Learn More About the Congo -- Pain to Power Tour

Last night, we went to hear the kick off of the "Pain to Power Tour" at the 92nd Street Y in New York City.

Eve Ensler performed a stirring new piece she's written on a teenage girl forced to be a sex slave in the DRC, and then interviewed Dr. Denis Mukwege about the Panzi Hospital and the City of Joy. As devastating as the statistics of brutalization are (over 5 million Congolese killed in the past ten years, over 200,000 women raped), it is always the stories that stay with me.

The story of a young raped teenage woman who wants to grow up to be a nun.

The story of a 14-year-old girl who sees Dr. Mukwege as the only good man she has ever known.

The story of a 20-year-old woman who received a $20 microfinance loan and started a shop, allowing her to save enough money to buy her own land.

Katey Zeh, who works with me at the Religious Institute, and I were able to go back stage at meet Dr. Mukwege, who was so generous and warm about the Congo Sabbath Initiative. It was such an honor to be with both of them.

The tour is going on to California, Atlanta and Washington, D.C. If you are in one of those areas, I urge you to attend. As one person said during the Q&A last night, "I just didn't know."

And once again, please please consider becoming involved in the Congo Sabbath Initiative. My home congregation raised $3600 this weekend for Dr. Mukwege's hospital and the City of Joy. That will pay for 40 women to have operations they desperately need.

You CAN help the women and girls in the Congo. Please get involved.

I Was There In The Room...At the Unitarian Church in Westport

This was our Congo Sabbath weekend at the Unitarian Church in Westport.

We performed The Vagina Monologues, by Eve Ensler, to full houses on Saturday evening and late Sunday afternoon. I preached on Sunday morning at our two services on embodiment, the ways our bodies and souls can be violated, and on how we can heal. I talked about how often the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Scriptures call us to "bind up the broken", but reminded the congregation hat we are all the broken and we all can be the healers.

We read the Religious Institute's responsive reading and prayer for the Congo Sabbath, and showed a short video for V-Day about the Panzi Hospital and the City of Joy.

Through ticket sales and donations, we raised more than $3500 for the women and girls in the Congo at the two performances and during coffee hour.

We CAN be the healers. If you haven't signed up to participate in the Congo Sabbath Initiative, please go to our website and do so. It's easy. We've posted all the material you need.

It was a wonderful, moving, exhilarating weekend. I am so deeply grateful to the fifteen women in our cast, Meg Jones who directed us, Suzanne Sheridan who sang "Not Ready to Be Nice" during the worship services, to Rev. Ed Thompson and the women's choir, to David Vita for his support, and to the Reverends Frank Hall and Margie Allen for sharing their pulpit with me.

Help bring healing to the women of the Congo. Sign up here.

Can You Share This Responsive Reading for the Women of the Congo?

My colleague Katey Zeh has written this lovely responsive reading for congregations to use to pray for the women and the girls of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.


A RESPONSIVE READING FOR THE WOMEN OF THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
Spirit of Compassion, who hears the cries of all those who suffer from war, famine, and violence,

Be with the women of the Congo whose bodies, lives, and families are torn apart by sexual violence.

Spirit of Love, who sees the brutality and mutilation that have become daily realities for the Congolese women,

Bring healing to their bodies, their minds, and their spirits.

Spirit of Justice, who calls us to see, hear, and respond to the injustice and suffering caused by sexual violence,

Embolden us to speak out against those who use rape as a weapon of war.

Spirit of Oneness, who seeks to reconcile all that is broken in this world,

Unify us as we work to bring an end to violence against women and girls around the globe.

Amen.

CAN YOU SIGN UP TO USE IT IN A WORSHIP SERVICE THIS WINTER OR SPRING AND BECOME A PART OF THE CONGO SABBATH INITIATIVE?

Sign up at the Congo Sabbath section of our web site. The responsive reading is available as a reproducible bulletin insert or as a word document. We've also compiled a list of resources on the Congo for people of faith and religious leaders.

