Churchwide Gathering of Presbyterian Women
Plenary focuses on access to physical and spiritual waters
By Marie Bowen, Special to The Layman, July 23, 2012
ORLANDO, Fla. — Attendees at the Churchwide Gathering of Presbyterian Women heard a lot about water during Thursday and Friday plenary sessions. Held at the Gaylord Palms Resort and Conference Center, where pools and fountains are found both indoors and outdoors, it is an apt setting for the water theme of the conference.
Cassandra Carmichael, mother of a 10-month-old daughter and a breastfeeding mom, has changed her life in order to protect her baby, knowing that throughout her pregnancy and until recently her daughter’s sole source of nutrients has been her mother.
One of those changes, Carmichael explained during her speech at the session, is bringing her own water to the office where she works after learning that the pipes may contain lead.
“Water is an essential for all creation. It is God’s great gift,” Carmichael said.
She pointed to Genesis and 1Corinthians, stating that we are to be stewards of creation.
“Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. We are all created in the image of God and we honor God when we promote healthy environmental policies. We are called to care for the most vulnerable among us. Those in low-income communities and communities of color suffer most because they are often located near industrial facilities. These ‘fence-line communities’ have higher rates of cancer and other diseases,” she said.
Carmichael turned to talking about connections. Not only is she connected to her daughter, but to local tomato farmers, to a Baptist pastor surrounded by chemical plants and to a woman in Africa who rises in the middle of the night to walk 10 miles to get a small amount of water for her family each day.
Our ultimate connection is to God through our baptism which connects us to each other. “Let everyone who is thirsty come to the River of Life.” Carmichael referenced Ezekiel 47:12 as a picture of abundant life—a river springing forth from sanctuary and providing life on both banks, reminds us “hope is about blessing, renewal and most importantly connection.”
Presbyterian Women also heard about a clean water crisis in Karpatalja on the western edge of Ukraine. Kathi Angi spoke of how the church has stepped forward to provide Christ’s love and clean water by offering filtration systems, fulfilling the call of the church “to heal the sick and prepare the way of the Lord.”
“Psalm 46 is poignant for our sisters and brothers in Haiti,” Pix Mahler said. They are “wrapped in hope” in spite of an inconsistent water supply, which sometimes comes “too much, too little, too hard, too fast. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and they are thirsty.”
“Greedy ones” have made Haitians slaves, stolen their riches, killed their gardeners and stripped their hillsides of trees,” according to a video shown by Mahler.
Nine million children have no safe water. Diarrhea, typhoid, cholera and other water-borne diseases cause half the deaths in Haiti each year. Haiti has endured frequent floods. The lack of clean water and proper sanitation has been exacerbated by earthquakes which damaged existing wells and infrastructure. Efforts to provide filtration and chlorination are helping but “children and babies are still thirsty and the hills crave trees.”
It would not be a Presbyterian Women Gathering without advocacy and women were urged to stop using bottled water. Ann Leonard used a short video Story of Bottled Water to inform women of the harmful effects of plastic bottles on the environment.
Women also heard about the support PW gives to women and girls in Sudan. Elizabeth Nyawok Ajak Nyikako read a testimonial about the installation of 20 wells in Akoba County in South Sudan provided by Presbyterian Women. As she finished her detailed report of the process of the work, she put down her prepared paper and spoke compellingly from her heart. “I am witness to the suffering of women who need us to be neighbor to Akoba County so women will have good health,” she said, drawing applause from her listeners.
During the Friday morning plenary, Debbie Braaksma said that, in South Sudan, it is sometimes hard to remember the “river that makes glad” or to avoid thinking that the river of God does not flow through South Sudan.
“In South Sudan,” she said, “more of our sisters die in childbirth than any other cause.” Forty percent of children are malnourished and one in four dies before age five. Twenty two years of civil war have resulted in millions of deaths and five million displaced from their homes. Sudanese women face attitudes and violence that make women and girls little more than slaves. Yet, Braaksma said, “There is hope and rejoicing in our new independence and our churches are growing and are filled with young people.”
Like Mary, who sang praises to God for things she had not seen, these “dear hearts are filled with hope inspired by Christ within them.” She referenced John 7:38 “Whoever believes in me…rivers of water will flow from them.”
Through the Birthday Offering, PW is constructing a new girls dorm that will increase access to education for women. Books for children are being translated and published that will contain Biblical stories of both women and men as well as children’s stories.
Braaksma also drew attention to the theme of connection, sharing with the women a number of Presbytery and mission groups that are working together with Presbyterian Women. PW has made another three year commitment to focused support for South Sudan to “point others to the river to drink of the Savior’s deep love for the people of Sudan.
By the day’s end I was weary of hearing of physical water and longing for a drink of Living Water.
References to Scripture were not absent, but it was more talked about than taught. Nancy Benson-Nicol spoke about “snapshots” for the church found in 1-2Peter, 1-3John and Jude. The books of Peter contain snapshots of encouragement and instruction for those who — though they have not seen Jesus — have believed on Him. Early believers had their struggles, Benson-Nicol admitted, but God was not finished with them yet, calling them to patience so that none would be lost but all would come to repentance.
The ‘snapshot’ in 1John is of “a beloved one” called to remain steadfast, loving one another in truth and action. God’s love in and through them was a reflection of the Father’s love toward us: “See what love the Father has for us that we should be called children of God for that is what we are.”
The “Elect Lady” is the “blurry subject” of 2John. Perhaps one woman or perhaps a church—she has some children walking in truth, some who love one another as commanded by God and some who have come under the influence of anti-christs. Through their struggle they exhibit a remarkable hospitality but are cautioned against leaving doors open to just anyone.
Benson-Nicol described Jude as a portrait of false teachers. We can “almost see the red-hot lava of anger toward those destroying the sanctuary of God.” Yet Jude sees “mercy in the mess,” and urges us to build up, pray, and look forward to the mercy of Jesus Christ.
“That forward looking hope of God’s designs for us and the world is the vision that binds us to the messages of the Epistles in our time,” she said, adding, “Vision helps us to discern faithfully our call to this time and place. What we see is the essence and source of all goodness, Father Son, and Holy Spirit, Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer.”
“Come and see what love God has demonstrated for our
ancestors,” Benson-Nicol said. “Come and see and celebrate what love God demonstrates for us. In the mess of our here-and-now, these snapshots offer a “magnificent forecast” of the hereafter.”