This week was session 2 of ou Lenten Class. We are using the Faith & Facts Cards from the United Methodist General Board of Church and Society. Today we focused on domestic violence. I taught today and it was wonderful to begin with this deep sense of biblical love and the clarity that violence and oppression are not aligned with God’s justice and righteousness. The United Methodist stance on domestic violence misses out on issues related to trans persons and we highlighted that. We deeply appreciated the stance of also allowing for God’s love of the abuser as well. We told stories of redemption and brokenness and the hard work of being in real relationship in situations of abuse. The facts on domestic violence were heart breaking. We realized that what we can do now is to disrupt patterns that teach children to go along with forced contact (always get consent before hugging a child!) and that we can speak up when we see things that condition violence, such as saying things like boys hitting and teasing mean that they like a girl. This again is hard work. To listen to the victims, create space for accountability and love, and to speak up when we see something which might seem small happening is all holy work we can take on this Lent.
-Eilidh
Recent Comments