February 2018 WATERritual: Womanist Wisdom
By Diann L. Neu and the WATERstaff
Preparation
Put books of womanist authors around the room. Pick up the book to do the reading. On the ritual table, place African cloths, candles, purple flowers or bulbs, a bowl of soil, a pitcher of water, and a chocolate dessert.
Call to Gather
Tonight at the end of Black History Month and on the eve of Women’s History Month, we gather to celebrate and support womanist theologians and ministers who are on the forefront of the struggles for liberation. We lift up their memories, life stories, and contributions as we walk the path of justice together. We join our sisters of African descent in the United States to resist racial discrimination and all forms of social oppression. We come to learn, to be nourished, and to be inspired by Womanist Wisdom in order to make this world a place of justice, equality, and peace for all.
Naming the Circle
Let us share our name, where we are geographically, and what we think of when we hear the words “womanist wisdom.” (Sharing)
The Wisdom of Alice Walker, short story writer, novelist, poet, activist
From In Search of Our Mothers’ Garden: Womanist Prose, 1983, xi
Alice Walker defines Womanist:
- From womanish (Opp. of “girlish,” i.e., frivolous, irresponsible, not serious.) A black feminist or feminist of color. From the black folk expression of mothers to female children, “You acting womanish,” i.e., like a woman. Usually referring to outrageous, audacious, courageous or willful Wanting to know more and in greater depth than is considered “good” for one. Interested in grown-up doings. Acting grown up. Being grown up. Interchangeable with another black folk expression: “You trying to be grown.” Responsible. In charge. Serious.”
- Also: A woman who loves other women, sexually and/or nonsexually. Appreciates and prefers women’s culture, women’s emotional flexibility (values tears as natural counterbalance of laughter), and women’s strength. Sometimes loves individual men, sexually and/or nonsexually. Committed to survival and wholeness of entire people, male and Not a separatist, except periodically, for health. Traditionally universalist, as in: “Mama, why are we brown, pink, and yellow, and our cousins are white, beige, and black?” Ans.: “Well, you know the colored race is just like a flower garden, with every color flower represented.” Traditionally capable, as in: “Mama, I’m walking to Canada and I’m taking you and a bunch of other slaves with me.” Reply: “It wouldn’t be the first time.”
- Loves music. Loves dance. Loves the moon. Loves the Spirit. Loves love and food and roundness. Loves struggle. Loves the Folk. Loves herself. Regardless.
- Womanist is to feminist as purple is to lavender.
Response: Thank you for your Womanist Wisdom, Alice!
Chant: “Ella’s Song” Sweet Honey in the Rock
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6Uus–gFrc
We who believe in freedom cannot rest,
We who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes.
The Wisdom of Cheryl A. Kirk-Duggan, Professor of Theology and Women’s Studies, minister, author, musician
From Refiners Fire, 2001, p 1
She looked in the mirror:
No immediate image did she see;
The vastness of the horizon
Seemed to mock her: she could not see her reflection
Through the skewed lens of dominant culture
She saw nothing
A sister came along,
With dignity and joy,
And a different way of seeing.
She was mesmerized.
A thing she could not fathom
Was about to cross her path,
And that incomprehensible other
Opened her mouth;
And spoke;
And lovingly said: “You are somebody.”
She looked in her mirror, again.
And this time she saw
Gazing back at her, a beauteous vision:
Nobility and peace.
The empty objectiveness that was but a shadow
Had been replaced
By her mighty image.
And she heard God say:
“That’s good!”
Response: Thank you for your Womanist Wisdom, Cheryl!
Chant: “Ella’s Song” Sweet Honey in the Rock
We who believe in freedom cannot rest,
We who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes.
The Wisdom of Mercy Oduyoye, Ghanaian grandmother of Womanist Theology
From Introducing African Women’s Theology, 2001, p 76
Women’s struggles for survival in Africa is not only a struggle to stay alive. It seeks a quality of life that can be truly and fully human not only for themselves but also for men. When women refuse to stay on the margins, they are making a statement concerning their understanding of what it means to be human. The spirituality of resistance therefore enables one to hold on to one’s humanity. Resisting anonymity is an expression of the belief that our individual humanity is meant to find expression in community.
Response: Thank you for your Womanist Wisdom, Mercy!
Chant: “Ella’s Song” Sweet Honey in the Rock
We who believe in freedom cannot rest,
We who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes.
