We believe in the goodness and value of women;
Our strength and sanity, our willingness to weep;
Our capacity to support each other,
Instead of being rivals;
Our ability to cope with children’s demands and the burdens of life;
Our willingness and ability to get on with the job;
Our spirituality and our earthiness, flowing with life, birth and death.
We affirm the story of women as the story of humankind;
Food gatherers and farmers
Child rearers and teachers
Pioneers and policy makers
Homemakers and factory-workers
Parents, scientists, doctors,
Housekeepers and economists
Givers of life and creators of art and thought
Unpaid hidden workers at home and paid members of the workforce outside.
We rejoice in our diversity and versatility,
Our intuition and logic.
We confess our failures, frailties and imperfections,
Including our past acceptance of violence and injustice
In relationships between women and men.
We look forward to the future in faith and hope,
Working for the day when we and all our sisters
No longer have to fit that stereotype,
But are free to use all of our gifts
And to share in all the benefits of human life and work.
We look forward to an age of peace,
When violence is banished,
Both women and men are able to love and to be loved,
And the work and wealth of the world is justly shared.
We believe that our future depends on us,
But that all the forces for good, love, peace and justice,
All the creative powers of the universe,
Work with us to achieve that vision.
May it come soon.
Amen.
Written by Norma Hardy
Church Women United
