{"id":2890,"date":"2014-02-06T06:53:45","date_gmt":"2014-02-06T11:53:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/?p=2890"},"modified":"2014-10-02T11:46:46","modified_gmt":"2014-10-02T16:46:46","slug":"the-rt-rev-howard-gregory-20th-anniversary-of-the-ordination-of-women-in-the-diocese","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/the-rt-rev-howard-gregory-20th-anniversary-of-the-ordination-of-women-in-the-diocese\/","title":{"rendered":"SERMON BY THE RT. REV. HOWARD GREGORY"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>BISHOP OF JAMAICA AND THE CAYMAN ISLANDS ON THE OCCASION OF THE 20<sup>TH<\/sup> ANNIVERSARY OF THE ORDINATION OF WOMEN IN THE DIOCESE\u00a0AT A SERVICE HELD IN THE CHURCH OF ST. MARY THE VIRGIN, MOLYNES ROAD, ON FEBRUARY 6, 2014<\/b><\/p>\n<p>I want to take this opportunity to extend congratulations and best wishes to the female clergy who today are celebrating the 20<sup>th<\/sup> anniversary of the ordination of women to the three-fold order of ministry.\u00a0 I do so on my own behalf, as well as that of my brother bishops, clergy, and members of the laity across the Diocese.\u00a0 We give thanks to God for that pioneering group of ordinands, those who have followed in their footsteps, even as we remember with thanksgiving those who have died in the faith of Christ.<\/p>\n<p>The privilege was mine to preach at the ordination of the first group of women to be made priests almost two years later, Bishop Neville having chosen to preach at the historic ordination to the diaconate.\u00a0 It is for me a privilege to preside at this anniversary service two decades later.<\/p>\n<p>Let us pray.<\/p>\n<p>Almighty God, in every age you have called out men and women to be your faithful servants.\u00a0 We believe you have now called us to join that great company who seek to follow you.\u00a0 Grant unto us today and always a clear vision of your call and strength to fulfill the ministry assigned to us.\u00a0 We pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.<\/p>\n<p>Luke 10:41-42<\/p>\n<p>But the Lord answered her, Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things; one thing is needful, Mary has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her.<\/p>\n<p>Most families at some time or other have the experience of the family member who constantly tries to shirk domestic duties.\u00a0\u00a0 For example:<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 the male sibling who tries to charm his way around his sister(s) in order to get out of domestic responsibilities, rooted in part by that socialization which suggests that it is more appropriate to the female role;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 the sibling who pays the others to do his\/her chores;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 the shirker who always \u201csoon come\u201d but that moment never comes.<\/p>\n<p>To these shirkers today\u2019s gospel may seem to be just up their street \u2013 the kind of text one needs to answer all critics.<\/p>\n<p>Before we arrive at any conclusion as to what is being said here in relation to shirkers, let us explore in more detail the picture we have painted for us in the gospel for today.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>There are two sisters, Mary and Martha who live together (sisters of Lazarus).<\/li>\n<li>With the presence of a guest in the house, namely, Jesus, one sister attends to all of the chores associated with hospitality.\u00a0 The other makes herself available to her guest, perhaps even hoping that she would be served some of the food and drink by her sister in the process as well.<\/li>\n<li>Martha, the busy one protests the imbalance and seeks Jesus\u2019 rebuke of her sister for her apparent neglect and misplaced priority.<\/li>\n<li>Jesus refuses to issue a rebuke and, in fact, affirms the choice which Mary has made.\u00a0 On the surface it seems that Jesus, by his response, is saying that the domestic chores associated with hospitality are not primary at this moment.\u00a0 Here is the perfect answer which every shirker seeks.\u00a0 But this story is about far more than the shirking of responsibilities.\u00a0 In fact, it is not about the shirking of responsibilities at all.\u00a0 So what then is this story in the gospel for today about?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>What is it that Luke wants us to understand in recounting this incident for us?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><b>1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b><b>The story represents an attempt to address the ongoing issue of charity and service versus the practice of the contemplative life and religious discipline.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>From the very early years of the Church\u2019s life, the question of priority in regard to these matters arose.