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<\/a><\/p>\n**TRIGGER WARNING<\/p>\n
I have served in some sort of ordained ministry for the past 9 years. There has not been even one year when I did not find myself having sacred conversations with multiple women who have been sexually, psychologically, physically, or spiritually abused\u2026and sometimes it was all of the above.<\/p>\n
I have covenanted as a sacred listening partner (I am not a counselor and I do not use that word for pastoral conversations) far too many women to count who were\/are sexually abused and\/or raped by strangers, friends, fathers, siblings distant family, neighbors, teachers, pastors, coaches, bosses, landlords, therapist.<\/p>\n
I have walked with women who left home, left school, left church, left town\u2026because some sadistic pervert violated their bodies.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve taught bible studies about the silent abuse of women intertwined and ignored in sacred text. I\u2019ve watched women run out of the room, burst into tears, and even experience mental regression because of the land mines in their memories.<\/p>\n
I listened to stories of incest and molestation in childhood that is still bringing grown women to their knees. I\u2019ve talked to prostitutes who first trick was someone who should have been the first to teach them their worth.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve sat with women as they got rape tested and women who held their breath hoping they were not pregnant.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve heard so much that I needed therapy to clear my head, heart, and soul.<\/p>\n
I never let my daughter sit in men\u2019s laps or call folk uncle or play daddy or any of the crap that can make a demon look affirmed.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t force children to hug or show any type of affection for anyone, because I have seen what that looks like all grown up and traumatized.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve walked with power women, career women, women who seem to have it all together but just cannot forget when someone came for them uninvited.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve walked with women who were hushed in their churches and hushed in their schools and hushed in their homes.<\/p>\n
I worked at a domestic abuse shelter whose location could not even be shared with law enforcement because of the high instance of documented abuse by officers.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve ministered to women who are HIV+ because some man didn\u2019t care. Wives who are raped. Girls who are raped. Babies who are raped. And then violated again by a society, both male and female, who refuse to believe them.<\/p>\n
Women whose voices are muted by shame\u2026who\u2019ve listened to ill equipped preachers preach about the sin of Eve, and the wickedness of women\u2026without ever seeking to understand the text or the context.<\/p>\n
Folk who make David and Bathsheba a love story\u2026and Thomas and Sally an exception.<\/p>\n
Women subjected to multiple rapes because they DID tell and no one did anything.<\/p>\n
So when I say I CHOOSE TO BELIEVE WOMEN\u2026I mean just that. And I wish just for once\u2026women could be given the benefit of the doubt about their ability to tell their own stories truthfully.<\/p>\n
Thank you for listening.<\/p>\n
Rev. Traci Blackmon<\/a> serves as the pastor of Christ the King United Church of Christ in\u00a0Florissant, Missouri.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"**TRIGGER WARNING I have served in some sort of ordained ministry for the past 9 years. There has not been even one year when I did not find myself having sacred conversations with multiple women who have been sexually, psychologically, physically, or spiritually abused\u2026and sometimes it was all of the above. I have covenanted as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3731,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[170,172,37,171,169,16],"class_list":["post-3729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reflections","tag-bill-cosby","tag-church-preacher","tag-clergy","tag-rape","tag-traci-blackmon","tag-women"],"yoast_head":"\n
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