I am praying you will become involved.

Please, please join the Congo Sabbath Initiative

The front page of today's New York Time's focuses on the ongoing tragedy of the tin mines in the Congo.

I wish you could have been part of the Religious Institute's conference call on Friday afternoon with V-Day founder and playwright Eve Ensler. Eve has recently returned from the Congo, and shared with us heartbreaking stories of the women who have been terrorized there. In some areas, one out of every two women have been raped, some as young as three months, some as old as eighty. At the Panzi hospital, brave medical personnel work tirelessly to repair women's bodies ripped apart by weapons and machetes. Eve's stories of raped girls who leak urine constantly & raped women who have been rejected by their families were set against the courage that she and others are giving women to speak out and reclaim their lives. We listened in stunned silence as she implored faith communities and faith leaders to become involved to end what she has termed "femicide" in the Congo.

I am asking each of you who are reading this to become involved...and to pass the word on to other people of faith. You can do something to stop rape and violence against the girls in the Congo. We are asking you to be part of our national Congo Sabbath Initiative. Go to this link and sign up for more information about how you can do an adult education session, a sermon, a prayer or responsive reading AND a collection to support these women. Read more about the Stop Rape in the DRC campaign.

Get involved. Spread the word. The women in the DRC are counting on us.

More on Congo Sabbath

Last week, I blogged about our new CONGO SABBATH initiative. We are inviting diverse congregations from across the United States to become involved in supporting the women and girls in the Congo. We invited more than 1800 readers of the Religious Institute's newsletter to sign up for more information, and so far, we have heard from only 30 congregations.

We need YOUR help to make this project that we are doing to support the V-Day's and Unicef's efforts in the Congo a success.

Perhaps I didn't do a good enough job of describing the horror of women's lives in the Congo. Saturday, the New York Times ran this excruciating front page story. Read it at http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/18/world/africa/18congo.html?hp

And then let me know if we can count on you to get involved. Send us an email at info@religiousinstitute.org and we'll send you more information about how your faith community can help.

The women and girls of the Congo are counting on us to stand in solidarity with them.

Support Women and Girls in the Congo -- Announcing the Congo Sabbath Initiative

Over the past ten years hundreds of thousands of women and girls living in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have been victims of brutal sexual violence, leaving them with severe physical ailments such as lesions, traumatic fistuale, and HIV/AIDS. Seven in ten of these women go untreated because of inadequate medical facilities.



I am pleased to let my readers know that today the Religious Institute launched the CONGO SABBATH INITIATIVE to ask congregations to become involved in supporting these women.


We are working to develop a faith-based initiative, to complete the V-Day and UNICEF, on behalf of UN Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict, campaign titled “Stop Raping our Greatest Resource, Power to Women and Girls of the DRC.” This is a global Campaign to increase pressure at all levels to do more to stop rape in the DRC while highlighting the role of women as activists. One result of the Campaign will be the establishment of the City of Joy at the Panzi Hospital in Bukavu—a center for women for women who have survived rape and torture, where they will receive medical treatment, education, leadership training, and a chance to earn income.




To learn how your congregation can get involved, please visit our web site and click on the Congo Sabbath initiative. You could decide to do an education program, raise money for the hospital and the City of Joy, offer a prayer or responsive reading (or a full worship service on violence against women), stage the Vagina Monologues, or post information about how to become involved. There are lots of ways to help a congregation participate.


I'm delighted to report that forty-five nationally recognized religious leaders have joined the Religious Institute in calling congregations to participate in the Congo Sabbath initiative, an effort to involve religious leaders and faith communities in ending violence against women in the DRC. The list includes the leadership of seven denominations and the National Council of Churches of Christ.



They endorsed this statement:


"As faith leaders we are called today to see, hear, and respond to the suffering caused by violence against women. We encourage faith communities to participate in the Congo Sabbath initiative."