\u00a0 To what extent should such things as the proclamation of the gospel (preaching) and the worship life of the Church take precedence over the exercise of charity, works of mercy, and Christian service?<\/p>\n<p>The issue seems to have been a concern for St. Luke at the time of writing.\u00a0 In the Acts of the Apostles, which is attributed to him as its author, he portrays the appointment of the Seven whom we have often come to call Deacons, as arising out of a need to address the issue.\u00a0 As you should all be aware, when the Church began in the New Testament it was made up of Jews, and the inclusion of gentiles came later as portrayed in the Acts of the Apostles.\u00a0 The issue in this situation centres around the distribution of the alms, relief supplies, to the gentile widows.\u00a0 Some persons were complaining that the distribution was not being done on a fair and equitable basis.\u00a0 We just have to recall the kind of uproar which takes place in this country when it is alleged that the scarce benefits of housing or jobs are not being distributed fairly to people of both sides of the political divide.\u00a0 Indeed, recent utterances from a leading member of Parliament regarding those who \u201cdo not count\u201d when it comes to the distribution of public benefits controlled by elected officials, is of relevance.<\/p>\n<p>The earliest notion of the ordination of women and their involvement in the fulltime ministry of the church in this Diocese involved the separation of these two aspects of the church\u2019s mission and ministry, as the deaconesses were first assigned to the ministry of service, hospitality and charity.\u00a0 They were among the earliest to be involved in what we today call the inner-city &#8211; working in Denham Town, Windward Road, Tower Hill, and right here in Maverley, to name a few.\u00a0 They were involved in the establishment of the Nuttall Memorial Hospital, which was at one time a primary centre for the training of nurses in this country.\u00a0 They were also involved in pioneering work in education, primarily at St. Hugh\u2019s High School and St. Hilda\u2019s Diocesan High School.\u00a0 They also worked with women and children in congregations and communities.\u00a0 Meeting in this Church of St. Mary the Virgin, we cannot but celebrate the ministry of the late Deaconess Alma Hurford in this place and community, even as we recall the memory of the late Rev. Sybil Morris, from the first batch of female ordinands who also served in this congregation.\u00a0 Not to be forgotten was the hospitality which they provided through the Deaconess House, as a place for retreats, and where many of us were first introduced to \u201chigh tea\u201d.\u00a0 They were <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">not<\/span> actively involved in the sacramental ministry of the church or preaching, and were not even allowed to be chalice bearers in those days. As one former deaconess pointed out to me recently, their preaching was not through the pulpit or the spoken word, as it was through acts of charity and compassion.<\/p>\n<p>In the context of conflict in the Acts of the Apostles, an appeal was made to the apostles that they should intervene and perhaps take over the distribution themselves.\u00a0 The decision of the apostles at the time was that <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">neither the proclamation of the gospel nor the distribution of the alms to the widows should be allowed to displace the other.\u00a0 Each has its rightful place<\/span>.\u00a0 To that extent, the ministry of women in the early years in this Diocese was justified as the appropriate complement to the sacramental and pastoral functions exercises by the clergy, who were all male at the time.<\/p>\n<p>This same issue is discussed throughout the New Testament period in terms of the relationship between faith and works.\u00a0 So, for example, James in addressing this issue in his Epistle says in chapter 2:26:<\/p>\n<p>So <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">faith<\/span> apart from <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">works<\/span> is dead.<\/p>\n<p>Here in the gospel it is the same issue which is under consideration.\u00a0 Jesus seems to come down firmly on one side, namely, that represented by Mary.\u00a0 To that extent, it may appear as if Jesus has vindicated one position while rejecting the other.\u00a0 This is a challenge which the Church faces in every age. Many outside of the boundaries of membership of the Church often want to tell the Church what ought to be our priority and what we should be doing.\u00a0 Those who usually see the Church primarily in terms of a service organization indict us for not doing enough of service and charity, and like to emphasize this position when they want to show how the church has failed. So they would encourage us to leave the worship behind and go do outreach in the community.