Meditation on Ephesians 2:1-10 for Reformation Sunday
Rev. Dr. Karen Crawford
First Presbyterian Church of Smithtown, NY
Oct. 25, 2026
I received a call a couple of weeks ago from the presbytery’s nominating committee. It didn’t come as a surprise that the committee would ask me to serve a second 3-year-term on the Commission of Ministry. But I was tired. And all I could think of was how on earth can I possibly keep on serving in this challenging labor for the vineyard that is the Presbytery of Long Island? When I feel so humbled and often unprepared for the work that we do?
I have been reading a book by Louisa Woosley. Does her name mean anything to you? She wrote and self-published Shall Woman Preach? Or The Question Answered in 1891. She writes in her introduction, “I am not insensible to the criticism to which this little volume may be subjected. I claim no perfection, in either the style or matter of the composition, as I make no pretension to scholarship. My chief aim has been to present biblical truths in such a form that the anxious inquirers after truth may be better able to understand the commands and will of God representing the much disputed question of the ordination of women.”[1]
This uneducated woman was truly ahead of her time. On this day when we recognize and give thanks for the reformers of the Church who led the way to change in faith and practice, it is fitting to tell the story of the first female minister ordained in an American Presbyterian Church. Louisa’s call to ministry was not without opposition and controversy. She wrote her book in the hopes that her readers would “lay aside any preconceived notions and give this investigation an honest hearing.”[2]
Louisa was born in the hills of central Kentucky on March 24, 1862. Her father was a longtime member of a Baptist church and served for many years as its clerk. In 1874 when she was 12, Louisa attended a Baptist revival meeting and was “led by the Spirit to seek the atoning merits of Christ’s blood…When all was laid upon God’s altar,” she says, it pleased the Lord to accept the offering, pardon her offenses, and save from sin and guilt. She had peace with God and was sealed by the Holy Spirit. She was made to rejoice in her salvation.[3] Soon after, she heard God’s call to work in the vineyard, “seeing the harvest was truly plenteous and the laborers few.” But then she talked herself out of answering the call, feeling insufficient in her abilities, being uneducated and young, and the wrong gender. She had never even heard of a “lady preacher” before. “And knowing that there would be opposition,” she says, “I tried to persuade myself that it was not right for women to preach.”[4]
When Louisa was 18, on Feb. 20, 1879, she married Curtis Woosley, a farmer and member of the Macedonia Cumberland Presbyterian Church outside Caneyville, Kentucky. She hoped to persuade Curtis to enter the ministry so she could become a minister’s wife. “This I failed to do,” she says. She sunk into depression, and was stirred to read her Bible carefully, marking all the places where a woman was mentioned. From these notes, she wrote her book, hoping, she says, “to bless the world,” by helping other women decide to “work for the Master.”[5] In the summer of 1883, she finished her reading of the Bible from Genesis through Revelation and like many of the Church reformers in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, she was a changed person upon reading God’s word for herself in her own language. “I was now convinced of the fact that God, being no respecter of persons, had not overlooked the women, but that he had a great work for them to do.” At the same time, she felt, “Woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel.”[6]
With her own unrealized call, her depression deepened. She prayed that the Lord would restore the joy of her salvation and promised to work for God if the Lord would lift her spirits. God did restore her joy, only to have her question her calling, once again. “The people will not hear me,” she argued with God. “And I cannot get any work to go, and my husband will not be willing to let me go.” Then she had two children and more excuses why she shouldn’t follow God’s call—her two children needed all her care and attention. And then her little girl fell gravely ill. The physician told her that her child was beyond the hope of recovery. Heartbroken, she pleaded with God and tried to make a bargain with the Lord. We do that sometimes, don’t we? She promised to preach the gospel if God would heal her child. Miraculously, her daughter was healed. Still, she was unwilling to go. She fell ill and was confined to her room for six months. “Though unable to raise myself in bed,” she says, “I laid myself, my husband, and two dear children upon God’s altar, and with all my heart, I said, ‘Oh Lord, lead me in a plain path, and show me thy way, that I may walk therein.’ By faith I put my hand in his, as he reached out to help me, and thus far he has led me even all the way.’”[7]
Our Ephesians reading today is one that was often quoted during the Reformations of the 15th and 16th centuries. We are different now, the letter says. We have a changed state, a before and after the work of God’s grace. We were dead in our sin and trespasses, and following the passions of the world and the ruler of the air—Satan himself. All of us lived in that fallen state. No one was without sin before “God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.” Who is this God who loved us first, when we were dead in our sins? This is a God who did the work for us that we were unable to do for ourselves.
Here comes the part that spoke to the reformers in the 15th and 16th centuries, “by grace you have been saved through faith,” and even our faith is a gift and not of our own doing. In this changed state, as the people of God who have been forgiven and freed from sin, we still hold ourselves back from living in the full freedom of the redeemed. We hold onto our insecurities and past failures and come up with excuses, like Louisa did. We are busy, we are tired, or the work will be too hard, and we might not be good enough, smart enough, or strong enough to do it.
Well, I did call the presbytery nominating committee chair back. I told her that after serving three years on the Commission for Ministry, I know how challenging and consuming the work can be. And yet I feel a passion to help churches going through pastoral transitions. I feel compassion for flocks without a shepherd. And I have enjoyed getting to know and encourage new ministers in our presbytery, particularly the women, who have unique challenges, especially when they are the first female minister to serve their congregations.
