Galship!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Over at RevGalsBlogPals, the blogging community for women in ministry and those who support women in ministry, we're hosting a July Blog Carnival to celebrate some changes and expansion in the blog site!

 

From the site: This week's blog carnival topic is: What does Galship mean to you? The phrase was originally coined to refer to RevGal Fellowship--all the ways we build community, share our lives, support each other, and have fun. So blog about Galship--have you had an experience of galship in person or online? Has galshipping changed your life or ministry? what's your favorite part of our galship? Or whatever way you understand the question--there are no wrong answers! What does Galship mean to you?

 

The Big One: Support

 

I'm not sure when I connected with RevGals, but the first post I could easily find this afternoon was a Friday Five from August 29, 2008.  Such energy and anticipation and hope in my life, reflected in my answer to the fifth question, and such joy radiating from the answer to the bonus:

 

"5. What will change regarding your work as summer morphs into fall? Are you anticipating or dreading?

Back to seminary, back to spiritual direction program, onward to church internship. Mostly anticipating, but a little apprehensive about my ability to pull off this balancing act for yet another year.

Bonus question: For the gals who are mothers, do you have an interesting story about labor and delivery (LOL)? If you are a guy pal, not a mom, or you choose not to answer the above, is there a song, a book, a play, that says "workplace" to you?

My twin boys were born on Labor Day week-end 24 years ago! Bullet points: overdue, induction over Friday and Saturday, c-section, and by Saturday night I was a nursing mother of two! OR photos show one baby settled peacefully into a satisfied sleep and another baby wide-eyed and frantic about the new turn of events. Nothing much has changed."

 

Four days later one of those twenty-four year olds would die of suicide, and I discovered that, unknown to me, everything had in fact been changing dramatically. When I made the announcement a few days later, 85 condolence comments appeared, most of them from RevGals I did not know.   The friendships which have evolved over the past five years have been a remarkable gift of support and love.

 

Resources

 

The RevGals are my go-to group for all sorts of questions related to ministry.  No matter the issue, someone somewhere has lived it and survived to flourish. 

 

Encouragement

 

Thanks to RevGals, I've gained the confidence to experiment with my approach to ministry, had the opportunity to lead an ecumenical women's retreat, and been published in the Huffington Post.  Thanks to RevGals, we all get to discuss our preaching every single week ~ and we get to read amazing sermons, and play games, and lift one another up in prayer, and be . . .

 

Friends!