\u00a0 The same response is forthcoming when the church enters into public discussion on issues of morality as it relates to politics and life in the society in general.\u00a0 Let me deposit the notion that there is perhaps a primacy to which Jesus is pointing in the response that he makes to the choices made by Mary and Martha respectively, rather than a pithing of one against the other.\u00a0 <b>Charity and service must emerge out of and be balanced by a contemplative and disciplined religious life (worship), otherwise it runs the risk of losing its focus<\/b>.\u00a0 The primacy does not represent a negation of the one, but a putting into a right perspective and balance of the two.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><b>Perhaps Jesus is pointing to the distortions to which charity may be subjected when pursued as an end in itself, losing sight of its motivation and even some of its humanity.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>a)\u00a0 One of the most distressing experiences is to encounter persons who, out of a desire to be helpful, make a mess of a situation.\u00a0 Consider the case of an informal community which, as it developed, was without running water for many years.\u00a0 They had to find creative ways of accessing water from neighbouring institutions and residents.\u00a0 A neighbouring church got involved and started to advocate with the political leaders and the National Water Commission for running water to be provided for the community.\u00a0 After a number of years water was finally provided.\u00a0 On the occasion when the official launch of this project was taking place, one of the members of the church community got up and made a speech.\u00a0 He said in part, \u201cnow that we have gotten water for you at last, the next project we are going to take on is the light\u201d.\u00a0 At which point a voice was heard from the back of the audience, \u201c A who tell you say we want light dung ya\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Or consider the way in which we sometimes treat the ageing and the elderly.\u00a0 Many of us operate with the adage, \u201conce a man, twice a child\u201d, and proceed to treat our elderly parents and relatives as if they have no right to participate in decision making and in maintaining a sense of selfhood through the retention of a measure of control over their life, all done in the name of charity and care.<\/p>\n<p>At the time Jesus visited Mary and Martha he was facing Jerusalem and the reality of the Cross.\u00a0 Perhaps Jesus was <b>distressed<\/b> and <b>weighed down by what was ahead of him<\/b> \u2013 this very human person wrestling with life\u2019s options with the prospect of conflict, suffering and death.\u00a0 In this state he was visiting familiar friends and a familiar environment before moving on.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps we have experienced the terminally ill person who seeks to visit persons and places of significance as the reality of the shortness of their life hits home.\u00a0 All of us have heard of persons who insist that they want to go to their home or place of birth before they die or even die there, and even some insist that if they die they want to be taken back to the familiar place of birth etc. to be buried.\u00a0 In my experience I have worked with persons who have asked to visit their old family home and family burial plot and just to spend time sitting or sleeping on the tombs of some special deceased family member to whom they were close.\u00a0 The reason for this is that there is a kind of contemplative attitude and aura which seems to absorb the person and his\/her attention and which is lived out among familiar people and places of the past.<\/p>\n<p>It may be that Jesus, in visiting Mary and Martha, was looking for the solace and the companionship which he was accustomed to find in this place and in their company.\u00a0 Somehow Mary picked up the vibes and made herself available, while Martha failed to take note of Jesus\u2019 need in the moment.\u00a0 Perhaps Martha could not handle Jesus in this state.\u00a0 We know from experience that members of the same family handle a crisis or the terminal illness of a member or a death differently.\u00a0 Some say that they can\u2019t deal with the tears and the sadness and so they stay away from such experiences and moments.\u00a0 Perhaps Jesus just needed quiet and a place of reflection and, perhaps this is just what Mary provided.<\/p>\n<p>I know that when we think of the relationship between Mary and Jesus, we generally see it as one in which Jesus is speaking in a didactic mode, teaching Mary something, while she sits as a passive listener.\u00a0 But what if it is not about teaching, but of Jesus pouring out his heart to Mary, a compassionate and caring listener? Perhaps it is not unlike the ministration of women to Jesus in which he was at the receiving end, like the encounter between Jesus and the Syro-phoenecian Woman whose daughter was ill and who had that wonderful engagement of Jesus after he turned down her request for healing her daughter.