March 8th is International Women’s Day. The news is disturbingly full of allegations and stories of girls and women suffering sexual assault. This is a very hard issue because it affects so many lives – nearly half of women experience sexual violence in their lives, 1 in 5 are raped. Biblical scholar Phyllis Trible wrote the classic book “Texts of Terror” over 40 years ago, with one of the stories being about the Rape of Tamar from 2 Samuel 13.
The sermon next week will not be graphic, but if you choose not to attend that day or feel a need to step out, that is okay. As a church, we need to be able to talk authentically even about realities that we wish weren’t true. Victims of sexual violence often feel ashamed and aliened from their faith community. Thank you for being the kind of church that wants to tackle tough topics.