After I got raped, one of my problems was that my thoughts were unthinkable. This problem joined other, more pressing ones. Where could I be safe? Where could I sleep? And how could I get through the impending hours of darkness? I continually felt like I was jumping out of my skin.
I’ll admit that I’d never been terribly comfortable in my skin. I was raised by Calvinists, after all. Everything important was housed from the neck up. But after the rape I couldn’t just escape to my head. My very thoughts—such as they were—became heretical. They weren’t complete thoughts, just words lying in proximity to each other. Profanity. The divine name. Unanswerable questions. I tried to stop the words from lining up, but when I got tired enough, they did, and taunted me: “Where the eff was God?”
To back up — the rape occurred in 1978 when I was a senior at Calvin College. Two masked intruders broke into the home I shared with housemates. They held us hostage for hours, then took turns sexually assaulting us at gunpoint. After the criminals left and we got loose from our bonds, we debated whether or not to call the police. That conversation was a work of theology, although I didn’t realize it at the time. We were trying to reclaim our sense of agency because complete strangers had just taken something that we would never regain.
That semester I was taking Linguistics and World Religion. I was a true believer in the Reformed doctrine in which I’d been catechized. But the sovereignty of God was no longer a comforting thought. Had God willed this awful experience? Who, exactly, took away our agency?
“Put it behind you,” our professors advised. Yes, that was the response of our faith community — deafening silence. Meanwhile, the denomination was embroiled in a fight over the ordination of women. Male pastors debated: What does scripture say on this issue? But I knew what they were really debating: What’s a woman good for?
Eventually I found my way to the Presbyterian church, to seminary, and to ordination. I have been in ministry since 1990. When my own daughters became college-aged, I realized I had unfinished business about the trauma I endured. I wanted to figure out how, exactly, it shaped me. So I began to write. What message did I want to convey to my daughters about living in a woman’s skin? That writing became my memoir, RUINED.
I am passionate about the life of faith, which isn’t a thought exercise. Discipleship is living as God-breathed beings on a God-created planet. We live in bodies, and women’s bodies are too often in peril. The church can break its silence and become a powerful support to victims of sexual assault. There are more of them in your pews than you think.
I look forward to visiting Westminster Presbyterian Church and Albany Presbytery May 20/21.
~ Ruth Everhart
Westminster Presbyterian Church, Albany, NY is hosting the Rev. Ruth Everhart:
Sat: May 20, 2017
5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Reception, Book Signing
Assembly Hall, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Albany NY
Complete Event Details and Directions Here
Sun: May 21, 2017
10:00 a.m. Worship: Guest Preacher
“Daughters, Be Healed”
After Worship: More time in fellowship with Ruth
Parking lot at 85 Chestnut St. between Dove St. & Swan St. in Albany, NY
Rev. Ruth Everhart is a Presbyterian pastor in Bethesda, MD, and the award-winning author of two spiritual memoirs. RUINED was awarded a “2017 Book Award” by Christianity Today as a book “most likely to shape evangelical life, thought and culture.” Connect with Ruth through her blog (rutheverhart.com), Twitter @rutheverhart, or Facebook @RuthEverhartAuthor.
