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Delegates from the World Student Christian Federation and the World Council of Churches leading the Ecumenical Women morning worship at the 57th Commission on the Status of Women.
Delegates from the World Student Christian Federation and the World Council of Churches leading the Ecumenical Women morning worship at the 57th Commission on the Status of Women.
by Mary Button, Ecumenical Women artist and member of the Evangelical Church in America.
The walls of the chapel at the Church Center for the UN have ten banners hanging on them. Each one features a silhouette of a woman who represents the shadowy nature of the unwieldy topic that we’re all gathered here at CSW to address. During our orientation on Saturday each of you was given a sheet of paper with four silhouettes on them and asked to name the women in your lives who live in the shadows because of violence against women and girls. You were asked to list their names and to share what part of their story you would like remembered. On the walk from the Salvation Army to the Church Center you carried these shadow pictures with you then offered them up during our closing service in which we memorialized the daughter of Jephthah.
I have been transcribing the names and stories that were offered during our closing worship on Saturday onto colorful pieces of cloth and weaving them through the shadows. Over the course of two weeks Ecumenical Women will be working to bring gender based violence out of the shadows and each morning during worship you will find a new banner embellished with colorful fabric prayers from the day before. On the baptismal font in the chapel you will find pieces of cloth and markers – please continue to share words and stories with me to help bring color and life to the shadows. Use the materials provided and I’ll integrate it into the banners so that we move from shadow to light together. I’ve also had several women approach me with materials that they’ve collected in the short time that they’ve been here at CSW. Please bring me anything that has inspired you or moved you and we’ll work to incorporate it into these banners that we’re creating together.
Yesterday morning a member of our delegation shared with me a large pack of cards with the names and faces of women who have disappeared from Juarez, Mexico. The murders and disappearances of women in Juarez is a topic that has haunted me since I was an undergraduate. Since 1993 close to 400 women have been murdered in Juarez. But, that number is just a best guess estimate because so many women live on the margins in Juarez. The city lies on the Rio Grande, south of El Paso, Texas and there are a total of 19 maquiladoras in the city. Maquiladora is the Mexican name for factories in a Free Trade Zone where products can be assembled on a duty-free and tariff-free basis. Many of the young women who have been murdered and disappeared in Juarez are women who worked in these factories. Learning about the violence in Juarez motivated my advocacy work as a young woman and put me on the road to this year’s CSW. It was an honor to add the names and faces of women from Juarez on one of our banners, to wrap them in our prayers. I look forward to gathering meaningful materials from many of you and integrating it into the sanctuary artwork.
by Rochelle Rawls-Shaw
Presbyterians from the United States and Aotearoa New Zealand prepared to lead this morning’s Ecumenical Women (EW)’s worship service at the 57th Session of the Commission for the Status of Women (CSW) for over a month.
As we met and got to know each other on conference calls, we shared our nicknames and their origins; we identified our special talents (or talents we wished we had). We shared what friends or family would say to describe us to a complete stranger. Our conversations were a great beginning for a group of women who were blessed and being used to bless others who would gather together for worship.
The EW worship committee who assigned each organization a scripture passage associated with women in the bible and guidelines for worship services during CSW. We received the story of the woman caught in adultery – John 8:2-11. This story became the focus of our liturgy. Exploring the story, we began to experience the Divine Momentum leading us.
The momentum built when we were introduced to Pamela Tankersley from Presbyterian Women of Aotearoa New Zealand. She had prepared a liturgy for International Women’s Day (March 8) based on our scripture and in remembrance of the brutal gang rape that occurred in India on December 16, 2012. She entitled the liturgy, “Laying down the Stones.”
The momentum continued to build as planning members suggestions to the liturgy. A prayer of invocation was added to the call to worship and assignments made to the various parts. Our team included talented singers who would lead congregational songs and a soloist who would sing “Safe Within Your Arms.” Carolyn Winfrey Gillette wrote a new hymn for the service: “Christ Would Not Cast the Judgment Stone.”
We planned that the worship service would involve people who were not even present at the Church Center for the United Nations. Planning team members were invited to bring at least 15-20 stones with them to New York. A planning team member from Puerto Rico had members of her congregation bring stones to church that she brought to CSW.
This morning dawned and we made our final plans. We placed larger stones around the communion table and gathered the stones brought by the planning team members into baskets. As worshippers entered the chapel, each received a stone.
There was something about the stones.
A single red candle was lit. The service began. I strongly felt the Divine Presence.