The Wisdom of Dolores Williams, Womanist Theologian, Former Professor of Theology and Culture at Union Theological Seminary
From Sisters in the Wilderness, 1993, pp 238-9
The greatest truth of black women’s survival and quality of life struggle is that they have worked without hesitation and with all the energy they could muster. Many of them, like Hagar, have demonstrated great courage as they resisted oppression and as they went into the wide, wide world to make a living for themselves and their children. They depended upon their strength and upon each other. But in the final analysis the message is clear: they trusted the end to God. Every important event in the stories of Hagar and black women turns on this trust.
Response: Thank you for your Womanist Wisdom, Dolores!
Chant: “Ella’s Song” Sweet Honey in the Rock
We who believe in freedom cannot rest,
We who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes.
The Wisdom of Katie Cannon, Womanist Theologian, Professor of Christian Ethics at Union Presbyterian Seminary, artist.
From Katie’s Cannon: Womanism and the Soul of the Black Community, 1995, p 135
The womanist writing consciousness does not obscure or deny the existence of tridimensional oppression but rather through full, sharp awareness of race, sex, and class oppression we present the liberating possibilities that exist. Our womanist work is to draw on the rugged endurance of black folks in America who outwit, outmaneuver, and outscheme social systems and structures that maim and stifle mental, emotional, and spiritual growth. Repeatedly, in light of the stated task, womanist thinkers raise the question of reciprocity in this: How do we bring to the forefront the unity of knower and known?
Response: Thank for your Womanist Wisdom, Katie!
Chant: “Ella’s Song” Sweet Honey in the Rock
We who believe in freedom cannot rest,
We who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes.
The Wisdom of Renita J. Weems, biblical scholar, ordained minister, public intellectual
From Womanist Theological Ethics – A Reader, 2011, p 57
A womanist biblical hermeneutic takes as its starting point the fundamental notion that people have power, not texts…..Women have to reclaim their right to read and interpret sacred texts for themselves and should not have to defend or apologize for their interpretations to privileged women in the culture who remain ignorant to how class, race, and colonialism shape and divide us as women.
Response: Thank you for your Womanist Wisdom, Renita!
Chant: “Ella’s Song” Sweet Honey in the Rock
We who believe in freedom cannot rest,
We who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes.
The Wisdom of Audre Lorde, writer, poet, activist
From Sister Outsider, 1984, p 44
We can learn to work and speak when we are afraid in the same way we have learned to work and speak when we are tired. For we have been socialized to respect fear more than our own needs for language and definition, and while we wait in silence for that final luxury of fearlessness, the weight of that silence will choke us. The fact that we are here and I speak these words is an attempt to break that silence and bridge some of those differences between us, for it is not difference which immobilizes us, but silence. And there are so many silences to be broken.
Response: Thank you for your Womanist Wisdom, Audre!
Chant: “Ella’s Song” Sweet Honey in the Rock
We who believe in freedom cannot rest,
We who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes.
Reflection
What have you learned from these womanists and how can you be a better ally?
Share and plant a flower bulb as a symbol of receiving and learning wisdom from womanists.
Song: Play “Rise Up” by Andra Day while planting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNKu1uNBVkU
Blessing of Chocolate
Let us rise up, | give thanks for womanist wisdom, | and bless this chocolate dessert in memory and honor of our womanist sisters. | With gratitude for womanist struggles for survival… | With gratitude for womanist spirituality of resistance… | With gratitude for womanist reclaiming of sacred texts… | With gratitude for womanists breaking silence… | With gratitude for womanists who bring to the forefront the unity of knower and known. | Thank you for Womanist Wisdom.
Greeting of Peace/Sending Forth
Song: “Rise Up” by Andra Day
Take Action
- Read Womanist theology, especially by the women we have named here.
- Learn about Black Lives Matter http://www.blacklivesmatterdmv.org/
- Visit the National Museum of African American History and Culture https://nmaahc.si.edu/
- Upcoming event on Womanism: The Center for Womanist Leadership Inaugural Gathering: Bearing Witness to Womanism: What Was, What Is, What Will Be. April 5 – April 7, 2018. For more details go to centerforwomanistleadership.org
© 2018 Women’s Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual (WATER). Planned by Diann L. Neu dneu@hers.com, Heureuse Kaj heureuse@waterwomensalliance.org, Hannah Dorfman hannah@waterwomensalliance.org, Janaya Sachs janaya@waterwomensalliance.org, Rachel Beaver rachel@waterwomensalliance.org.
