A woman’s place

Noaki Schwartz

No matter how often Crystal Bujol read the Bible as a girl, she never

found what she was looking for. So her mother, an assistant pastor, took

it upon herself to spin the tales and in her telling gave Bujol a

connection to her religion.

“Where is God’s wife or sister?” Bujol said, recalling how she felt

reading the Bible as a child. “I wanted to talk to God about ... when he

was going to have a daughter.”

Years later, as a minister, Rev. Bujol found that other women also craved

this same need to belong and see themselves in their religion. The women,

she said, were thirsty.

“The language of ‘God the father’ and ‘he’ is appropriate in [many]

settings,” she said. “But when I look in the mirror I don’t see the

father. God has no gender but the language does.”

In her continuing search for a more personal definition of religion, she

opened a Costa Mesa chapter of a church specifically for women. The First

Woman’s Church--referring to the first woman, believed to be the ancestor

of all humans--has programs focused on nurturing women’s spirits. The

programs range from writing a monthly forgiveness ritual to writing a

women’s Bible.

“My special interest is assisting women in healing and empowering

ourselves,” she said, adding that because women give birth to and nurture

the world, it’s crucial they feel content within themselves.

In the spirit of summer brides, the church held ceremonies for women to

unite their minds and hearts in June. The purpose of this, Bujol

explained, is that people often look to their partners to be their other

half. When the person doesn’t “fill our cup, then we think something is

wrong with them and keep looking for another partner to fill that cup,”

she said.

Participants gave names to their feminine and masculine energy and write

vows. After the ceremony, the women are pronounced whole people and

issued certificates of completion.

“The idea is to have the women pledge to themselves the things they would

pledge to another person,” Bujol said, adding that so many women who

showed up in garlands of flowers and dresses that she ran out of

certificates.

In this same spirit, the church also offers a monthly forgiveness ritual

to cleans the soul, clear the mind and heal the heart. Bujol believes

that by withholding thoughts, experiences and feelings many suffer from

diseases.

This month’s theme is “Amends to Men” and the Sunday service is open to

everyone. Forgiveness can include omen to men, men to men, wives to

husbands and sisters to brothers.

In a further effort to help women gain deeper insight in themselves, on

Thursday Bujol will offer “The Practical Art of Prayer and Meditation.”

The session will include variation on meditative practices and methods of

passionate prayer in an effort to let participants become closer to God.

Following this will be an activity to help people let go of their past.

Men, women and children are invited to burn papers and other unnecessary

items that have piled up in their lives.

“We talk about what ideas are thrown into the fire,” she explained.

Finally, in the hopes that other women aren’t plagued by the same

questions that haunted Bujol as a child when she went looking for herself

in the Bible--she is teaching weekly courses to women on how to write

their own Bible.

“It doesn’t take away from whatever Bible you grew up with and want to

keep,” she said. “I want to help women to become as beautiful and

powerful as they are.”

WHAT: First Woman’s Church Service with Rev. Crystal Bujol

WHEN: “Amends to Men,” 10 a.m. Sunday

“The Practical Art of Prayer and Meditation,” 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday

“Beach Fire for Freedom” 7:30 p.m. Friday in front of The Latest Thing

Monthly woman’s church service, 10 a.m. July 16

WHERE: The Latest Thing, 270 E. 17th St., Costa Mesa

PHONE: (949) 645-6211