Greetings from Angela Bell
Angela Bell, secretary of the women of the ELCA, presented the following greeting at the C/SIS Women of the ELCA Convention, September 9-10, 2022.
“I have called you by name, you are mine!”
Isaiah 43:1 (Theme)
Your chosen theme of Bonding, Learning, and Growing Closer to God has been beautifully interwoven into everything surrounding your convention. From your guest speakers and presenters to worship and devotions that spoke of how we are the light of the world and by shining we give the glory to God to the hymns that poetically stated "I will go Lord, IF you lead me” and the many reasons why we as God's people need to remove that conditional 'IF' - one doesn’t have to look too hard to see powerful examples of God’s love and mercy and our call to be bold followers of Jesus. Martin Luther is often quoted as saying “Be a sinner and sin boldly, but believe and rejoice in Christ even more boldly. For he is victorious over sin, death, and the world.” But this is often misinterpreted. The website 1517.org explains that: “It’s clear that what Luther is saying here is not to go sin so that grace will abound. Rather he’s advocating brutal honesty and forthrightness before God, not being afraid to call a thing what it is.”
Is that not how we learn and grow with one another? By being honest and open with each other? We share our lives with each other in the hopes that our mistakes will teach others what not to do and our joys and celebrations will draw us closer to each other and, in turn, our love for each other will bring us closer to God.
In the interest of being open and honest with y’all, I am a very emotional person. My “poker” face fades in and out of view constantly. I live in constant fear about how the things that I say to others will be received. I worry about what other people’s reactions will be to many things, often things that truly have no bearing on anyone’s life but my own. It took me over a decade to get my first tattoo. I just got this one back in May and it holds a very deep and personal meaning to me. We all get scared and uncomfortable, but we also know that we have to try. We cannot let the unknown, the things that we cannot or have yet to see, stop us.
I often turn to an interpretation of the Bible called The Message when I want to dive deeper into a passage. This version is more frank as it was translated in order to try and reach the ‘younger’ populations with a more ‘current’ interpretation. I offer to you this passage, Romans 8:37-39:
“None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I’m absolutely convinced that nothing-nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable-absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our master has embraced us.”
If you leave today with nothing else, I hope that you take that with you and practice it fully. Remember that no other human being should have to ‘earn’ our kindness, compassion, or mercy. We all deserve God’s love and mercy, for we are saved by grace through faith, so let’s do as Jesus asked and love others just as Jesus loves us, boldly.
My name is Angela Bell and I am the secretary of the executive board for the Women of the ELCA. I bring you greetings from our president, Joy Michalicek and the entire executive board as well as from our executive director, Linda Post Bushkofsky and her staff in Chicago.
I am incredibly honored and grateful to be able to share what has become more of a pep talk than a greeting over the past few years with my Siblings in Christ in the Central/Southern Illinois Synodical Women's Organization. Such strange and challenging times that we are living in now; everything is topsy-turvy and both confusing and exciting all at once. I am sure that each of you is just as fatigued and frustrated as I am with the sometimes daily changes that have been occurring for well over two years now.
In the midst of all of this turmoil and chaos, I have made it my personal goal to embrace these challenges and focus on the blessings that God provides every day. Whether your heart is troubled by hurricanes, floods, or wildfires, racism, sexism, politics, COVID-19, or other illnesses — the list goes on and on — know that you are not alone. Not only is the Holy Spirit with you, but so are millions of other Lutherans as well as many other members of our communities and neighborhoods. If we are struggling and in need, we have to be brave and speak up. Find our voice. Show others that it is okay if we are not okay, asking for help is NOT a weakness nor is it a burden.
Things look different now in many places. Our groups have had to think outside the box more and find new ways to be in relationship with each other and continue the hard work of making sure that our voices are heard. Some groups have chosen to go digital and meet together via different platforms such as Zoom or Facebook Live while others are offering more of a hybrid of in-person and digital methods combined. Bible studies from Gather magazine and articles online from Bold Cafe have provided us with several topics to discuss and ponder in our groups. Some have gone back to sending cards and postcards with sweet messages of love and encouragement. Others are still struggling, even now, with finding a way to meet as not everyone has access to the internet or a computer. Please pray for your Siblings in Christ as they take the important step of determining how their future will look.
Each of our members has something that they are passionate about. Have you figured out where your passions lie? I can't quilt to save my life, but I can write a letter. Give a pep talk (I hope). Cook a meal (I LOVE being in the kitchen). Provide a listening ear and pray fervently. My passion lies within the inner workings of our organization and ensuring that it comes out of these trying times BIGGER and STRONGER than ever.
