NOT FOR SALE SUNDAY - 17th May 2009

On Wearing Pink

In the Plazo de Mayo, in the capital city of Argentina, Santiago, women wearing black, march every Thursday in silence. They hold placards bearing the names of those who have disappeared; asking for justice for their loved ones. This practise, of wearing black, has been taken up internationally by many women’s groups seeking to raise awareness about violence against women in all its many forms.

In many strands of Christian tradition, preaching scarves are black, which in numerous cultures is also the colour of mourning. This is why, for Not for Sale Sunday, CHASTE has chosen our liturgical colour as pink - a colour which in the UK is culturally associated with the female, and which has been used by the historic churches for centuries on Gaudete and Lautere, Sundays.

These two Sundays interrupt the mourning, privation and penance which attaches to the season of Advent and Lent in which they fall. It contrasts strongly with the darker purple of the Advent and Lent season and represents the anticipation and rejoicing of a happy and expectant people to the coming of Christ.

For the minister to wear a pink stole, for the church to be decorated in pink, for the congregations, friends and work colleagues to echo the theme of joy by wearing something pink during Not for Sale week, signifies the positive intervention against the abuse and outrage of every act of violence against women and children. It encourages us to act pro-actively, to advocate better, more inclusive ways of nurturing relationships - including our own.

Celebrating our sexuality, our bodies, the closeness of physical love, prompts us to re-think our stance on sex in general and prostitution in particular. It reminds us to ‘rejoice’ that God is with us in every challenge, every intervention, every legal protection, every positive cultural change to UK society which currently colludes in pay-as-you-go sex; where women’s and children’s bodies are sold as commodities.

So put on something pink - to bear witness to the hundreds and thousands of women who have been lost to their families. And to remind ourselves that God intends all our relating to be equal, respectful, understanding, mutual and dignified. And because we know that, in Christ, all the dis-grace of sex-trafficking can be washed away – to be replaced by loving, restorative relationships. And because women are called to be apostles of Christ and made in the image of God alongside men. And to remember and protest, to pray, provoke and prevail.

Not for Sale Sunday is an opportunity to say that womens, childrens and mens bodies are Not for Sale. Women and Children and Men are made in the image of God, and we are called to enable that image to grow, develop, and be reflected in all our lives, for everybody, no matter their age, race, creed or gender.

Make Not for Sale Sunday - 17th May 2009 - your time to reflect, respond and start to make a difference in a world where women, children and young men are subject to abuse, privation, sexual humiliation and violation.