Prayer for Equity
by Joanna Shenk

God of creation, God of our ancestors and God of everlasting love,
You are a God who grieves and a God who liberates,
Show us your ways, so we can more fully nurture 
the Divine seed that is planted deeply in our souls.
 
You are a God who suffers with those 
dispossessed by war, famine, and sickness.
You are a God who grieves with all those in pain in our world.
You are a God who wails at the hate that divides people 
and shrouds our capacity for healing. 
 
Teach us to grieve so that in grieving 
we may praise what and who we have lost.
Teach us to grieve so that we may also have eyes 
to see that which still beautifully exists among us. 
 
Through your powerful Spirit, remind us 
that you always have been the God of the oppressed. 
Remind us of how you freed the enslaved Hebrew people 
and defeated the slaveholders.
Remind us of how you made a way through the wilderness 
and provided sustenance for weary people.
Remind of us of your prophets who declared judgement 
on leaders who exploited their power. 
Remind of us of your Son, who was a poor person, born among poor people, 
and who ignited a movement of poor people to create the kindom of God.
Remind of us of Jesus' words that pronounce blessings on the poor, 
on the mourning , on the reviled, and on all those 
who hunger and thirst for righteousness.
Remind us that righteousness at it's core is justice.
 
May we trust in you oh Lord, the God who hears 
the cries of the enslaved and delivers them. 
The God who grieves deeply. 
The God who is ever beckoning us 
to create the kindo m of God in this time and in this place. 


Joanna Shenk is Associate Pastor of First Mennonite Church of San Francisco
International Women's Day Celebration

MWUSA celebrated International Women's Day on March 8th. It was a day full of love, laughter and sisterhood.

Uzima! Drum and Dance company were spiritually powerful. It made your heart sing. They were spectacular. rebel noire and Three Legged Chair made us feel the power and love of God through soft musical storytelling. Each artist shared their stories and how their art allows them to express themselves and their testimonies. Ten Thousand Villages Mishawaka shared their support for women around the world. It was an amazing day.

See pictures below of our performers and artists. Clockwise from top left: Kandy Grady, Janice Purnell, Sandra Perez, Geraldine Brown, Beth Kane, Ten Thousand Villages Mishawaka, rebel noire and Three Legged Chair, and Uzima! Drum and Dance Company. Head on over to our  Facebook page to see even more pics from the day.


Equity
By Cyneatha Millsaps
  • Current U.S. debt is $22 trillion, the highest it has ever been (Pew Research Center, 2019).
  • The U.S. Internal Revenue Service collected nearly $3.5 trillion in 2018 (IRS, 2020).
  • The current U.S. spending plan is $4.8 trillion in 2021 (govinfo.gov, 2020).
Reading this information about our government income and spending, I am confounded. Can someone please tell me how and where we will get one trillion dollars to pass out to families during this Covid-19 crisis? And, if we can manage to obtain an extra trillion dollars, why haven't we used it to support the poor and disadvantaged before now?
Long before Covid-19 entered our vocabulary, our country has been in dire circumstances meriting crisis management. Consider just a bit of the evidence:
  • The housing market in many cities has priced its citizens out of basic shelter. More than half a million people in the U.S. are homeless (Council of Economic Advisers, 2019).
  • Our public-school systems are failing at an alarming rate. Many of our public-school teachers work in dangerous conditions, with large class numbers and outdated facilities and materials.
  • Many Americans cannot afford proper healthcare. Our hospitals and clinic are not equipped for national health emergencies.
  • Our society imprisons more people than any other country. Many investigations reveal appalling conditions in both federal and state prisons.
  • After China, the U.S. pollutes more than any other country in the world (epa.gov). We are not moving fast enough to address climate change.
Our country struggles with all of these problems, and on top of that, we're $22 trillion in debt. In 2019, our government spent $393.5 billion in paying interest ( pewresearch.org). Imagine the good we could have done with those billions!

As Covid-19 is proving, we are fully capable of making dramatic changes to our way of life. It's not that we can't fix our national debt and social problems; it's that we choose not to. We could provide jobs that stimulate our economy. We could provide better educational and healthcare systems. But we don't do it because our country's influencers have other priorities.

We are talking these days about flattening the Covid-19 curve by changing our habits and controlling our behaviors. The deadlier virus in America is wealth inequality. Now is the time to flatten that curve, especially now that we see how our society can make drastic changes when we put our mind to it.

To read the  rest, head on over to our blog: www.mennonitewomenusa.org/blog
March is Equity Month at MW USA

This March, we at Mennonite Women explored what equity is and what it means to us as followers of Jesus. Throughout the month, we posed various questions to ponder along with some of our thoughts. Check out those posts below.

Compassionate Care for 26 in Uganda
By Rhoda Keener
One year after participating in Compassionate Care training at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical seminary, Esther Muhagachi (Tanzania) and Pamela Obonde (Kenya) joined David Miller (USA) to teach the seminar in Uganda for 26 church and community leaders. They were hosted by Patience Tumuranye (Uganda), who said,

"The lesson of changing poison stories to power stories worked very, very well for both men and women. Many people were healed. We return glory to the Almighty God."

Muhagachi, Obonde, and Tumuranye attended the Sister Care seminars in East Africa taught by Carolyn Heggen and Rhoda Keener.  Miller assisted with the AMBS Compassionate Care seminar.  Mennonite Mission Network organized the Uganda event. 

Muhagachi added:  "I am so grateful that Sister Care has added the Compassionate Care component to include men. Many cultures do not allow men to cry. This makes men vulnerable to trauma. I am sure through Sister Care and Compassionate Care that many women and men will receive healing."  Read more in Lynda Hollinger Janzen's article:  https://www.mennonitemission.net/news/From-poison-stories-to-power-stories

(L-R) Esther Muhagachi, Patience Tumuramye, and Pamela Obonde
David Miller praying with a participant

Give to  Choosing Sisterhood


Make a difference today! Give financially to MW USA and support our  Choosing Sisterhood campaign.  Your gift will help to provide much needed respite for our women leaders who are under-resourced, overworked , and critical to Holy Spirit's movement among us. 

To give to  Choosing Sisterhood,  click here to give online. Or mail your check to Mennonite Women USA / 718 N Main St / Newton, KS 67114. 

purple-flower-tree.jpg
Our Eternal Sisterhood

Mennonite Women USA invites you to honor a significant person in your life through a financial gift to this ministry. 
  • A church sister in Idaho gives in honor of Kathy Bilderback, Boise, Idaho. Kathy is an honest, down to earth servant of God, ministering not only to her congregation but to the community around her and the wider church, and caring for women in all aspects. I appreciate her example!
  • Lee Snyder, Harrisonburg, VA in honor of Cyneatha Millsaps, Elkhart, IN.
  • Myrna C Kaufman, Goshen, IN in honor of Carolyn Heggen. 
  • Western District Conference Women in Mission donated in honor of Teresa Boshart Yoder and Rhoda Blough in gratitude for their work with Everence.
  • Delila Wedel, Newton, KS, in honor of Rhoda Janzen and Berni Kauffman
  • Esther Heatwole, Goshen, IN, in memory of Marjorie Bixler
  • Leon and Elaine Good, Lititz, PA, in memory of Lydia M. Wenger
  • Joy Kauffman King, Goshen, IN, in honor of Titus King

If you would like to give financially to MW USA in memory or honor of a specific individual, please contact the MW USA office. 
Follow us on Social Media!

You may have started noticing more activity on our Instagram and Facebook pages. We're excited to engage with you more in this way. If you don't already, click the links and follow us!
Mennonite Women USA |   [email protected] |  316.281.4394  | mwusa.org