is reluctantly relinquishing her leadership of Education for Ministry (EfM) at St. John’s—the four-year, small-group program of study, discussion, and theological reflection administered through the School of Theology of the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. We are grateful for her leadership and the many contributions she has made to our church life and community over the years!
“Many people have been taught that one must be ordained to be a minister, but our vows at baptism say something different: that all baptized Christians are ministers,” Barbara once explained. “EfM invites the people of God to discern and act in faith through small-group reflection,” bringing the Christian tradition into their experiences of the world and becoming theologically informed, reflective, and articulate seekers of God.
Barbara and a small group of parishioners were led into EfM at St. John’s in 2009. She has led or co-led successive groups, meeting weekly, almost every year since. Putting prayer and reflection into practice, she is also a longtime member of the Altar Guild and the Holy Land Committee and a practitioner of non-violent peace action. After she and her husband adopted two Latvian four-year-olds, she and several other struggling parents founded the Adoption Ministry at St. John’s in 2006 for mutual support; within a few years, 14 families were participating. All this has been done alongside her “real” work as a longtime copy editor at Science, the magazine of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. “I’m a word person,” she confesses.
But Barbara is not retiring! She continues to participate in Wednesday morning Bible Study, and reading will take up much of her time, she said. “I have a zillion books” on theology and spirituality waiting to be read.
“She will definitely be missed,” said Lee Puricelli, the coordinator of EfM programs at the Episcopal Diocese of Washington. “She’s very thoughtful and a really good listener. Definitely kudos to her.”
Anyone interested in the Education for Ministry program may contact Lee Puricelli. The academic program year runs from September through May.
Barbara and the EfM groups have a practice of ending each session with a Collect. Last year they ended with this one, based on a discussion of Jesus’ response to the Syro-Phoenician woman (Mark 7: 26) and to his mother at the wedding in Cana (John 2:1):
Dear God of Grace,
Who is mindful of our needs,
Teach us to respect the dignity of every human being
So that we extend the kingdom of God on Earth.
Amen.
- David Wood
