Fifty Flowers

This past Sunday, Diane Eubanks Hill celebrated the 50th anniversary of her ordination by leading in worship at Watts Street Baptist Church, Durham. In May of 1976, while finishing her Clinical Pastoral Education at North Carolina Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem, Diane’s calling to ministry was affirmed and celebrated by the community of faith at Knollwood Baptist Church through ordination.

At the time, even the certificate itself reflected the barriers women in ministry faced: someone changed the wording from “he” to “she” by typing on a tiny piece of paper and very carefully gluing it onto the certificate. What once required correction is now testimony to the faithfulness of women who answered God’s call anyway.

Diane’s family gave the flowers in honor of her special day. There were fifty flowers representing each year of her formal ministry.

I wonder if the sanctuary was big enough to hold the flowers that represent all of the people who have been touched by Diane’s ministry through the years…

We give thanks for Diane, for her ministry, for those who recognized the Spirit at work in her life, and for the generations of women who continue to walk through doors opened by persistence, conviction, and grace.

May we continue to be faithful!

All love,
Leslie