Women’s Spirit in our Church
Gathering 3: Feminist Spirituality
Opening Prayer
Where Can I Go?
Where can I go to find my sacred space?
Everywhere I go I am put here, there,
because I have no control.
Aha, food, glorious food...
Can I find an expression of my spirituality in my cooking
in my home?
Yes, this is my sacred space.
Sometimes I eat the leftovers, as long as I have my sacred space.
I want to dance,
but I am told I’m too sensuous, I’m too fat.
Again I am controlled by a man’s thoughts
and uncontrolled desires.
I commune with God in all things.
I go to church and I look for God in the small glasses of wine
and I see nothing,
but I share in one bowl of rice with my friends
and there I see God alive in the people around me.
I laugh, I cry, I eat from a banquet, I nibble on a little biscuit.
Maybe God is in the fullness and in this emptiness too.
God, you are there in my isolation, my desolation.
God, you are many, you are woman.
I am woman not because I can give birth,
or cook or clean.
I am woman because I am created
in your image.
I know that when I suffer,
You suffer.
When I laugh,
You laugh.
Yes
God, you are all around me.
Fei Taule’ale’ausumai, Aotearoa New Zealand, Of Rolling Waters and
Roaring Wind: A Celebration of the Woman Song. WCC Publications,
Geneva: 2000.
Scripture
The
Inclusive Bible, translated by Priests for Equality and a Project of
the Quixote Center, is the source of the following quote.
Jesus:
“What householder, who has ten silver pieces and loses one, doesn’t
light a lamp and sweep the house in a diligent search until she finds
what she had lost? And when is it found, the householder calls in her
friends and neighbors and says, ‘Rejoice with me! I’ve found the silver
piece I lost.’ I tell you there will be the same kind of joy before the
angels of God over one repentant sinner.”
~ Luke 15: 8-10
Discussion Questions
In
this scripture reading, the householder searches until she finds her
lost coin. She then rejoices over finding her lost gift. How can we
encourage the church to search for the lost gifts of women in ministry?
How do we search for the lost gifts within ourselves?
Jesus
chooses to use imagery common to a woman’s experience during his day.
What might the church do to make itself relevant to women’s lives
today?
Ritual
Sophia
is Wisdom. Sophia is the name given to the feminine embodiment of God
in the Hebrew Scriptures/Old Testament. Ask those gathered to close
their eyes if they feel comfortable and to imagine Sophia’s light and
wisdom flowing through each area of her/his body as it is mentioned in
the following meditation:
Sophia,
you birthed us into being and you cherish every part of our holy
selves. Too often we humans forget how holy we truly are. I invite you
into the sacred temple of my being with your wisdom and light.
Bless my head when I think negative thoughts about myself. (pause)
Bless my shoulders when they carry the burden of other people’s expectations. (pause)
Bless my hands when they seek to embrace unhealthy relationships. (pause)
Bless my heart so that it may find healing from past harm. (pause)
Bless my stomach when I yearn for it to conform to media’s unrealistic body images. (pause)
Bless my feet so that they may walk your paths of healing and justice. (pause)
Bless the fullness of my being, temple of God’s presence. May I care
for my body and see it through the same loving eyes as you do.
Amen.
Closing Prayer
A Prayer for Mother Earth
Blessed are you, O God,
who gave me the gift of life,
of breath, of a divine image in my woman’s body.
Blessed are you, O Gracious and Compassionate Spirit,
who provide wisdom and compassion
to believing women and men,
regardless of color, creed, contexts and choices.
Fill the earth with love and peace, kindness and wholeness.
Fill my midlife years with passion and compassion,
empty my heart of unhealthy emotions
and fill it with energizing ones.
Lead me to the paths of righteousness, openness, justice,
spirituality, sensuality and childlike joy!
Open my eyes to see the needy and the exploited,
and when I see them, to be an advocate for them
and to struggle with them.
Bless my dreams, hopes, passions; bless my body and mind as well.
Bless Mother Earth and all that is within her and around her.
You are Holy, O God,
You are One.
You are beyond me and within me.
Blessed be your name.
You created us human beings, male and female in your image.
As we celebrate life in the midst of life’s uncertainty,
Bless our lives with shalom and genuine security.
We are alive! We are struggling.
We are hoping. We are women in midlife passion,
With fire in our bellies and compassion deep within
we can change the world.
So be it.
Elizabeth S. Tapia, Philippines, Cries of the Spirit: A Celebration of Women’s Spirituality. Beacon Press, Boston: 1991.
