ECW Women Articles-Poems-Announcements

Second Annual ECW Holy Land Tour

ECW at Dome of the Rock

Dome of the Rock

The Second Annual ECW Holy Land Tour is scheduled for December 1 through 11, 2014. The event is being coordinated by ECW President Nancy Crawford, Lynn Headley, and local Anglican guide and instructor, Canon Iyad Qumri.

Travelers will enjoy the beauties of the Mediterranean landscape, while visiting the holiest sites in the Judeo/Christian/Muslim faiths. They will visit the city of Nazareth (the home of the Holy Family), the Basilica of the Annunciation, the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, Shepherd’s Field, and the site of Jacob’s Well—where Jesus spoke with the Samaritan Woman.

The pilgrims will visit Capernuam and its ancient Synagogue, add their written prayers the ancient Western Wall, and take in the Church of the Loaves and Fishes and the Chapel of St. Peter’s Primacy. The agenda also includes a walk along the Palm Sunday Road, ending in the Garden of Gethsemane, as well as the opportunity to pray the Way of the Cross on the Via Dolorosa, and worship at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

Additional highlights of the trip include featured speakers from Muslim, Christian, and Jewish faiths, who will offer their unique perspectives of practicing faith in their regions.

Episcopal Church Women2020-05-26T19:11:54+00:00July 16th, 2013|

For those Who are Abused

O Lord, our Creator and Deliverer, you heard the cries of your people in Egypt and sent your servant Moses to lead them out of oppression. Hear our prayers for all your people who suffer from abuse and oppression, that we too might be a means to free them from their pain. O Lord, our Deliverer, Hear our prayer.

Bring to an end the divisions in your Church throughout the world, that unified in purpose, the Body of Christ may always remember and serve those men, women, and children whose suffering is hidden from our sight or painful for us to acknowledge.

O Lord, our Deliverer, Hear our prayer.

Bestow your grace on persons in positions of leadership throughout the Church, especially our Presiding Bishop, our bishop, and the laity and clergy in our parishes, that your Church may be holy ground where all your people can gather in safety and peace.

O Lord, our Deliverer, Hear our prayer.

Guide the leaders of all the nations, that your justice may be brought to all who have been wronged and that every country might be a promised land for its people.

O Lord, our Deliverer, Hear our prayer.

Open our eyes to those in our midst who suffer abuse, that we may also open our hearts to share their pain and bring them relief from their sorrow.

O Lord, our Deliverer, Hear our prayer.

Lift up all your people whose suffering is beyond their strength to endure, that they may feel the healing of your compassionate love.

O Lord, our Deliverer, Hear our prayer.

Strengthen all who care for the abused and who speak to the world of their pain, that they may find renewal for their labor in your healing presence.

O Lord, our Deliverer, Hear our prayer.

Remind us always that as you pardon all wrongdoings and heal all ills, we may also forgive those who inflict pain on others and pray for their restoration to wholeness.

O Lord, our Deliverer, Hear our prayer.

Hold in your loving care those who have died at the hands of others, and comfort those who mourn them with knowledge that you will bring justice and healing to all who have been wronged.

O Lord, our Deliverer, Hear our prayer.

O Lord, our Creator and Deliverer, you enlightened and strengthened Moses to be a prophet and guide to your people when they cried out for help. Open our hearts, our ears, and our eyes, that we might also work for justice and comfort for all who suffer abuse. This we ask in the name of your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, who came to set at liberty those who are oppressed. Amen.

-The Reverend Nancy Casey Fulton

Episcopal Church Women2020-05-27T15:20:37+00:00December 7th, 2012|

We pray for ALL who are subject to acts of violence

We pray for ALL who are subject to acts of violence, O LORD,

that they may be restored to soundness of body, mind, and spirit to serve as models of faith and hope, that by their good example we can learn to resolve conflict without harm, anger, or hatred, respecting the sanctity of life, and affirming our common identity as children of a loving GOD, who would have us all care for one another: that peace and good will may find a home in our hearts as well as our lives; now and forever. AMEN.

Prayer by The Rev. Gregory Johnson – Diocese of Hawaii – December 2012.

Episcopal Church Women2020-05-27T15:18:02+00:00December 6th, 2012|

For People in the Midst of War

O God, you have loved each of us since before we were born, and you love each of us in equal and abundant measure. Yet we sometimes chose not to see ourselves in one another. We sometimes choose to live as though we were not the brothers and sisters we know ourselves to be. Pour your blessing upon all your people in every nation especially for the women and children in areas of unrest and violence, for whom we pray today, whatever their faith or ethnicity. Preserve their lives, deliver them from the terror of war, and, when this is over, guide them in the way of reconciliation and peace.

Bring them a deepening sense of their oneness in the human family, that those things that unite your people may be seen and felt as greater than anything that can ever decide us.

Amen.

-The Reverend Barbara Cawthorne Crafton Women’s Uncommon Prayers: Our Lives Revealed, Nurtured, Celebrated edited by Elizabeth Rankin Geitz, Ann Smith, Marjorie A. Burke Morehouse Publishing, 2000

Episcopal Church Women2020-05-27T15:22:49+00:00December 5th, 2012|

God of Compassion, please help our abused

God of Compassion,

Help us to remember that every woman and girl who is beaten, exploited, mutilated, raped or murdered has a name.

Help us to remember that every woman and girl who is beaten, exploited, mutilated, raped or murdered carries the scars inwardly as well as outwardly of the violence perpetrated against her.

Help us to remember that every woman and girl who is beaten, exploited, mutilated, raped or murdered was born with hope and grace and is deserving of them in her life now and forevermore.

Give us the courage and the strength to stand up for and with those for whom life has been inalterably shattered.

