The story behind the crozier

by the Rt. Rev. Dr. Dorothy Sanders Wells

Yes, there is a story behind my crozier!

Not long after I was elected XI Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi, I happened to see a photo of the Rt. Rev. Ruth Woodliff-Stanley, Bishop of South Carolina (and native Mississippian!), holding a beautiful hand-crafted crozier. That crozier was a gift to her at her ordination, and had been made by a Gullah artist, Thomas Williams. Ruth offered, and I quickly accepted, to present me with a crozier crafted by Mr. Williams.

The date that had been selected for ordination here in Mississippi was the commemoration of four rather extraordinary women: Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Amelia Bloomer, Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman. I asked Ruth if Mr. Williams might incorporate four scriptural women I’d chosen to accompany me on my visitations. The four?

• The Samaritan woman at the well (John’s Gospel), who learned that Jesus not only knew her, but was willing to cross all kinds of humanmade boundaries (religion, gender, ethnicity) to minister to her and her people;
• The Canaanite/Syrophoenician woman (Matthew and Mark), who came to Jesus seeking healing for her daughter – and aptly defended her daughter’s right as one of God’s own to be healed (“Even the dogs get the crumbs under the Master’s table…”);
• the hemorrhaging woman (Matthew, Mark and Luke), who reached out a hand in faith that a single touch of the hem of Jesus’ clothing would result in her healing; and
• Mary Magdalene—the single common witness to the Resurrection recounted by all four Gospel writers.

Mr. Williams incorporated the women into the “stick” perfectly: a hand outstretched to touch the hem of Jesus’ garment, to represent the hemorrhaging woman; a well, to represent the Samaritan woman; a loaf of bread, to represent that insistent Canaanite woman; and a road traveled by Mary Magdalene as she shared the news of the Resurrection.

Mr. Williams remarked that this “stick” was “a sermon in itself.” He’s right.