Elizabeth Siwo-Okundi
The following is an excerpt from Elizabeth Siwo-Okundi's sermon "Violence Against Women and Girls: Where Is God in 'This'?" that she preached in Andover Chapel in November 2007. The full sermon will be published in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Religion and Abuse.
…Beloved, we have allowed our hearts to harden to the extent that the violence experienced by others evokes no emotion from us. We may think to ourselves "oh, how sad" or "that poor woman" or "that girl should have known better" and then return to whatever it is that we were doing before we were interrupted by the news of yet another woman or girl being violated. Violence against women and girls ought to make each and every one us cry, not only because of the very systems which allow it to happen but also let it go unpunished and unaddressed. We must cry with the women and girls who are suffering from abuse and violence.
We might be the first ones to ever hear the cries of the oppressed. We should honor their courage, by listening to their cries. Yet, many of the voices are never heard. Some never receive the healing space to speak. And still others are silenced, because they never live to even tell their stories. Instead, their stories are told for them through newspapers, television reports, and rumors. And others, we somehow paste their stories together based on facts, evidence, or guesswork.
Tamar never has the opportunity to tell her story. Instead, her story is told for her and remembered through her cries. Through Tamar, we are challenged to listen to the voices of those who are violated, to those who experience pain everyday, to those who are the victims of violence and hatred. No matter how painful it is to hear the cries of Tamar, we are challenged to listen to her…
