reframing femininity
“According to the CDC 1 in 3 girls and 1 in 6 boys will experience sexual assault.” Senator Diane Feinstein spoke those words at the opening of the #KavanaughHearing before Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony. I was listening, along with my 12 year old, as we drove towards San Antonio for her orthodontic appointment. I…
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You don’t become a theologian unless you are willing to wrestle with God. Or at least, you don’t become a very good one. Two years into seminary and I see the theologians who serve as my professors aren’t shutting down or containing my doubts; they’re blessing them.
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I am a refugee, just two generations removed. At age 15, my grandfather, Alexis Leon Kolshanov left Wirballen, Lithuania, through Estonia, and boarded a ship for New York. His father insisted he leave for his safety. Something was politically amiss in his homeland, and whispers of “relocation” and “extermination” filled the quiet corners of dark…
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The images contained in the message brought tears to my eyes. The message was titled “Urgent Prayers for Damascus”.
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“Seven women met and attempted to solicit sexual services to an undercover police officer, and all were arrested on charges alleging misdemeanor solicitation.” My throat tightens, and I try to swallow. “It’s our goal to make it harder for these traffickers to operate in Northern Colorado. We want to help victims.” My heart thumps in…
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Red Tent Prayer Warriors Prayer Focus A Lament to Bring an End to Abuse of Women We have just concluded a week in which we heard pieces of stories from the female victims, now survivors, of sexual abuse at the hands of Larry Nassar. (Who received a sentence of 40-175 years in prison.) The stories…
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It is the week when at some level the light of Christ’s birth shines brightly in the dark corners we tend to avoid and compels us to look at them before the New Year begins. We consider how we have lived during the past year and what we hope will be different as the new…
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If I told you how much my life changed when I met my friend and survivor Esperance, you might roll your eyes and tell me you’ve heard that story before. The headline? “Sheltered white woman is shocked into reality after meeting a war survivor in Congo.”
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Thinking back now, I don’t know what I expected. In my mind, mountaintops are noisy places. Wind, weather, rumbling rock, calling birds, not to mention a whole team of women who had just achieved their goal of summiting the tallest freestanding mountain to the world about to shout peace and pray protection for our sisters.
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Here’s a hard truth I’m grappling with lately: dignity for some necessitates dignity for all.
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