Who Hears the Screams of Women?

A mission program we developed at Glide was a relationship with a school and clinic in one of the largest slums of Nairobi, Kenya. We returned to Kenya every 18 months, bringing new and returning mission team members as our commitment to our friends and their work deepened. We spent much of our time listening to our Kenyan friends share stories about their lives. We were always moved by their resilience and joy in the face of stark poverty and disease.

One story has haunted us every since it was shared. One of the women told us of the sexual violence women faced in the slum. Nighttime rain brought with it fear, because under the cover of rain and darkness, assaults increased. The heavy downpours created a cacophony of clatter as the rain pelted the tin roofs of their homes. This din masked the noise of men using machetes to cut through the corrugated tin walls and muffled the screams of women as they were raped.

The first time it rained while we were there, no one in our team slept. All we could do is think of this story, our dear friends, and the violence they faced.

It is raining in the United States. Who is hearing the screams of women?

Who hears the screams of Native American women?

Across the United States and Canada, Native American women and girls experience a violence at a higher proportion to the general population. There is an epidemic of missing and murdered Native women and girls (MMIWG), yet most go unfound, their cases unsolved. In 2016, there were 5712 reports of MMIWG yet only 116 cases were logged in the Department of Justice data base. The true number of women and girls missing and murdered is unknown. The forces of colonialism, sexism, and racism all conspire to prevent accurate reporting and response. The reality is these are mothers, daughters, aunts, nieces, friends. These are family members whose loved ones live with dreaded, heartbreaking questions.

Who hears the screams of trans women of color?

Trans women of color experience unemployment, homelessness, violence and homicide at alarming rates. Again, the intersections of oppression (racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia) push these women to the margins where they are left vulnerable to exploitation and violence. While alive, society scorned them. In death, scorn and dehumanization often continue to happen, as they are misgendered when brought to a morgue. Identities  disregarded. Humanity ignored.

Who hears the screams of migrant women?

Women who flee violence from Central American countries find that violence often follows them. Many women are sexually assaulted as they journey to sanctuary in the US. Some are kidnapped and sold to sex traffickers. Once at the border, their children are often ripped from their arms and sent to separate ICE facilities. 

Who hears the screams of women who experience abuse in their own homes?

The fact is that many homes look more like battlefields, and women and children are often the most impacted. Some studies show that up to 30% of women experience violence in the home. Three women a day in the US are murdered by intimate partners. Many instances of domestic violence go unreported, as women fear to report because of the threat of more violence, homelessness, or death. 

Who hears the screams of women as our reproductive rights are stripped away?

In recent weeks, there has been an unprecedented attack on women’s reproductive freedom. Several state bills were passed that highly restricted—if not totally denied—access to abortion. Georgia passed a bill outlawing abortion after 6 weeks of conception—before most women even know they are pregnant—and Alabama even removed exceptions due to rape or incest from an anti-abortion bill. There is a steady and focused attempt to overturn Roe v. Wade which provided women the right to safe and legal abortion at a time when abortion is at an all time low. Currently, statistics show that 1 in 4 women have had an abortion. As a pastor, I know women who have struggled with the decision to have an abortion. They did not make the decision lightly but after much discernment and prayer. Making abortion illegal won’t end abortion, for there will still be situations which women will find it impossible to carry a fetus to term. What will happen is that women will turn to unsafe methods and places to have their abortions, and that poor women’s health will be especially impacted.

It is raining hard in Nairobi, on reservation lands, on treks to freedom. It is raining in homes across this country. It is raining hard in Georgia, Alabama, Ohio…women are crying out in pain, in mournful laments, in screams of suffering.

Who will hear?

Perhaps God is Doing a New Thing, Right Before Our Very Eyes

This is a time of tremendous anxiety in our denomination. The fallout from General Conference and the Judicial Council decision continues to roil through The United Methodist Church like seismic aftershocks, each one creating more damage and trauma. Many of our colleges, universities and seminaries are considering disaffiliating with the UMC, unable to live into the discrimination that has been even more deeply codified in our Book of Discipline. Young people are rejecting confirmation, being unwilling to take vows of commitment to the UMC. What has happened to us? What does the future hold for us?

Pastors worry about their future: how will they be able to live out their call to ministry if the church splits? How can they live with integrity if the church doesn’t? Lay and clergy LGBTQ persons feel waves of trauma as the church they love and committed themselves to has rejected them, again and again and again. Lay people decry the ways GC has further alienated their lgbtq loved ones as well as their children and grandchildren—they worry if their churches will have a future if succeeding generations want no part of it. It  seems as if the future of the UMC rests in rigid uniformity and punitive practice, far from the wide expressions of faithfulness that spring out of experiences of God’s generous grace.

Anxiety brings with it suspicion: we wind up projecting our anxiety on anyone doing anything to consider ways to navigate the future. We are torn by paralysis and an aching compulsion to do SOMETHING.

We aren’t the only ones who hold such feelings. Following the resurrection, fear, anxiety and suspicion were in no short supply amongst the disciples following the death of Jesus. They denied knowing him, hid behind closed doors, and refused to believe in the risen Christ even when he was staring them in the face. Time and time again, they were stunned when they encountered the reality of the resurrection.

I believe we are in a similar moment. Perhaps God is doing a new thing, right in our very midst. Do you perceive it?

Prior to General Conference, we in the Mountain Sky Conference (MSC) called together a task force to help our conference prepare for the aftermath of the GC. We thought that either the One Church Plan or the status quo would be the outcome of the February meeting. We were clear we wanted to have plans in place to help conservative pastors and churches know that even if they were a minority voice in the MSC and in the denomination, they would still be valued and have an important place in the expression of Methodism in our conference if they chose to stay. We were not prepared for the adoption of the Traditionalist Plan, which now puts the majority of our MSC churches at odds with the decision made by the GC delegates.

That one task force has turned into seven (Core, Triage, Safe Harbor, New Places for New People, Communications, Fundraising, and Legal) as we look at ways we can maintain the values of the MSC and continue to build strong and vital congregations as we move into the future together. We will be sharing more about these groups and their work, as well as ways you can get involved.

Additionally, we are working with leadership of the Western Jurisdiction. The Western Jurisdiction has long been committed to a church that reflects the diversity found in God’s beloved children and is continuing to explore how we continue to do so in this new era of Methodism. As well, last month Rev. Kent Ingram and I were invited to attend a meeting in Atlanta hosted by Rev. Adam Hamilton. Following that meeting, we were invited to submit nominations to have 10 people from each legacy conference attend an upcoming meeting of 600 United Methodists in Kansas City. Thirty lay and clergy names were submitted. Additional names were self-nominated or nominated by others. From that list, Rev. Hamilton sent out invitations for the meeting. Invitations continue to be sent as space opens up due to responses from folks unable to go. Other members of our conference are attending the UM-Forward meeting in Minneapolis. Still others continue to work with the Wesleyan Covenant Association.

I share these things not to increase anxiety, but to let you know that there are many conversations happening within our annual conference and beyond it. We don’t know what the future holds, but we do know who holds our future.

In these days of anxiety, fear and suspicion, reach out to others. Reach out to your pastor, your conference lay leaders, your district superintendent, your conference staff, and me. Ask your questions. Share how the Spirit has been speaking to you as you ponder the future of our church. Seek to maintain relationships. Consider what faithful witness looks like these days, both within the church (and even more importantly) beyond it.

Stay alert and on the lookout. Even when death feels as if it has the upper hand, God is at work, in a tomb, in our hearts, in our world, and even in our church. Perhaps resurrection is already revealing itself. May God grant us the eyes to see it.