LAUSR

In 2011 a McGeachy Senior Scholarship allowed me to research racialized women ordained into ministry in The United Church of Canada. This research involved interviewing those categorized as racialized ordained women ministers. It also involved collecting data through an online survey reaching out to those who could be under this category within this denomination. The findings from both quantitative and qualitative research reveal the intersectionality of race, gender, colonialism, culture, and language as experienced by those in the leadership of the church. This article is an ongoing conversation with the above research, focusing on the identity of the preacher and its implications of postcolonial insights for the practice of preaching. There is a need to engage preaching from postcolonial perspectives, since relatively little has been written on how postcolonial studies might open up discussions in homiletics. My intent here is to probe the pulpit critically and closely examine the intersectionality between colonialism, race, gender, and language when one preaches and reads scripture. I will examine the content and the method of preaching to probe the role of the preacher in relation to the pulpit as a historical site of white colonial memory and patriarchal authority and a gendered space for able bodies followed by an investigation of the language spoken in preaching. My hope is for the pulpit to become a place where postcolonial liturgical feminist leadership is exercised.