Give us the courage and strength to listen deeply of their stories, to hold steadfast in our resolve, and to give of ourselves in a manner that is kind, protective, gentle, healing and powerful.

Oh God, let the chain of violence against women and girls and all that is feminine be broken…

We beseech You to embolden every loving and caring man and youth with the courage and compassion to intervene in the chain of violence against women and girls.

We beseech You to inspire every loving and caring man and youth to serve as a model to other men and youth to respect and uphold the inherent dignity and sacred worthiness of all women and girls.

Oh God, may we, children of your many faiths, reflect our love of You by carrying forth compassion and hope to the fulness of Humankind that You have created.

May it be so… Amen

The Reverend Dr. Gwynne Guibord Founder, The Guibord Center – Religion Inside Out www.theguibordcenter.org

Episcopal Church Women2020-05-27T15:29:40+00:00December 3rd, 2012|

For Healing from Abuse by your gentle touch

Jesus, by your gentle touch and encouraging word, you raised up the woman who had been bent over: Lift up the heads and hearts of those who have been bowed down by the shame and pain of (sexual) abuse. Heal them so that they may stand up with dignity and may praise you through the living of their lives in fullness and in hope. Amen.

The Reverend Canon Lorna H. Williams Women’s Uncommon Prayers: Our Lives Revealed, Nurtured, Celebrated edited by Elizabeth Rankin Geitz, Ann Smith, Marjorie A. Burke Morehouse Publishing, 2000

Episcopal Church Women2020-05-27T15:31:28+00:00December 2nd, 2012|

We thank you for your grace and mercy.

Good and gracious God, in whom we live and move and have all that we need, we thank you for your grace and mercy.

Stir up in us, all that is in your perfection; love, truth, justice and compassion.

Stir up in us, the courage to see you in all that we say and do.

May our relationship with you, be the guide in our relationships with all people,

Who see you, too, in your perfection.

Stir up in us, daily, love, truth, justice and compassion.

Restore us, in your grace and mercy, to daily living, as a reflection of you, in all those we see.

In your perfection we pray to you, good and gracious God.

Amen.

– John Tomoso Member Good Shepherd Church-Maui Postulant for Priesthood

Episcopal Church Women2020-05-27T15:33:22+00:00December 1st, 2012|

At a Vigil for Domestic Violence

Dear God our Creator,

we gather today because we care about those affected by domestic violence: women, children, and men.

We remember those who have lost their lives to this malfunction of our society. We pray that their souls are now at rest.

We remember children living in homes of domestic violence. Deliver and protect them from further harm.

We pray for perpetrators, that they may seek help.

Help them to relinquish their need to exert power and control.

We remember current victims whose lives are filled with fear and uncertainty.

Those who are trapped in the psychological cycle of violence and abuse, hope and false love.

We ask that you give them a new vision.

Guide them with your wisdom to make sound choices that will lead to new life.

We pray that religious leaders will end Scripture abuse so that they may no longer contribute to the oppression of women.

We give thanks to those who dedicate their lives to providing education, shelter, and support.

Finally, O gracious God, be present with us, restore peace and hope that we may persevere with your Holy Spirit.

In faith we pray.

Amen.

-The Reverend Angela R. Shepherd

Episcopal Church Women2020-05-27T15:53:44+00:00November 29th, 2012|

Our hearts are broken over the abuse of women

Dear Heavenly Father, Our hearts are broken over the abuse of women and the subtle and dramatic ways they are violated. What is broken in our relationship to You, oh heavenly Father, that we must remember to help stop this abuse?

How do we protect and keep safe our children and our neighbor’s children and the girls and women around the world that are vulnerable to this violence?

In the name of Jesus and all that is good we pray for safety and peace for all.

Amen

From: Mary Lou Mellinger Outreach Chair Good Shepherd Episcopal Church, Maui, Hawai’i0

Episcopal Church Women2020-05-27T15:37:19+00:00November 28th, 2012|

A Retelling of the Good Samaritan for Battered Women

From Jerusalem to Jericho: A Retelling of the Good Samaritan for Battered Women “A woman who was much abused by her wealthy husband left Jerusalem and headed toward Jericho to seek shelter among kinswoman,” Jesus told the crowd. “And as she was going, her wounds caused such pain that she sat down beside the road and wept.

“Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and noting her fine garments, he stopped to ask the cause of her distress. When she told him that her husband had beaten her near to death, the priest drew back and counseled her to return to her husband and be a better wife. Then he crossed the road and continued on his journey.

“So likewise a judge, when he came to the place, stopped to question the woman, and learning the cause of her agony he, too, counseled that her duty was to her husband and that she should return at once to Jerusalem. When she refused, he, too, crossed the road and continued on his journey.

“But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where the woman lay beside the road, and when he heard her story, he had compassion, and he bound up her wounds and set her on his own beast and brought her to an inn where he found women to care for her, saying, “There are those who seek her life to destroy it, and no one must know that she is here. When she is well enough to travel, see that she has safe passage to Jericho. And whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.”

“Which of these three, do you think, proved neighbor to the woman?”

And the lawyer said, “Should not the woman have returned to her husband? You preach words of forgiveness. Should she not have forgiven her husband, obeyed the law, and returned home? Weren’t the priest and judge the better neighbors? The Samaritan assisted the woman in her disobedience.”

And Jesus said, “Woe to you who pervert justice and allow injury to the innocent! You fools! Did not God make woman and man both in the Divine image? Is not a woman’s body a temple of God? I say to you, whoever injures anyone, woman, man, or child, injures the Divine image and is held accountable before God.”

And the women in the crowd spoke to one another, “Here is one who understands; truly this must be the Holy One of God.”

-Mrs. Mary Lee Wile

Women’s Uncommon Prayers

Episcopal Church Women2020-05-27T15:49:07+00:00November 27th, 2012|

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