"This campaign is simple but profound. Wear Black on Thursdays. Wear a pin to declare you are a part of this global movement resisting attitudes and practices that permit rape and violence. Show your respect for women who are resilient in the face of injustice and violence. Encourage others to join you. We note, oftentimes, black has been used with negative racial connotations. In this campaign, Black is used as a color of resistance and resilience." --The World Council of Churches
Sonia Gechtoff, Red Icon, 1962, Oil on canvas. A Prayer for Thursdays in Black*
Creating God, Mother of us all, we are your beloved, formed in your image and nurtured in the depth of your dark womb. You breathed life into our flesh and sent us to do your work in the world, to care for each other and for all of creation as we would care for you: our life and our breath.
Wherever we are in your world there are survivors, victims, bystanders, and perpetrators of gender-based violence.
This violence is destroying your sacred creation, and as long as violence exists among your people, anywhere, we will not be whole. Until your creation is healed, we will wear black in solidarity with people around the world to honor the courage and resilience of the victims and survivors of gender-based violence, while committing to work toward an end to such violence.
May the color black remind us of the unimaginable deep love you have for us and the cavernous well of tears shed by communities broken by violence.
And may the color black remind us of the hope for transformation that you have planted within the dark belly of the earth. A hope that grows stronger every time a cycle of violence is broken and nurtured by each action against violence and rape.
Creating God, as long as we have breath, may we work with perseverance toward restoring peace and dignity to your creation. Amen.
*Adapted from Thursdays in Black, World Council of Churches