by Elizabeth McBride

We offer this #metoo litany as a way to lift our voices together in solidarity with women and girls who have said “me too.”

God of the matriarchs, we pray for all the women and girls who are survivors of sexual harassment and sexual assault. We bravely choose to share our stories in person and by posting #metoo on social media. We did nothing wrong, and we release all shame—shame that was never ours to begin with.

God of love and mercy, hear our prayer.

God who knows our hearts, we pray for all women and girls who are survivors of sexual harassment and sexual assault. We bravely choose to keep our stories to ourselves for reasons of our own. And we walk alongside survivors whose suppressed memories have been triggered by #metoo posts. We did nothing wrong, and we own our stories.

God of love and mercy, hear our prayer.

God of truth, as we remember our baptismal call as your precious and beloved children, we release any shame we were told is ours. In our own time and way, we release the people who didn’t believe us or tried to minimize the truth. We did nothing wrong, and we own the truth.

God of love and mercy, hear our prayer.

God of justice, we pray that those who harassed or assaulted us will come to understand the evil that they did, and that they will never do it again. And Lord God, our prayer calls us to action. We will use our voices. We will work to stop lawmakers and others from minimizing assault and blaming victims. We did nothing wrong, and we will work for change.

God of love and mercy, hear our prayer.

God of courage, we give thanks for activist Tarana Burke , who started the “Me Too” movement. We are thankful that her willingness to tell her story is leading other women to heal.

God of love and mercy, hear our prayer.

God of wisdom, help us spread knowledge about what it means to live in a rape culture. Help us to stand firm in our faith and embolden us to work to end sexual violence and intimidation whenever it occurs in our church, community and world.

God of love and mercy, hear our prayer. Amen.

What would you add to this litany?

Elizabeth McBride works as the director for intergenerational programs and editor of Café. Whether we tell our stories or keep them to ourselves, our loving God is with us.

This litany originally appeared on the Women of the ELCA website, October 17, 2017.