Signed:



*Dr. Ellen T. Armour, Director of the Carpenter Program in Religion, Gender, and Sexuality, Vanderbilt Divinity School
*Rev. Steven Baines, Director of Interfaith Outreach, People for the American Way
*Fr. Dr. Luis Barrios, Chair of the Latin American & Latina/o Studies, John Jay College of Criminal Justice-City University of New York (CUNY)
*Rev. Dr. Rita Nakashima Brock, Director, Faith Voices for the Common Good
*Rev. Dr. John Buehrens, Former President, Unitarian Universalist Association
*Rev. Ignacio Castuera, National Chaplain, Planned Parenthood Federation of America
*Rev. Robert Chase, Founding Director, Intersections
*Cyra Choudhury, Executive Director, Foundation for the Advancement of Women in Religion
*Rev. Steve Clapp, President, Christian Community
*Rabbi Sue Levi Elwell, Regional Director, Union for Reform Judaism Pennsylvania Council
*Rev. Dr. Yvette Flunder, Presiding Bishop, The Fellowship
*Rev. Dr. Marie Fortune, Founder and Senior Analyst, FaithTrust Institute
*Rev. Larry Greenfield, Executive Minister, American Baptist Churches of Metro Chicago
*Rev. Debra W. Haffner, Director, Religious Institute
*Ann L. Hanson, Minister for Sexuality Education and Justice, Justice and Witness Ministries of the United Church of Christ
*Rev. Cedric Harmon, Associate Field Director for Religious Outreach, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State
*Dr. Mary E. Hunt, Co-Director, Women’s Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual (WATER)
*Rabbi Steven B. Jacobs, Founder, Progressive Faith Foundation
*Rev. Dr. Serene Jones, President, Union Theological Seminary
*Dr. Musimbi Kanyoro, Director, Population and Reproductive Health Program, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation; Former Secretary General, World Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA)
*Rev. Michael Kinnamon, General Secretary, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA
*Rabbi Dr. Peter S. Knobel, President, Central Conferences of American Rabbis
*Harry Knox, Director of the Religion and Faith Program, Human Rights Campaign
*Rev. Jennifer Kottler, Former Executive Director, Let Justice Roll
*Rev. Peter Laarman, Executive Director, Progressive Christians Uniting
*Rabbi Michael Lerner, Chair, Network of Spiritual Progressives
*Rev. Michael E. Livingston, Executive Director, International Council of Community Churhces; Immediate Past President, National Council of Churches
*Rev. Barry Lynn, Executive Director, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State
*Jon O’Brien, President, Catholics for Choice
*Dr. Mercy Oduyoye, Founder, Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians; Director, Institute of Women in Religion and Culture
*Rev. Troy Plummer, Executive Director, Reconciling Ministries Network
*Dr. Sylvia Rhue, Director of Religious Affairs, National Black Justice Coalition
*Rev. Karen H. Senecal, Clergy Project Manager, Planned Parenthood Federation of America
*Rev. William Sinkford, President, Unitarian Universalist Association
*Rev. Dr. William Stayton, Professor of Sexuality and Religion, Center of Excellence for Sexual Health, Morehouse School of Medicine
*Rev. Ron Stief, Director of Organizing Strategy, Faith in Public Life
*Rev. John H. Thomas, General Minister and President, United Church of Christ
*Rev. Dr. Emilie M. Townes, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, Yale Divinity School
*Rev. Carlton Veazey, President and CEO, Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice
*Rabbi Arthur Waskow, Founder and Director, The Shalom Center
*Loribeth Weinstein, Executive Director, Jewish Women International
*Dr. Traci West, Professor of Ethics and African American Studies, Drew University Theological School
*Rev. Elder Nancy L. Wilson, Moderator, Metropolitan Community Churches
*Rev. James E. Winkler, General Secretary, United Methodist General Board of Church and Society
*Ani Zonneveld, President, Muslims for Progressive Values




*Organizations for identification only
** List in formation



I hope you'll join this important initiative. Click here for more information.



Photo courtesy of Paula Allen/vday.org