Earlier this summer, I attended a small local feminist Catholic mass and one of the hymns we sang was Carolyn Winfrey Gillette’s God of the Women. It was extremely touching to sing this with the handful of people there. I’ve found this video on youtube so you can hear it, too.
Lyrics:
Used according to the CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 license, no changes made
God of the women who answered your call,
Trusting your promises, giving their all,
Women like Sarah and Hannah and Ruth —
Give us their courage to live in your truth.
God of the women who walked Jesus’ Way,
Giving their resources, learning to pray,
Mary, Joanna, Susanna, and more —
May we give freely as they did before.
God of the women long put to the test,
Left out of stories, forgotten, oppressed,
Quietly asking: “Who smiled at my birth?” —
In Jesus’ dying you show us our worth.
God of the women who ran from the tomb,
Prayed with the others in that upper room,
Then felt your Spirit on Pentecost Day —
May we so gladly proclaim you today.
O God of Phoebe and ministers all,
May we be joyful in answering your call.
Give us the strength of your Spirit so near
That we may share in your ministry here.
That last verse would be particularly relevant if you are planning a sacrament meeting about the new ministering program.
Gillette has many great hymns at her site if you are looking for something outside of the usual choir standards for your ward, Relief Society, or Young Women choir. She lists which hymn tune which you might find at the back of an LDS hymnbook, or you can probably find in a google search.
Thank you!!
That is a great song and it would be nice to have it added to the new hymnbook that the Church is working on. Have you suggested adding it? Do you know if there would be any copyright issues?
There aren’t many hymns taking about women in the scriptures. I am trying to collect suggestions of good ones to add, and I need more focused on women. I would love it if you added it to my web site here:
https://fixldshymns.com/additional-hymns