wfn.org | LWF Vice President Underlines Women's Role in Transforming Society

["Frank Imhoff" <FRANKI@elca.org>]

"For the Healing of the World": First Pre-Assembly Gathering

MONTREUX, Switzerland/GENEVA, 17 November 2002 (LWI) - The first
preparatory consultation toward the 2003 Lutheran World Federation
(LWF) Tenth Assembly officially began on November 15 with a call
on women to recognize their significant responsibility in
effecting change of attitude and transformation in a world in
which the weak and voiceless are increasingly being marginalized
by the powerful.

"God has created a beautiful world order but we have turned it
into a market place for profits and losses," said Rev. Dr Prasanna
Kumari, LWF vice president for the Asia region, when she addressed
representatives from the Federation's member churches attending
the November 14-17 Pre-Assembly Women's Gathering that took place
in Montreux, Switzerland.

Kumari, New Testament Bible scholar from the Arcot Lutheran Church
in India, cited challenges such as globalization, poverty, hunger,
HIV/AIDS and violence on all levels of society, and urged women to
recognize that the role they play in effecting change in their
local situations is as important as that of world leaders. "We
[women] can do something about the gloomy world situation that we
live in today." "We can plead for life," she said in her Bible
study presentation focusing on healing in interpersonal
relationships.

The women's pre-assembly is the first in a series of seven such
consultations - five regional ones in Africa, Asia, Euope, Latin
America and the Caribbean, and North America, and a global youth
event - that will take place before the July 21-31 Assembly in
Winnipeg, Canada. Deliberations are based on the Assembly theme,
"For the Healing for the World."

Kumari stressed that there is not part of life that does not need
health and wholeness in the world today. In their genuine efforts
to create a safe haven, human beings have created more sickness
and pain, both in interpersonal relationships and society, and
women know this only too well since they experience on a daily
basis the "suffering, violence, abuse, silence and oppression."

For Kumari, a former executive secretary of the United Evangelical
Lutheran Church in India - a body of ten Lutheran churches - the
Assembly theme, decided on two years ago, is even more apt today.
"September 11 was the day when the hopes and aspirations of the
victims and their families came to ground zero," she said in
reference to the 2001 terrorist attacks against the United States
in which thousands were killed. She noted that this was one event
that testified to the reality that hatred and violence are at
their peak.

The LWF vice president questioned justification for the US-led war
against terrorism, especially after the terrorist attacks. "Under
the guise of eliminating terrorism, hundreds of thousands of
Afghan people are either killed or made homeless," she noted. In
Iraq, the west's economic sanctions imposed during and after the
Gulf War in the early 90s resulted in the death of over half a
million innocent children. "The number of children killed in the
effort to make Saddam Hussein powerless are more than those who
died in Hiroshima [1945 atomic bomb]," Kumari said. She wondered
if the purpose had been achieved when efforts to eliminate weapons
of mass destruction have ended up eliminating the "holy innocent
children, widowed women, disabled many men, and left ordinary
Iraqi's today a suffering and dying people, suffocated in
silence."

Kumari recalled her encounters withPalestinian and Israeli women
working for an end to the ongoing conflict and restoration of
peace in their region. "They cry out for peace and communal
harmony in the midst of the loud noises of the tankers and firing.
They are pleading to let the children live."

Religious intolerance is on the increase and many have lost their
lives, human dignity and rights for the sake of their faith,
Kumari noted, mentioning Africa, India and Indonesia among other
places, where Christians are persecuted for their faith.

Kumari also noted that while economic globalization has a positive
impact for the big multinationals it suppresses the weaker
sections of society. The marginalized continue to raise their
voices "against the new rules of our global economy that are
governed by competitive logic that constantly seeks out ever lower
production costs. This race is profit-oriented and not
life-oriented."

Women can make a difference in restoring health and wholeness, and
building a global community of equals, Kumari told the
pre-Assembly participants who included around 60 representatives
from LWF member churches worldwide. Her biblical reflection was
based on the story of Nabal's wife Abigail, who averted bloodshed
in her community by playing the role of a peacemaker (1st Samuel
25: 1-42). An opening worship of the Pre-Assembly Women's
Gathering took place November 14 in the evening.

As a member of the LWF Executive Committee and Council - the
governing body meeting annually - Kumari is chairperson of the
Standing Committee for World Service and a member of the Program
Committee for Theology and Studies. The Assembly, comprising
delegates of all LWF member churches, is the highest
decision-making body of the Federation. It is normally held every
six years.

(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the
Lutheran tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund (Sweden), the LWF now
has 136 member churches in 76 countries representing over 61.7
million of the 65.4 mllion Lutherans worldwide. The LWF acts on
behalfof its member churches in areas of common interest such as
ecumenical relations, theology, humanitarian assistance, human
rights, communication, and the various aspects of mission and
development work. Its secretariat is located in Geneva,
Switzerland.

[Lutheran World Information (LWI) is the information service of
the Lutheran World Federation (LWF). Unless specifically noted,
material presented does not represent positions or opinions of the
LWF or of its various units. Where the dateline of an article
contains the notation (LWI), the material may be freely reproduced
with acknowledgment.]

*	*	*
LUTHERAN WORLD INFORMATION
PO Box 2100, CH-1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland
English Editor: Pauline Mumia
E-mail: pmu@lutheranworld.org
Tel: (41.22) 791.63.54
Fax: (41.22) 791.66.30
http://www.lutheranworld.org/