wfn.org | Presbyterian Women Welcome Rhee, Kirkpatrick

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Note #6125 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

18-July-2000
00262

Presbyterian Women Welcome Rhee, Kirkpatrick

by John Filiatreau

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The 2000 Churchwide Gathering of Presbyterian Women
resumed Monday morning with a worship session featuring spirited singing
("All God's Critters Got a Place in the Choir," with hand-clapping and
wing-flapping, as appropriate), sermons on the gathering's theme, "Sound the
trumpets! Proclaim Jubilee!"and greetings from Syngman Rhee, moderator of
the 212th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), and the Rev.
Clifton Kirkpatrick, the denomination's stated clerk.
	Kirkpatrick told the crowd of about 6,000 women that the Louisville
gathering is "the very first church event" that he and Rhee "have to share
together," and predicted: "It's not going to get any better than this!"
	Rhee commended Presbyterian Women for the "wonderful work" it has done in
"sharing the good news of Jesus Christ," and prompted a roar from his
audience by adding: "Presbyterian Women gathering is a powerhouse! There is
nothing you cannot do!"
	Rhee spoke of his days as a young refugee from North Korea, a son of a
Presbyterian minister who was  "imprisoned and martyred for his faith." He
told his audience: "I was one of those people that your contributions have
touched and revived. ... and there are thousands and thousands of Syngman
Rhees scattered all over the world, even today."
	"Three weeks ago a miracle has happened," the moderator went on, "a new
possibility of reconciliation in Korea." That glimmer of hope, he said, is
one facet of Jubilee. He called on Presbyterian Women to "continue to be
reconcilers for God's ministry, that all may be free, being touched by the
love of God."
	Rhee got another ovation when he introduced his wife, Haesun, as "my
partner, my coach ... my brain."
	Kirkpatrick said one important development in the PC(USA) is "the
proliferation of special-interest groups in the life of the church." Some
people, he said, "believe Presbyterian Women is a special-interest group.
.. (But) it's a group whose special interest is the well-being of the whole
church!" Referring again to quarreling special-interest groups in the
church, Kirkpatrick said, "In Christ there are no irreconcilable
differences." He told the women to be "a demonstration of what God intends
for all humanity," and "to go forward as God's agents of Jubilee in all the
world."
	In her sermon, the Rev. Sharon G. Stanley spoke of the passage in Exodus
where Moses asks God, "Show me your glory," and God replies, "You cannot see
my face, for no one shall see me and live," and goes on: "While my glory
passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with
my hand until I have passed by; then I will take away my hand and you shall
see my back; but my face shall not be seen."
	"We are cleft-dwelling sisters," Stanley said, "(and) we will live
differently after we have caught a glimpse of God." She said women of the
church must "Go tell!" the message of Jubilee that "God has already
proclaimed to us," and "keep watching God's back."
	During Monday evening's plenary session, the Rev. Jean Kim, associate for
Ending Homelessness for Women, urged Presbyterian Women to be generous in
this year's Churchwide Gathering Offering, which is to be divided among the
Daughters of Zelophehad, of Richmond, Va., and Lincoln County Community
Service Inc., of North Platte, Nebr., which provide shelter and services to
homeless women and children; and the Guidance and Training Center for the
Child and Family, of Bethlehem, Palestine, which helps Palestinian children
and families "who have been traumatized by the circumstances and conditions
of occupation."
	"Can we do without this hundred dollars this year?" Kim asked, holding up a
bill. "Let's not play with one dollar, two dollars, five dollars, even 10
dollars; I call that snack money."
	The principal speaker of the evening was Mercy Amba Oduyoye, of the
Institute of African Women in Religion and Culture, a program of Trinity
Theological Seminary in Legon, Ghana. She explained how women in Africa cup
their hands to create "horns" that they use "to stay in touch with
companions too far (away) to be seen." She suggested that Presbyterian Women
use the same instrument to "proclaim Jubilee in God's world to God's
people."
	This signal, Oduyoye said, is "a call to action ... a sound that results in
movement, movement toward light, movement for life." Women must mobilize,
she said, to ensure "that the resources of God's Earth might be for all
God's people, and not just for God's rich people."
	"We are being called to examine ourselves," she said, calling for women to
rise up "and demand justice from the rich, whose lifestyles are supported by
the poor." She spoke of "10 Jubilee years of exploitation (of Africa) by
Europeans -- 500 years," and called for an exorcism of what she called "the
demons of low self-esteem" that torment black people and women.
	"The call from Africa," she said, "comes to all our sisters everywhere."
	At several points during her address, Oduyoye cupped her hands and sounded
her "horn," prompting hundreds of Presbyterian Women to respond in kind.
	During the plenary session, the women of PW saluted the organization's
retiring leaders for the years 1997-2000 (Diana Lin, moderator, and Carol
Hylkema and Ann Beran Jones, vice moderators), and those newly installed for
2000-2003 -- Karen Fritsch, moderator, Ann McFarlane, vice moderator for
mission, and Gerry Tayler, vice moderator for justice and peace.
	Tayler told her audience, "Presbyterian Women can make a difference ...
helping one person at a time."
	Fritsch vowed that PW will "continue to study God's world, for this is what
Presbyterian Women do ... fervently pray together, for this is what
Presbyterian Women do ... work for justice and peace in God's world, for
this is what Presbyterian Women do ... work diligently and soar freely, for
this is what Presbyterian Women do."

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