Our church’s nominating committee will soon be seeking out new leadership for our church to begin serving in 2027. You will have an opportunity to nominate other active members to serve as deacons, trustees, and elders. But if you have never served the Lord through a leadership role here or it has been a long time since you served, I pray you will be inspired by the story of Louisa Woosley. Louisa, in her testimony, shares how she held herself back from the full life in Christ that God wanted her to live. She didn’t find peace and joy until she put aside all her excuses and fears and said yes to God’s unique call for her, though it meant she was breaking through a glass ceiling.
Louisa’s chance to preach came on January 1, 1887, when a minister didn’t show at a small Caneyville church. The Session, knowing her deep knowledge of the Bible, asked her to lead worship on New Year’s Day. “And for the first time in life I went to the sacred desk and opened my mouth for God,” she says. “Oh, that was a precious hour—a green spot in my memory. My sky was without a cloud, so happy was I in the discharge of duty. I felt that the days of darkness were past, and that God’s approval rested upon my labors.” In the next four years, she faced strong opposition, which also came from her Baptist father. She persevered and preached 912 sermons in those 4 years, received 2000 professions of faith, and wrote a book arguing that denying women the right to preach also denied the Holy Spirit. In fall 1887, she was received by the Nolin Presbytery as a candidate for ministry in the Cumberland Presbyterian denomination. In November 1888, she was licensed to preach. In November 1889, she was ordained by Nolin Presbytery to the full work of gospel ministry.
But there would continue to be obstacles to overcome. Kentucky Synod denied her election by her presbytery to serve as an alternate delegate to the 1894 General Assembly and essentially revoked her ordination. Nolin Presbytery fought for her and didn’t win. The presbytery was forced to remove her name from the minister rolls. But they didn’t lose, either, for they allowed her to continue as a minister, anyway. Three years later, she was elected to serve as Stated Clerk of Leitchfield Presbytery. She held that office for 25 years. Eventually, her ordination would be restored. She went on to serve as a commissioner to General Assembly three times and was elected moderator to the Kentucky Synod in 1938, when she was 76. Her husband had died in 1930, and she spent the final 20 years of her life with her daughter in Lexington, KY. She went home to be with her Lord in 1952. She was 90 years old.
Dear friends, do you know the works that God wants you to do? You who were created in Christ Jesus for good works that God has ordained? Don’t let your fears or fatigue or insecurities hold you back. The reward is a great peace that surpasses all understanding and a joy that cannot be described in knowing that you are in God’s will and trusting in the Son.
I said yes to the nominating committee to serve another three years on COM, not knowing what God has planned. But knowing that the God who called me to this work, the Lord who created me in Christ for good works, will not fail to strengthen and guide me every step of the way.
Some say that by today’s standards, Louisa Woosley really wasn’t the radical reformer one might assume. “She was very much a product of late nineteenth-century American culture. While her style of life did not reflect the accepted role for women of her day, Louisa continued to exalt motherhood as a worthy vocation for a woman’s life and appealed to woman’s superior moral influence in the home as a reasonable defense of women’s activity in the religious sphere.”[8]
“Mrs. Woosley,” says one tribute, “filled the pulpit with grace and dignity. She was a small, attractive, modestly dressed woman. With her culture, charm and knowledge of the Bible and God’s plans for saving souls she was an inspiration to all who heard her.” In her 50 years of ministry, she preached 6,343 sermons, heard 7,664 professions of faith, and presided over 258 baptisms.[9] During her later years, she preached less and taught more, devoting herself to her Ladies’ Bible Class at First Methodist Church of Lexington. With love and loyalty, she was ever true to her own church.”[10] And in many homes of the nation will be found the little book published by Mrs. Woosley in 1891, “Shall Woman Preach?”
Let us pray. Holy One, we give you thanks for your grace, for loving us while we were dead in our sins and for sending your Son to give his life and to raise us to be alive together with him. Today, on Reformation Sunday, we give thanks for our ancestors who acted courageously and took risks to follow the Spirit and lead Your Church into a better, more faithful and just place. Thank you for your Word, which continues to draw us nearer to you and equip us to do the good works that you have ordained for us. Lord, we ask for strength, unity, and peace for your Church around the world; may all the walls that divide us be brought down. We pray that more leaders would be raised up to preach and minister boldly, and with your grace and love, welcome others warmly into your fold. And finally, Lord, stir us to heed your call without excuses or complaints, for the harvest is plenteous, as Louisa Woosley said, and the laborers are few. In Christ we pray. Amen.
[1] Louisa M. Woosley, Shall Woman Preach or The Question Answered (CA: Frontier Press, 1989 and 2018), 6.
[2] Louisa M. Woosley, Shall Woman Preach? 6.
[3] Louisa M. Woosley, Shall Woman Preach? 96.
[4] Louisa M. Woosley, Shall Woman Preach? 96.
[5] Louisa M. Woosley, Shall Woman Preach? 97.
[6] Louisa M. Woosley, Shall Woman Preach? 97.
[7] Louisa M. Woosley, Shall Woman Preach? 98.
[8] https://www.cumberland.org/hfcpc/minister/woosleyL.htm
[9] https://www.thearda.com/us-religion/history/timelines/entry?etype=5&eid=100
