2 days ago

December 7 - Day 13 in 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence

Oh God, we pray for all victims of gender violence.

Be with them as they painfully struggle for equality.

Comfort them and their families.

Hear our pleas for women,

especially those oppressed in countries where women are enslaved and treated as objects, property, mutilated and killed,

just because they are female.

Help us to be instruments of your justice.

We pray for those who are persecuted due to their sexual identity,

sexual orientation and/or gender.

Instill in them the knowledge that they are beloved children,

made in the image of God's goodness.

God, let your love engulf and empower those who are and have been persecuted,

so they may proudly be voices for change.

We pray fervently, that those in power (governing officials as well as our church leaders),

will promote and protect the rights of gender, sexually vulnerable people,

encouraging and enacting laws on their behalf, by calling a halt to abuse,

(be it physical, mental, emotional or spiritual).

Call us all to be advocates on their behalf.

Remind all humanity, that God's love, calls for peace, compassion, justice, and equality.

God embraces diversity in all creation.

Continue to shine your light of compassion in the hearts of the mistreated and oppressed,

calling them to become bright beacons of hope.

*Deaconess Ruth Dyer, Lutheran Diaconal Association* ... See MoreSee Less

7 days ago

December 2 -- 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence

Today's prayer from United Methodist Home Missioner, Louis Porter.

Dear Creator,

Today we send out a special prayer

for those who suffer the effects of gender-based violence.

Help them to heal on the outside as well as on the inside.

We pray for girls and women of all ages, all races and all socio-economic backgrounds.

We pray for those who were born traditionally female

as well as those who discovered their femaleness over time.

Holy One, we pray also for those who cause violence on girls and women,

for they, too, need and deserve prayer, love and understanding.

We pray that you teach their minds and calm their souls

so that they will cease to choose violence and

learn other ways to express what is likely to be their own experience of trauma.

Loving Parent, we thank you for the people who tend to the wounds,

soothe the feelings and provide therapy for those who suffer from gender-based violence.

They are your hands and feet here on Earth.

Finally, we thank you for watching over all of us.

We feel your love. Amen.

*Louis Porter, United Methodist Home Missioner* ... See MoreSee Less

3 days ago

December 6 National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence against Women (Canada)

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On this day, in 1989, 14 young women at Polytechnique Montréal (Quebec, Canada) were murdered in an act of violent misogyny. In Canada, December 6 has been declared The National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women.

You are invited to light one, or six candles, as part of this time of remembering. We mourn over the loss of life and the violence inflicted and remember with gratitude the courage and conviction of those who work for the end of misogyny and hatred.

*(Begin by lighting a candle and sitting for a moment in silence.)*

Womb of Hope

We remember our foremothers

who taught us that to have faith is to have the courage

to lift up the lowly and cast the mighty to the ground.

For them we say,

We remember

*(Sit for a moment of silence, option to light another candle)*

Heart of Brokenness

We remember all those whose lives have ended because of male violence.

We will not forget the fourteen women who were killed in Montreal:

Genevieve Bergeron, Helene Colgan, Nathalie Croteau, Barbara Maria Klucznik, Maryse Laganiere, Maryse Leclair, Anne-Marie Lemay, Sonia Pelletier, Michele Richard, Annie St. Arneault, Annie Turcotte.

For them we say,

We remember

*(Sit for a moment of silence, option to light another candle)*

Embracing Compassion

We remember the women who hold the hurting,

Bind up the wounds of the victimized,

Pick up the pieces of lives lost,

And offer love to heal.

For them we say

We remember

*(Sit for a moment of silence, option to light another candle)*

Voice of Justice

We remember the women who dare to step forward and lead,

who challenge deeply embedded and destructive stereotypes about gender,

who accept the consequences of action with courage.

For them we say,

We remember

*(Sit for a moment of silence, option to light another candle)*

Bearer of Righteousness

We remember all those who

Proclaim life over death,

Hope over fear

And love over hate.

For them we say,

We remember

*(Sit for a moment of silence, option to light another candle)*

Amen

*Caryn Douglas, Diakonia of The United Church of Canada* ... See MoreSee Less