\u00a0 May I venture to suggest that the outcome of that encounter was that both Jesus and the Woman left that moment with an enlarged world-view.<\/p>\n<p>It is interesting, if not disturbing to think that this happened to one who repeatedly asked of those he healed, \u201cWhat do you want me to do for you?\u201d\u00a0 Now perhaps he did not need to <b>do<\/b> for others but just to have someone to listen to him.\u00a0 Perhaps, in this relationship with Mary, Jesus is affirming that quality with which women are endowed, which allows that sensitivity and compassion which we as men, trapped in cognitive, often miss. One of the things we sometimes seem to forget as we think of the powerful and the famous is that they have some of the same basic human needs which we have.\u00a0 The challenge is to hear and to be responsive to persons in their need, even those who seem to be the strongest and most resourceful, and not be misguided by our agenda of charity.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><b>The anxiety and worry which can contribute to a loss of perspective on what is needful for the moment<\/b>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>We need not attribute any ill motive to Martha. Perhaps she was so delighted to have Jesus at her home that she was going to really lay it on for him.\u00a0 It is so easy for all of us to find ourselves in her position.\u00a0 Consider for a moment, the special occasion when you have family members visiting from abroad, a special visitor has come by, the boss visiting, or even the Rector may be coming by for a visit.\u00a0 Many are the stories of persons who have been invited out to dinner by hosts who want to make the event so special or who miscalcuIate the amount of preparation necessary, that they have some hungry guests who are almost collapsing before the meal in served.\u00a0 No wonder some persons never accept a dinner invitation without taking a bite of something before leaving home.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps Martha lost her sense of perspective by her anxious preoccupation, and may have been better served by a different set of priorities.\u00a0 It is interesting that some biblical scholars in interpreting this saying of Jesus argue that when Jesus said to Martha that \u201cone thing is needful\u201d, he meant that only one dish was needed, not a whole range of things.\u00a0 This to my mind sounds a bit farfetched.\u00a0 Perhaps in this response of Martha we may see a paradigm of life.\u00a0 <b>We can become so anxious and worried about things that are of lesser importance and as a consequence lose our sense of perspective on life.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Our Diocese is currently at a place at which we run the risk of occupying ourselves with the things that are of a routine and maintenance nature and not really critical to our mission and ministry at this time, while losing sight of the bigger picture.\u00a0 We are all aware of the crisis which confronts us as a church with decreasing membership, the ageing of the congregations, diminishing finances, a paucity of vocations to the full-time ordained ministry, and the absence of a significant cohort of young people, to name a few.\u00a0 And yet, the attempt to find solutions and to make significant strategic changes run into constant frustration and opposition, and raises question as to whether we are prepared to take significant steps that will lead to creative changes and forward movement in the life of the church, or whether we defend and retain what we have always known, and the balance with which we are comfortable.\u00a0 A move toward a positive engagement of these challenges will lead to a level of uncertainty and vulnerability concerning the outcome, at least for a while.\u00a0 But if, as we assert, it is God\u2019s Church, then we must at least be prepared to plant the seed and allow God to take care of the growth.<\/p>\n<p>If the distorting effect of anxiety and worry is not to prevail, then we need to work towards a sense of balance in life.\u00a0 Perhaps this was the path chosen by Mary.<\/p>\n<p>St. Gregory of Sinai is cited as saying:<\/p>\n<p>Whoever finds grace finds it by means of faith and zeal\u2026.and not by zeal alone.\u00a0 However painstaking our work, so long as we omit to surrender ourselves to God while performing it, we fail to attract God\u2019s grace, and our efforts build up within us not so much a true spirit of grace but the spirit of a Pharisee.\u00a0 Grace is the soul of struggle.\u00a0 Our efforts will be rightly directed so long as we preserve self-abasement, contrition, fear of God, devotion to him, and the realization of our dependence on divine help.