Litany of Women's Presence

One: Spirit of life, we remember today the women who throughout time have used the power and gifts you gave them to change the world. We call upon these foremothers.

All: Spirit of life, we remember today the women who throughout time have used the power and gifts you gave them to change the world. We call upon these foremothers to help us discover within ourselves your power and the ways to use it, to bring about your realm of justice and peace.

One: We remember Sarah and Hagar, Rebecca and Rachel, Zilpah and Bilhah, who with their families answered God's call to forsake what was familiar and put their faith in a covenant with the Holy One.

All: We praise their power of faith and courage

One: We remember Shifrah and Puah, disobedient midwives who stood before Pharaoh and were not intimidated, who brought life out of death and laughter out of sorrow.

All: We praise their labor for life, their cleverness in facing the power of death.

One: We remember Deborah and Yael, Esther and Judith, who by acts of courage saved their people.

All: We praise their strength and determination to act for the greater good.

One: We remember Ruth and Naomi who walked in solidarity and achieved a home for themselves and for others after them.

All: We praise their walk together in loyalty and steadfast love.

One: We remember Mary and Martha, Phoebe and Priscilla and other women leaders of the early church.

All: We pray for their power to spread good news and inspire communities

One: We remember Veturia Paulla, Marcella, Simplicia and other Mothers of the Synagogue.

All: We pray for their power of leadership

One: We remember Mother Jones, Katherine Conway, Dorothy Day, Marjorie Tuite, Catholic women who organized, led and laid foundations for the rights of women and workers everywhere.

All: We pray for their persistence and patience in the struggle for justice waged without seeing the fruits of their labor.

One: We remember Anna Julia Cooper, Sojourner Truth, Phillis Wheatley, Mary McLeod Bethune, Ida Wells-Barnett, Rosa Parks African-American women who led in the struggle for abolition, education, and against segregation.

All: We pray for their gift of eloquent expression, their passion for justice.

One: We remember Harriet Jacobs, Elizabeth Kleckley Sally Williams, Louisa Picquet, Lucy Delaney and all the women whose names lie forgotten, whose lives were more than chains and toil during the days of slavery in the United States..

All: We pray for their moral vision, their energy and courage.

One: We remember Rebecca Gratz, Hannah Solomon, Cynthia Ozick, Judith Plaskow, Susannah Heschel, Jewish women who worked for the establishment of a Jewish community in the United States and the rights of Jewish women within that community.

All: We pray for their strong faith, their solidarity and sense of belonging to the family of God's creatures.

One: We remember Philulaw Khus, Ines Hernandez-Avila, Meredith Begay, Ines Talamantez, Native American women, lovers of creation, makers of medicine, scholars and poets.

All: We pray for their deep connections, to the earth and our women selves, for their knowledge and insight.

One: We remember Riffat Hassan, Rita Gross, women of other communities of faith who struggle to achieve justice for women within their context.

All: We pray for their courage, their persistence in the face of overwhelming prejudice and forces of oppression.

One: Holy God, teacher and healer, we pray for the women in this community:

All: For the women who have braved criticism and ridicule to pave the way for us, for those who struggled with the hierarchy, who jumped through the right "hoops" so their voices as theologians could be heard; for our mentors and leaders.

In the moment of silence that follows, name a woman who filled this role in your personal life.

All: For our mothers and grandmothers, for those who believed in us and encouraged us in following our star.

Naming of women

All: For our daughters and granddaughters, who observe our example and who will carry on our struggle. For all who have answered your call, who continue to seek your face at the well of justice and liberation, for the women in this room.

One: God of the past, present and future, we believe that you go with us into the future and because of your eternal presence we have hope and are strengthened in our faith and have the courage to labor with you as we await the coming of your new household of justice and peace. We offer you praise and thanksgiving for your gift of living water that comes through these women.

Written by Johanna W.H.van Wijk-Bos with the help of the following resources: In Our Own Voices - Four Centuries of American Women's Religious Writing edited by Rosemary Skinner Keller and Rosemary Radford Ruether -- Harper San Francisco 1995

More Than Chains and Toil - A Christian Work Ethic of Enslaved Women by Joan M.Martin -- Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2000.

Previous adaptations by Cynthia Jennison and Johanna Bos of prayers from across the world.

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