ELCA NEWS SERVICE July 29, 2008 Lutherans Reflect on God's Mission in the World 08-127-MRC LA CROSSE, Wis. (ELCA) -- Bearing the realization that for three generations her ancestors were the largest slave-trading family in U.S. history, Katrina Browne told more than 1,500 Lutherans gathered here July 17-20 for the 2008 Global Mission Event of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) that "no one wants to be related to bad guys. It brings up shame, guilt and pain, and it raises uncomfortable questions about what to do now." Browne, an Episcopalian, is director of the 2008 Sundance Film Festival selection "Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North." She spoke July 17 at the opening plenary of the ELCA Global Mission Event. "I decided to make a film about my family history and my family coming to terms with (its history) because I realized that my family was a microcosm" of the slave-based economy in New England, said Browne. Her ancestors, the DeWolfs, sent ships from Rhode Island to West Africa, bringing back men, women and children for slave trade in the United States. Although the smallest state in the United States, Rhode Island sent the most ships to Africa, she said. "If anyone knows about this history, it is the White Southerners who have taken the sole blame for slavery," said Browne. "Winners write the history books, (and) because the Civil War was won by Northerners, we have this huge notion of Northerners as 'good guys' and Southerners as 'bad guys.'" "Thinking about the nation as a whole, we naturally tend to want foundational narratives that are triumphant, positive. We think that if we have to face the ugly parts of the founding of the nation, like slavery and Native American genocide, we will be diminished, tarnished. We won't be able to be the proud Americans that we're raised to want to be." Browne told Lutherans that the more she has faced her ancestry "the more solid, grounded, relaxed and free" she's become. She said, "By bringing the history out of the shadows and into my conscious and spoken life, I'm saying to people of African descent, 'I've seen what happened, what my people did to your people. I see what kind of wreckage is left in the wake of this atrocity.'" "We look for all kinds of fancy solutions as to what we perceive to be the complex problems of racism in America, but a lot of it boils down to the basic respect that we all experience when we are fully seen," Browne said. "It's generally not considered politically correct to talk about how slavery hurt white people, how any privileged group is suffering. But true freedom and transformation of society comes when those of us who've been denied full humanity and those who've been doing the denying are both liberated," she said. "Understanding history is crucial to our Christian mission work." The 2008 ELCA Global Mission Event theme, "God's Work, Our Hands," was explored through stories, worship and global music. Activities on July 18 focused on the topic of HIV and AIDS. In a workshop the Rev. Lisandro Orlov, a pastor of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church in Argentina and Uruguay, offered a pastoral approach about engaging in ministry with people who are HIV-positive or living with AIDS. Orlov, a regional coordinator for the Lutheran World Federation Global Campaign against HIV and AIDS, also led a Bible reading through the "eyes of people with HIV and AIDS" at the July 18 morning plenary. "The challenge for us (as Lutherans) is how to be the church. When people have been given an HIV diagnosis, people do not know what will be the reaction. We (tend to) confuse a medical diagnosis with a moral diagnosis," he said. "It is not a health issue. For us, it is a theological, biblical and pastoral issue." For Bayo Oyebade, Jos, Nigeria, "the whole essence of life" is that "somebody can make a difference in the life of someone else. It is not always about me. I know the (United States) is about 'my space.' But I think it should be more about, 'what can I do to make life better for another person. What can I do for women who are living with HIV and AIDS in Africa?" Oyebade is international coordinator of the Mashiah Foundation, Jos. The foundation operates a holistic HIV and AIDS education, prevention, testing, counseling and health ministry, including the Women of Hope Program, which serves about 140 women who are HIV-positive. The foundation is supported by gifts from ELCA congregations and through ELCA Global Mission. Azur Ricki is participant of Mashiah's Women of Hope Program. She told the Global Mission Event audience, "I am glad to be a Lutheran." Riki tested positive for AIDS in 2006. "I was rejected from the community, left homeless and without a job with two children to support," she said. "I was accepted by the Mashiah foundation, which gave me hope (and) gave me a home. By the glory of God, I know now how to make peace. Pray that God touches the heart of every member of the ELCA." Through the care of Mashiah, Riki is now able to support herself and her two children. A "community marked by justice" served as the theme for July 19 activities. Dr. Parichart Suwanbubbha, Mahidol Research Center on Peace Building, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand, shared how interreligious dialogue is a "powerful tool" for reducing community conflict and building peace. "If we are to have peace, we must have justice," she said. Engaging in interreligious dialogue is a process that involves "deep listening" and "humans treating one another humanly," said Suwanbubbha. "You can keep your own position, conviction and duty, but it is important to create the space for dialogue." Other highlights of the ELCA Global Mission Event included 90 workshops called Global University Sessions, six "global tracks" ranging in topic from hunger to cross-cultural relations, and a GlobalFest, which featured interactive exhibits of various missions and ministries around the world. "We welcome (those) that have come to teach us and to preach to us about Jesus Christ, to energize us about the Good News of Jesus Christ," said the Rev. April Ulring Larson, bishop, ELCA La Crosse Area Synod, who welcomed guests from around the world to the event. She said one of out 10 Christians in the Coulee region of Wisconsin are members of the ELCA. "The ELCA invests about $30 million a year in support of God's mission in the world," said the Rev. Rafael Malpica Padilla, executive director, ELCA Global Mission, Chicago. ELCA Global Mission provides grants to ELCA "companion" churches overseas to support building institutional capacity, evangelism and Christian education programs, schools, water systems, health care facilities and more. It also provides scholarships to develop and educate leaders and provides funding to train and support the work of more than 260 missionaries, said Malpica Padilla. ELCA mission personnel are serving in 48 countries. "Accompaniment and relationships are what we are all about," said Sunitha Mortha, director for global formation, ELCA Global Mission. The ELCA Global Mission Event is about "celebrating what God is doing in the world," she said. - - - Information about the ELCA Global Mission Event is at http://archive.ELCA.org/gme/GME2008 on the Web. Audio of comments by Bayo Oyebade is at http://media.ELCA.org/ramgen/audionews/080722b.mp3 and by the Rev. Lisandro Orlov is at http://media.ELCA.org/ramgen/audionews/080722a.mp3 on the Web. 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