\u00a0 If we are self-satisfied and contended with our efforts, it is a sign that they are not performed in the right way, or that we lack wisdom. (AGP page 220-221)<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><b>The impact of personality factors on our choice of religious expression and the nature of our religious experience, as well as the defining role of a sense of one\u2019s gifts and calling from God<\/b>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>One of the things I learnt early in the process of training as a counselor is that the School or Theory which one uses must somehow be consistent with one\u2019s personality.\u00a0 For example, one of the treatment units to which I was exposed was that concerned with Alcohol and Drug Rehabilitation.\u00a0 This made me deeply aware that there are some approaches to counseling with which I cannot be comfortable.\u00a0 Many such programmes include a lot of confrontation and the ability to be rough and tough with those caught in the grips of an addictive cycle.\u00a0 Additionally, some counselees do not respond very well to some treatment modes which are too aggressive. But, we don\u2019t have to be professional counselors to know this.\u00a0 There are times when we encounter individuals who are facing certain challenges in the home or in the workplace, and we are quick to offer advice \u2013\u201cwhy you don\u2019t just tell off the man and stand up to him\u201d.\u00a0 The truth of the matter is that the person to whom we are giving such advice may never follow through on such advice as it is not their style or way of dealing with situations.<\/p>\n<p>The same principle seems to carry over into people\u2019s religious choices and expressions.\u00a0 Perhaps the story in the gospel for today is at heart about siblings with unique personalities which determine their approach to religion, one being given to <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">the introspective\/contemplative\/interactional approach<\/span>, while the other being given to a mode which is more <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">expressive of works of charity, service, and action<\/span>.\u00a0 Perhaps Jesus saw in Martha\u2019s request to rebuke Mary, a request to negate her uniqueness.\u00a0 Individuals choose their religious expression based not just on theology but on experience and personality needs.\u00a0 So the attempt to change another person\u2019s religion on the basis of religious argument will not necessarily work.\u00a0 In the same way, some persons may never come to our kind of church and we in turn may never see ourselves being a part of their thing.\u00a0 Even within a single denomination, uniqueness of religious expression will be evident.\u00a0 So some people want to have hand clapping and raising of hands during prayers and singing in the Anglican Church, while there are some Anglicans that, if you \u201ckill them dead\u201d, they will never do these things.\u00a0 We need to understand the Church as having a place for all these unique personalities, to see the gospel as affirming of the uniqueness of each person, and not attempt to bring about a system of conformity so as get everyone to fit into the same mold.<\/p>\n<p>But that uniqueness may not just be a feature of personality, but arise out of an awareness of one\u2019s sense of the gifts with which he or she is endowed, and the vocation to which he or she is called.\u00a0 So here in the story we may in fact be looking at two women who are differently gifted.<\/p>\n<p>Traditionally hospitality has been linked with the feminine and the spiritual with the male in patriarchal society, a situation which is still evident in Jewish and Muslim traditions, and in areas of Christianity where headship of the family is attributed to the male and with it the responsibility for being the priest and nurturing the worship and growth of the members of the family.\u00a0 There is a book written by a female theologian by the name of Megan Mckenna and published by Orbis Press, entitled Not Counting Women and Children.\u00a0 It takes its name from the story of the feeding of the five thousand as recorded in St. Matthew 14:21 in which the author, in making his summation of the incident notes that \u201cthose fed were about five thousand men, <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">not counting women and children<\/span>\u201d.\u00a0 McKenna argues that this is another manifestation of patriarchy which discounts the value of women. So Martha\u2019s gifting for hospitality is somehow natural and normal for woman, but what of Mary?\u00a0 It is here that some of the traditional opposition to the ordination of women has been stuck.<\/p>\n<p>Can Mary, the feminine figure be the symbol of the religiously gifted who can minister to others, even as she was present to her Lord?