After scripture had been read, songs had been sung, and words had been said, the worshipping community was invited to bring forth their stones and put them down around the table as symbols to remember the violence that our sisters have endured, to express our intention to put aside our complicity in that violence and to renew
Reflecting on the service, Laetitia Wells observed, “As the women brought their various stones to the table, I was moved during worship when I heard the loud sound of the stones hitting the table. Symbolically I felt that WE were taking a definitive STAND against violence against women and girls. Hearing the loud sound of the stones allowed me to think that we were eradicating the horrors that come with violence against women.” Jill Bolander Cohen commented, “This was a deeply spiritual and moving experience. It was really something watching women and men lay down stones which seemed to release something–something that weighed them down.” Jaime Staehle said, “Working together with women from all generations, walks of life, and places in the world was quite meaningful and really helped the theme of the service blossom.”
There was something about the stones–something special about being able to release some things that have burdened us all our lives. The Divine Momentum presented the opportunity for us to release them during our worship here today. Thanks be to God!
Photos by Andrew Nam Chul Osborne
Nearing the end of our first amazing day of the 57th Commission on the Status of Women at the UN, we absolutely needed to post the following video of a powerful worship experience we had as Ecumenical Women this past Saturday evening.
I believe in the sun even when it’s not shining.
I believe in love even when I don’t feel it.
I believe in God even when God is silent.
This morning a group of young adult delegates to the 57th Commission on the Status of Women led worship on behalf of Ecumenical Women in the Church Center for the United Nations’ Tillman Chapel. The title of the worship service was “Breaking Open the Jar,” which focused on the woman who anointed Jesus’ feet in Mark 14. In sharing the good news of eliminating violence against women and girls, we remember this woman. Check out complete video footage of the service below:
Ecumenical Women will be hosting service in the Tillman Chapel every morning during CSW57 at 8:00am, so be sure to come worship with us if you’re in New York City!
Young Adult delegates related to Ecumenical Women are invited to gather for Contextual Bible Study (Mark 14:3-9) and Worship Planning on Sunday, 3 March. On Monday, 4 March the group will lead morning worship in the Church Center for the United Nations (CCUN) Chapel. This Bible study / worship planning event is coordinated by the Church Women United / National Council of Churches Women’s Ministries young adult delegation and will take place at The Interchurch Center in Manhattan’s Upper Westside neighborhood. It also requires an RSVP by this Thursday to atiemeyer@nccusa.org in order to get into the building.
Event: Contextual Bible Study and Worship Planning
Who: Young Adult participants to CSW from delegations related to Ecumenical Women
When: Sunday, 3 March 3 from 3 pm to 5:30 pm (Gather at 7:30am the following day to practice for worship at CCUN)
Where: The Interchurch Center, 475 Riverside Drive, New York, NY (Enter building at 61 Claremont @ 120th Street, one block west of Broadway)
RSVP REQUIRED: No later than Thursday, 28 February at 12 noon to atiemeyer@nccusa.org.
Check out the video below which features Christine Mangale and Mia Adjali, members of the Ecumenical Women Worship Committee. The video provides a great and concise update of all that we’ve been working on at Ecumenical Women to prepare for CSW57 this past month. We’d love to hear your feedback!
The Ecumenical Women’s worship service at the Commission on the Status of Women on Friday, March 2 focused on the World Day of Prayer. This year’s worship materials were written by women from Malaysia.
Theresa Symons, Executive Director of the Good Shepherd Welfare Centre in Malaysia, provided a Reflection on Malaysia during the Ecumenical Women’s worship that took place in the chapel at the Church Center for the United Nations. She noted the changes and the progress that Malaysia has seen over the past two decades.
She also reflected on the challenges face by the 4 million migrants who have come to Malaysia.
These women migrants do not have a voice, poverty has silenced their right to be heard. My heart aches.
But, she affirms that there is a ray of hope:
I see people braving prison sentences in order that the voices of the helpless are heard. I see people of different races, religions, culture and economic status walk the streets, demanding for fair general elections. I hear people affirming that human rights are women’s rights. I see people helping each other.
She concludes with a vision and a prayer:
May Malaysia be a land where truth, justice, and compassion prevail for all who come to my shores.
Amen!
Watch more videos from the World Day of Prayer Ecumenical Women worship service:
We sang.
We danced.
And Major Susan Naua of Papua New Guinea preached about Shiphrah and Puah’s civil disobedience and our call to work for life.
Thank you Salvation Army for leading worship for Ecumenical Women this morning!
