and expanded ELCA churchwide ministries.) Elaine Neuenfeldt, Lutheran World Federation sec-
retary for women in church and society, discussed the difficult realities women around the world face, includ- ing violence, trafficking, and unequal pay and educa- tion. “We need collective circles of sisterhood where our voices can be expressed,” she said.
Beautiful thistles Keynote speaker Becca Stevens, an Episcopal priest, spoke about Magdalene and Thistle Farms, a two-year residential community and enterprise she founded in 1997 for women who have survived addiction, traf- ficking, prostitution and incarceration. Te Nashville, Tenn.-based community provides free housing, food, health care, education, therapy and job training. It also partners with women farmers in Rwanda who produce geranium oil for Thistle Farm products. Stevens told of a Lutheran farmer from Nebraska
asking her: “You know [thistles] are weeds, right?” Tistles are a weed, yes, Stevens told participants,
“but that’s the point, to take these beautiful and lovely and much despised weeds that we all are and remember their beauty, their universality and their great giſts.” Stevens shared her story, including the loss of her Epis-
copal priest father, killed by a drunk driver; her mother’s struggle to raise five children alone; and the sexual abuse Stevens experienced as a child by a church elder.
Convention news “ G Patti Austin
et ready, ladies,” Patti Austin, newly elected president of
the Women of the ELCA, told more than 360 del- egates to the organization’s convention, July 22-24, in Charlotte, N.C. “God is doing a new thing in and
through this organization and each of you.” Tose new things
include convention votes to:
26
www.thelutheran.org
• Financially support efforts to provide solar energy for Phebe Hospital, a health-care ministry begun by the Lutheran Church in Liberia. • Raise awareness and prevention of human traf- ficking worldwide. • Pray for guidance and encourage congregations to be places of hospitality and share their action with ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth A. Eaton and all branches of the U.S. government to “welcome children who are seeking
refuge from violence” and to “treat these children with compassion.” • Approve a 2015 budget of $2.9 million, includ- ing $425,000 to be given to the ELCA churchwide organization. Delegates also:
• Heard that the orga- nization’s Katie’s Fund, which supports leadership development, global con- nections, living theology and more, surpassed its $1 million goal. • Elected officers to three- year terms that conclude
in 2017. Austin, a member of All Saints Lutheran Church, Lilburn, Ga., was joined by vice presi- dent Jody Smiley of St. Michael, Blacksburg, Va.; secretary Becky Shurson, Faith, Yucaipa, Calif.; and treasurer Ely Smith, Trinity, Parkland, Wash. A 17-member executive board was elected, also to three-year terms. Learn more at www.
womenoſ
theelca.org (click on “News”).
ELCA News
Stevens said women living at Magdalene were, on
average, first raped between the ages of 7 and 11—some even earlier. “Tey hit the streets as teenagers, where drugs and abuse continue, addictions set in, and a path in and out of incarceration continues,” she said. Magdalene, which houses 30 women in each of six
homes, has a “success rate right at 80 percent of women staying clean and sober for two years,” Stevens said. “A lot of us come from broken foundations [and] broken hearts. It is in coming together, in speaking our truth, in being honest with one another that we begin the rebuilding and restoration process.” As the triennial ended, participants were sent home
with closing worship preacher and ELCA Treasurer Linda Norman’s reminder that God “hides the potential of heaven in the smallest packages.” She continued: “God hides the salvation of the
world in a baby. God hides the healing of nations in quilting circles and prayer groups. Jesus dies, and the noon sky turns to midnight, but oh, when Sunday comes and the women find that stone has been rolled away, they know that resurrec- tion happens.”
Author bio: Hunter is a sec- tion editor of The Lutheran.
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