\u00a0 In this regard, it is interesting to note that a certain priest who was vehemently opposed to the ordination of women, had a profound change of heart when he woke up from surgery in another diocese and country in which women were already being ordained, and discovered that the Chaplain who was present by his bedside to minister to him, and with superb pastoral effectiveness, was a female.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><b>5.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b><b>Finally, whatever interpretation we give to this incident, it is clear that Jesus did not negate the one as requested, but affirmed the value of each. <\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><b>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p>I want to suggest that in these two personalities, Martha and Mary we encounter the feminine, not masculine and feminine, and are therefore being challenged to see the complementarity of the hospitality and spiritual ministration and expression in the feminine characters of Mary and Martha.\u00a0 Together they become as it were the corporate feminine personality.\u00a0 To that extent both are appropriate expressions of the feminine, whereas the objection to the ordination of women has been to maintain a dichotomy in this dynamic based on gender.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In the struggle for acceptance of a sense of giftedness and call, this has often created a schizophrenic experience for women who felt that they had to ape masculinity to be accepted or suppress aspects of themselves in order not to rock the boat.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Some few days ago I was at a Consultation in Ghana, and one of the participants was a female clergy from Brazil, a bright and articulate woman, even in English, which is not her first language.\u00a0 She told about attending gathering of the WCC in a country in which women were not ordained and being confronted by a priest who asked her, why do you want to be a man?\u00a0 To which she responded, \u201cI do not want to be a man, I want to be the priest who God has called me to become\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The call to women in ministry, which has been fulfilled over these 20 years, is to bring together in their person these two aspects of Christian mission and ministry, hospitality and spiritual presence and ministration, to the people of God in their person.\u00a0 These two sisters, ministering to Jesus as his face is set toward the Cross, constitute for us the paradigm of the way in which the dichotomies which we have used to exclude women from ministry is invalid, and our way forward must be guided by the giftedness and call of each person to ministry whether male or female.<\/p>\n<p>The inclusion of women in ordained ministry has brought diversity and richness to the life of the church, as it has allowed men and women to bring their complementary gifts and sense of call to enrich the life of the Church. In the image of St. Paul of the Church as a community in which the gifts of all are utilized for the building up of the Body of Christ until we all attain to maturity, the ordination of women in this Diocese has afforded us the opportunity to more fully attain to this vision of the Church as one.<\/p>\n<p>It would be na\u00efve of me to suggest that the struggle for women to realize their call and gifts for ministry is over.\u00a0 There are still issues related to mutual respect, equality, and assignment to pastoral duties which are still to be resolved.\u00a0 I close with the words of the text I used when the first cohort of women were ordained as priests, a text which was as challenging for the Church then as it is for us today, as it speaks to the broadening of the frontiers of understanding of the inclusiveness of God\u2019s love to embrace Jew and gentile, and now male and female alike:<\/p>\n<p>So if God gave them the same gift he gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could stand in God\u2019s way?\u201d<\/p>\n<p><sup>18\u00a0<\/sup>When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, \u201cSo then, even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>AMEN.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BISHOP OF JAMAICA AND THE CAYMAN ISLANDS ON THE OCCASION OF THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ORDINATION OF WOMEN IN THE DIOCESE\u00a0AT A SERVICE HELD IN THE CHURCH OF ST. MARY THE VIRGIN, MOLYNES ROAD, ON FEBRUARY 6, 2014 I want to take this opportunity to extend congratulations and best wishes to the female clergy&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2806,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sermon","ctfw-has-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2890"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2890\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2932,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2890\/revisions\/2932"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}