LOUISVILLE — Trying to get one’s arms around the 2006 Churchwide Gathering of Presbyterian Women is like trying to grab hold of a river dashing down a hillside — there’s too much at once, and always more coming.
The Gathering — held July 7 to 11 in Louisville — brings together about 3,000 Presbyterian women from around the United States and also more than 80 global partners, who come to share stories of the faith and work of women from their countries.
It is partly a celebration of Presbyterian Women’s long history of hard work on behalf of mission — a recognition of the strength and service women have brought to Presbyterian congregations through the generations.
Joan Gray, just-elected moderator of the 217th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), greeted the Gathering on July 8 and told the crowd that it was Presbyterian Women, especially the women in church circles, who helped shape and train her as a Presbyterian.
“We gather together,” Gray said. “We talk about our lives. … We wrestle with the Scriptures. And then what do we do? We eat.”
Gray described those church circles as “a safe space where we can be the people God calls us to be,” where women come together with all their warts and imperfections, talk honestly, and grow in faith.
At a time when the church is at risk of pulling apart, people need a place to “share the things that make our hearts sing,” Gray said. “Then we need to break bread together — eat pound cake, drink coffee. … We need to be inspired by the Word if we are going to go out and embody the gospel.”
Earlier, Charlotte Johnstone of Milwaukee, who writes the column “Dispatch from Forbearance Presbyterian Church” in Horizons magazine, described the same thing when speaking of the church women of her fictional small town. “Their lives, like most of our lives, are made up of small moments,” Johnstone said. “Those small moments make all the difference.”
But the Gathering also is a reflection of the issues that have grabbed the attention and the hearts of women in the church — issues of tremendous importance around the world.
AIDS.
Poverty.
Globalization.
The decline of family farms.
The experience of women in the Middle East.
Presbyterian Women holds Global Exchanges every three years, sending fact-finding delegations to a particular country to study issues related to women and children. It raises money for mission, in part through its Birthday and Thank Offerings, which bring in about $2 million a year.
And at the Gathering, the speakers and workshop leaders — while they don’t provide a comprehensive view of issues — touch on some of the great difficulties of the world, and sometimes say the hard, uncomfortable things.
They do it all with a flash of humor, a touch of silliness (lots of waving of colored light-sticks for applause), and an unflinching appreciation of the grassroots impact of women in churches and of their advocacy and leadership around the world.
Poet Ann Weems, speaking July 8, spoke of how the PC(USA) has lost members and money, but perhaps should be worrying about a loss of faithfulness as well. Presbyterians have spent money on “costly quarreling,” she said, but not always on working for justice and mercy.
“How the heart of God must grieve, how the Good Shepherd must weep,” Weems said, “with so many sick, longing to be healed, so many tortured, waiting to be freed . . . The world is in tears, crying in agony. The soul of the church is bruised by its silence.”
In 2005, Presbyterian Women’s Global Exchange was to Brazil — and a point of emphasis at this Gathering was discussion of the economic conditions in Brazil.
During one workshop, Stephen Bartlett of Agricultural Missions Inc. described the problems of the landless in Brazil. Millions of small farmers have lost their land, in part because of prices being undercut by globalization and international trade agreements.
And conference organizers drew intentional links between the agricultural difficulties of other countries and the precariousness of life for family farmers in the U.S.
“How many of you think of where your food comes from?” asked Diana Stephen, who’s been involved in rural ministry work. “Who pays the real cost of our abundant and cheap food supply?”
She encouraged the women to notice the “silent food revolution” creeping across the globe — pushing farmers and ranchers off their land, oppressing the men and women who work in the agricultural production plants and pick crops in the fields.
Benedita da Silva, minister of social assistance in the Brazilian government, grew up in a shantytown near Rio de Janeiro, where, she said, girls did not “dream of a life different from their mothers and grandmothers,” a life which, at its best, would consist of “a lot of work, daily injustices, and very few prospects in life.”
But da Silva wanted more — and became involved in efforts to organize impoverished women in the shantytowns to work for economic independence. Little by little they pushed for change, got involved in politics, and over time have achieved some success, although Brazil is still very much a country with stark differences between the economic classes.
“We are women who believe that faith is not enough,” she told the Gathering July 9. “We must have faith … and we must work.” She asked all there for their prayers and support.
“I believe that God has a plan for each one of us,” da Silva said. “Because it was to us women that Christ, resurrected, appeared. Let’s wake up all the men of the world” — she said this to whoops and lots of waving of the light sticks — “so they can also see God’s creation.”
