Initially I had planned to use this blog for the sharing of interviews for my 10 Years of Connections Project. After some reflection, I've decided to open up the postings to women who do nothing but inspire me.

Nancy Lee Head is one of those women.

Nancy Lee is a long time member of Church of the Pilgrims and on March 13th, Nancy Lee turned 70 years old. Instead of a birthday party, Nancy Lee wanted to take a step back and mark this milestone in a liturgical celebration. After some creative conversations, Nancy Lee decided to have a croning ceremony. For a long time, to be called a crone was an insult. The very word implied a wrinkled, hunchbacked old woman, unwanted and unloved. Women who had reached an advanced age were dismissed as useless hags, and there was nothing to celebrate about it at all.

Now the word "crone" is being reclaimed as a wise woman and a croning ceremony, for Nancy Lee, was a celebration of the wisdom gained over the years and the continued gift of living with purpose and passion for the world.

Nancy Lee Head was croned in the Bird Room at the Church of the Pilgrims in a ceremony attended by 25 friends. The ceremony included scripture, hymns, prayer, and Nancy’s stories—funny and profound--about her faith journey. In one moment of storytelling, as Nancy Lee was sharing about her "Life as Ministry," she shared of her vision to be ordained in the Presbyterian church in the mid-1970's. Nancy Lee shared that she went as far as to talk with a seminary admissions counselor who told her ordination was out of the question because of these three reasons: 1) her gender; 2) her age (too old or too young at 37?); 3) Nancy Lee's diagnosis of schizophrenia.

Nancy Lee was denied the gift of ordained leadership but Nancy Lee forged ahead, re-interpreting her life, her actions within the realm of sacramental life. Nancy Lee shared that as she washed the back of a friend, a back embedded with lice, Nancy Lee saw the waters of baptism flowing over, caring for and loving her friend. As Nancy Lee served meals at soup kitchens, she saw herself serving the bread of life, the body broken.

For me, Nancy Lee builds community wherever she goes, living a sacramental life, seeing the Earth as a place where all should flourish, grow and be held in deep and loyal love and compassion. Nancy Lee resists those powers that deny life, moving through her days on her scooter with the awesome bumper sticker, "Don't Postpone Joy,"

At the end of Nancy Lee's croning ceremony, attendees read a Litany for a Wise Woman;
which said, in part:

Nancy Lee vowed to be a "Wise Guide" to others, sharing her God-given gift of wisdom with young people, family, friends, community, country, and the planet. She was then crowned a crone with a crown woven from field grasses.

Nancy Lee's croning ceremony teaches me that we should be creating liturgical rituals that celebrate marking points in people's lives: high school graduation, college graduation, loss of a job, divorce, birthing, adoption, grief work....the list is endless of how the church can form life around ritual, moving us to act with a deeper sense of purpose and commitment for the sake of the planet.

I was also so taken by Nancy Lee's storytelling--sharing stories of love, community, humor and vulnerability. It is in our stories that life takes shape, that the Holy is revealed. No other place. No other planet. The connection between storytelling and faith isn't new to me, but Nancy Lee's storytelling took that belief to another depth and dimension.

I hope these croning ceremonies continue to be created and thrive so I can see not only the women on my 10 Years of Connections list be croned but also other women in my life.....Maddie Goff-Glennon, Laura Pippenger, Emily Presley-McGowan, Patricia Massey, MaryAnn McKibben Dana, Mary Ester, Diana Bruce...I hope these companions see themselves as the incarnate of wisdom as life continues to unfold.