ELCA NEWS SERVICE
July 8, 2005
Lutheran Women Learn What It Takes To 'Act Boldly'
05-117-MRC
SAN ANTONIO (ELCA) -- After spending the past three years “listening
to God's call,” thousands of Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America (ELCA) are making the transition from listening to learning about
what it will take to “act boldly” on their faith and life.
Women of the ELCA's Sixth Triennial Gathering is meeting here July
5-10 at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center. The organization's
three-year theme, “Act Boldly,” is being unveiled at the convention amid
Bible study, keynote presentations, workshops, community service, business
sessions and elections. More than 2,100 women from across the United
States and around the world are participating.
During a July 7 inspiration session called “Finding my Boldness,”
Debra Farrington asked participants to individually think about “what in
the last three years of listening is so important to you?” Farrington
invited participants to share their individual responses with women
sitting beside them. She also asked participants to think about and share
their answers to two questions -- “What is it that you're moving toward?”
and “Where do you feel that God is calling you to act boldly?”
Farrington, author and retreat leader, Harrisburg, Pa., said it is
important for women to remember that, “when acting boldly, do those things
that you can actually pursue.”
“God is still calling you, listen with all your heart, and find the
courage to act boldly on that calling,” Farrington told participants.
Seven musicians performed between speakers and Bible study. The Rev.
Sarah Henrich, associate professor of New Testament at Luther Seminary,
St. Paul, Minn., led Bible study.
Henrich said that the word “bold” in the Bible means “to be
confident, to be free.” She asked participants, “What does it mean to be
confident? And, to whom are we confident? Confidence is where we put our
trust. For us, confidence is in God” and “God allows us to move forward.”
Henrich identified three heroes who “sat boldly.” Deborah, a
prophetess and judge in Israel from the Book of Judges in the Christian
Old Testament, serves as an example of a woman “who sees what needs to be
done and does it.” Deborah sat under a palm tree between Ramah and
Bethel. The second “sitter” Henrich cited was Rosa Parks, a simple and
unapologetic woman who “changed the face of an entire nation.” Nelson
Mandela, the third sitter, “sat in prison for more years than the world
should have tolerated.” Henrich read aloud portions of Mandela's 1994
inaugural speech as president of South Africa.
Participants also focused on how they are taking control of their
health and well-being in order to make a difference in the world. For the
next three years, Women of the ELCA plans to mobilize 3.2 million women in
the five-million-member church to improve their own health and the health
of others under the initiative “Raising Up Healthy Women and Girls.”
“If we are going to act boldly, we must begin with our own bodies and
with our own spirits,” said Valora Starr, associate for programs, Women of
the ELCA. Starr led a panel discussion of six women featuring some of the
gathering's international guests. The women panelists were seated at a
kitchen table, with the stage backdrop depicting a kitchen. “Tables are
often symbols of power, decision making and cooperation,” said Starr. The
panelists responded to such questions as, “What does acting boldly look
like for ordinary women” and "How can individual women make a difference
in the lives of others?"
- - -
Information about the Women of the ELCA's Sixth Triennial Gathering
is at http://www.womenoftheELCA.org on the Web.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask]
http://www.elca.org/news
|