In the Beginning

Mary Elizabeth Moore

Anna Howard Shaw Center

Women in the World 2015

(offered at a celebration of the 40th Anniversary of the Women in the World Conference)

In the beginning were women with passion and wit

But they were regarded as just so much twit,

And yet some among them would not stay still

They moved and they spoke by pure acts of will.

Deborah and Ruth, Miriam, and Mary

Acted in ways that were oh so daring.

They chose to act boldly, not follow the crowd,

Joining Martha, Priscilla, and a woman-filled cloud.

They were women and people of all gender hues

Who followed God’s call into the new –

Unimpressed by restrictions, conventions and traps,

Determined to travel off of the maps,

Determined to speak and to act and to give,

Determined to live so that others might live.

Think of Shiprah and Puah birthing babie’s new breaths,

Doing midwifing acts under loud threats of death;

And the Zerephath widow with no money, no name,

Who chose to feed Elijah just the same.

These are women like our own Anna Howard Shaw

Who were more concerned with life than they were with the law.

These are the women we celebrate tonight,

The women who have guided the Shaw Center’s might.

These are the women who will tell their stories,

Whose very lives witness to God’s grace and glory,

As revealed in women, transgender, and men

Whose lives have touched others, friend to friend,

Who publically advocate justice that flows,

Who act every day so that beauty can grow,

Who are courageous and bold beyond compare,

Who have guided and gifted in ways that are rare,

Who have made the Shaw Center what it is today

And whose visions continue to point the way!