Title: ELCA Women Celebrate Culture and Unity
ELCA NEWS SERVICE
July 11, 2002
ELCA WOMEN CELEBRATE CULTURE AND UNITY
WO-01-MR
PHILADELPHIA (ELCA) -- About 400 African American and Black,
American Indian and Alaskan Native, Asian and Pacific Islanders, Latina,
Middle Eastern and Arab, and European American Lutheran women gathered
to celebrate culture and pave a way for unity at "Way-Making Women: A
Way to Unity" here July 8-10 at the Wyndham Franklin Plaza Hotel.
Women at the gathering created systems of support and shared
common issues and concerns through Bible study, worship and community
gatherings. "Way-Making Women" is a component of Women of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's (ELCA) Fifth Triennial
Gathering here July 8-14 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.
"Way-Making Women created an atmosphere for sharing and
celebrating God's gift of culture, as well as making a bridge for the
rest of the week," said Valora K. Starr Butler, a member of the
gathering's planning team, Women of the ELCA, Chicago.
"The experience assisted all women in discovering their part in
the call to healing relationships in the church, society and the world,"
she said. "This is not a program," Starr Butler said of the gathering,
"it is an experience."
The gathering opened with worship led by the Rev. Margarita
Martinez, bishop of the ELCA Caribbean Synod, Dorado, Puerto Rico. "We
are way-making women because we belong to the community of Jesus Christ.
We are way-making women because we allow the spirit to flow, to lead us,
to confront, to risk, to proclaim life when death surrounds us,"
Martinez told participants.
The Rev. Cynthia Rembert James, Oakland, Calif., is a Christian
psychologist who pastors two Church of God congregations. She is the
first female bishop elected to the Board of Bishops for the Joint
College of African American Bishops' Congress.
In three separate Bible study presentations, James focused on the
role of midwives in the Holy Bible. In the book of Exodus, "Miriam was
drafted into service. She was instrumental in the growth of the Kingdom
of God. Miriam was called to rise above and become a way-making woman,"
she said.
"God not only has a plan for our deliverance and not only a plan
for our moral conduct, but God has a plan for our praise. God has a
plan for women to break out," James told participants. "The God that is
in us, with us, is so much more than what the world will give us."
"The challenge to us, in a post-modern time, is to be the presence
of a transcendent reality. We are to be the broken bread and the
spilled wine. We are to be the community that draws others to Christ
through participation in God's incarnate presence, i.e., the church, the
body of Christ," she said.
"Dr. James has given me a special perspective on way-making women,
women who nurture and persevere, show compassion and become leaders.
She taught me that in the midst of nurturing others, we should stop and
nurture ourselves. She has inspired me to return home, 'break out,' and
become a more effective way-making woman among youth in this post-modern
world," said participant Esther Q. Bolton, St. Paul Lutheran Church,
Stone Mountain, Ga.
Following each Bible study, participants gathered in "community,"
an opportunity for participants to listen, share and learn from one
another.
"We need time as sisters to gather around common gifts, seasons of
life and the context in which we find ourselves. Community time calls us
to move out of our comfort zones," said Starr Butler.
Music was provided by Kyros, a seven-member band whose songs
"spanned all cultures."
Women of the ELCA's three-year theme, "Listen, God is Calling," is
being unveiled at the convention amid Bible study, keynote addresses,
workshops, business sessions and field trips.
- - -
Editors: Photographs from "Way-Making Women: A Way to Unity" and Women
of the ELCA's Triennial Gathering are maintained at
http://www.elca.org/wo/events/tg/tg02/connect/photos.html on the
Internet. News releases and other information about the gathering are
maintained at http://www.elca.org/wo/events/tg/tg02/connect/news.html on
the Internet.
For information contact:
Melissa Ramirez, newsroom manager (215) 418-2045 or [log in to unmask]
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask]
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html
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