An Order for Transgender Worship

Preparation for Worship

"We,
The birds without sky
Deer without woods
Fish without water
Trees without roots
Come, give, friends
A human symbol, a wing of an angel
Our sexual rights,
Vote, ration card,
Bathroom, alternative laws
Your each spit and beat is on our face
For Brahma’s [God] mistake
on Krishna’s face" 2

We are mere objects

For you to mock at

Something for your ENTERTAINMENT programme,

You call us prostitutes

Our walk, clap and behaviors

is something for you to imitate?.

But friend,
Have you ever thought of
we also have a life and a story to tell you
a heart breaking story”

CALL FOR PARTICIPATION

Hijras are the people who are created in the image of God as we are. God has extended God’s love and concern to them

　

Isaiah 56: 3-5 says .. and do not let the eunuch say, " I am just a dry tree"

For thus says the Lord: To the Eunuchs who keeps my Sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, I will give, in my house and within my walls, a monument and a name better than sons and daughters, I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off".  As God is concerned about them let us also participate with them in their struggles for identity and justice.

READINGS FROM HIJRAS LIFE STORIES

Noori, a hijra who lives in Tamil Nadu shares her experience from her childhood. Her (His) parents were worried for their younger son. At the age of 13, his maternal uncle stripped him and tied him to a tree, and poured jaggery syrup all over him and let ants feast on him. This was a measure to discipline the "deviant" boy. An attempt by the family to force him into marriage was the last straw for Noor. He reached Mumbai and joined in a eunuch clan and his transformation from Noor to Noori was complete.

Pamila (Name changed), an aravani (another name for hijra) sex worker from north Chennai, says how as a teenager she was belted by her father for cross dressing. "Had he empathized with me instead of accusing me, I would never have ended up in the sex trade,". She added that she did sexual favours for the police "free of cost" just to keep them at bay.

　

Asha Bharati recalls a case of a young boy whose parents administered electric shock to his genitals in an attempt to "fix" his fondness for girls’ clothes. "They hoped it would rouse the man in him". (Tamil Nadu for Transgender Rights in CPCI Website. Posted on 10)

A CRY ON BEHALF OF HIJRAS

Hijras don’t find a space inside the church where they can fit in? Can we take their concerns to our midst… Can we search for a platform where we can include their worships, rituals and festivals…?

Response:

Let us worship God by hearing and participating in this Badhai

[The Team comes in singing the Badhai Song and Dancing. One of them carries a mud pot which contains milk. Hijras have milk relationships. Dudh behan(milk sister) and dudh beti(milk daughter). It is the reference of the nurturing bond between mother and daughter symbolized by the milk that a nursing mother feeds her daughter – milk that is shared by sisters, as daughters of the same mother. The milk is placed on the altar]

LECTIONARY READING :

SCRIPTURE READING :

REFLECTION:

CHURCH RESPONSELEADER:  REPRESENTATIVE OF THE CHURCH

(Taking milk and pouring it out in a vessel)

Here, we offer for Hijras a new relationship in Christ, where there is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither bond nor free; there is neither male nor female for all is one in Christ Jesus. We offer you a new relationship where you can find mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, a bond of love and a place of care. This church is a place of solace, a bridging between Hijras and outside of the world. We offer you an identity which will give you respect and honor.

AFFIRMATION OF FAITH [UNISON]

We believe that all the creations share the image of God. We believe in the plurality or creation and celebrate its splendor. We believe that the membership of the church is not tied up with gender or capacity to give birth. We believe in the promise of Isaiah that God would make God’s temple a house of prayer for all nations. We believe participating in the Hijras struggle is participating in God’s mission for justice. Today we remind ourselves of the unfolding drama of salvation in which God is at work to create a new people who will be inclusive, who will serve him with integrity and who will be rooted in Jesus Christ... Amen

SENDING OUT

Let the church be a place of refuge and solace, a community, a fellowship where people strive to understand one another, where we take seriously our commitment, where people strive to understand one another. To the glory of God the Parent, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.

: This milk symbolizes the breaking of Hijras relationship with others and clinging to their own community. What can the church offer them? Shall we keep them to be exclusive or the church has something to mend the broken relationship with these people?

(Genesis 1: 26-27Matthew 7: 21 -29 The Church is open to all irrespective of any gender. God’s love is extended to all.th March 2008)