We all tend to stick with behaviors and patterns longer when it’s something that we care deeply about. That’s human nature. If you enjoy what you are doing or why you are doing something, it’s much more likely to be seen through all the way to the end. Whether it’s praying for and sending help to your companion synod in Madagascar, supporting Little Lambs in Uganda, food pantries, making care kits, Lutheran World Relief, Lutheran Disaster Response, ELCA World Hunger…the list is endless, I assure you. I recommend that you do a little research and find out what it is that sparks joy in you. Find out what ignites your own passions and let yourself be immersed by the experience. Your newsletter did a fabulous job of advertising and promoting this convention, all three of them — thanks COVID! — and pointing several reasons why you should attend as well as what you could potentially gain from being here. I urge each of you to do the same. Help to promote the activities and events that go on in your synod, you never know who you will intrigue. Remember that both conference and synodical events, studies, and conversations will help you to grow and learn. Why not try something new while you’re at it?
Despite all of the roadblocks we have encountered since 2020, our work persists. Women of the ELCA is still busy engaging our members in thoughtful and meaningful conversations, projects, and reform. We are actively working towards our mission and purpose. Our communications team has been providing wonderful content in Gather magazine, BoldCafe.org, on social media platforms, and in our blogs. Bold Cafe offers a monthly dinner via Zoom with a guest speaker the first Thursday evening of each month. If you haven’t signed up for one of these yet, I encourage you to do so. The next one will be Thursday, October 6, 2022, at 7:00 PM CST. The invitation for this special night reads: "Once a month we meet with some of our popular writers to talk about our favorite articles and more! Bring your own dinner (B.Y.O.D) and sign up via Zoom.
These past two years, we’ve shared laughter, grief, and wisdom in a community built virtually.
Join us as we mark this anniversary with a ritual and a reflection of our past year." The great thing about these monthly dinners is that each one is unique, so you can attend as many or as few as you'd like without missing a beat. No pressure.
As I’m sure your board has reported, many changes were made at our Triennial Convention last year that was done digitally for the first time ever. We reduced the size of our executive board but also made it more inclusive in its makeup. We adopted a budget for 2022 and approved several memorials. We created more flexibility with the makeup of the executive boards for our synodical women’s organizations in several ways. For example, officers and board members no longer have to be members of active units.
Your churchwide executive board had our spring board meeting this past April, where we continued the work we already had in motion. Women of the ELCA launched a major campaign for Katie’s Fund back in June as we celebrated the 35th birthday of our organization. We are working hard to support Executive Director Linda Post Bushkofsky as she reorganizes the information available in regards to Katie’s Fund. It is our hope that this project will allow us to better communicate the many amazing ways that this fund helps to support, educate, and develop new leaders.
We continue to create new ways to follow through on our approved focus on anti-racism for the 2020-2023 triennium. Take a look at the Justice page on the Women of the ELCA website for more information on how to join the Racial Justice Advocacy Network and links to resources. You will also find a link to the blogs that were written as companion pieces to the Now is the Time: A Study Guide for ELCA Declaration to People of African Descent. Staff members of Women of the ELCA wrote and published a devotion in February titled “Study and education as devotion during Black History Month” that offered explanations, in part, to the organization’s anti-racism work and our three foci. Our staff have also become more diligent in using land acknowledgments at the start of online events.
Ever wondered about what the duties of each position of your synodical board encompasses? Executive Director Bushkofsky and our staff led several training sessions via Zoom this spring detailing just that. If you are still interested in learning more, each of these sessions were recorded and are posted on the Women of the ELCA website under the Tools for Leaders heading. I urge you to check them out and see that it’s not quite as scary as our minds can make it seem! Let’s face it, we humans often make ‘mountains out of molehills’ or ‘much ado about nothing’. We are here to help you feel more comfortable and confident about being a leader.
The sad reality is that due to the pandemic some of our groups and synods are still not able to fully meet in person regularly. This means that offerings are not always being taken up and sent into the organization. I thank each and every one of you as I know that your synod has been giving faithfully throughout the pandemic, but creating a budget has proven difficult in recent years and we all need to work together to find a way to carry on. Our executive director and staff have been working diligently to reduce costs wherever they are able, which sadly has resulted in the large decrease in staff the past few years. The Budget and Finance Committee has been working towards different ways in which we can still do the work we are called to do with what we have been given, but we need your help. Please encourage your units to collect Thankofferings and send them to the ELCA Gift Processing Center. There's even an option to give digitally through our womenoftheelca.org website for those who would rather not mail a donation in. Thankofferings are an awesome way to support our ongoing ministries. Your offerings allow us to continue our justice and advocacy work. They allow us to train, develop, and educate leaders who then help us to support our congregational units and synodical organizations. They also help us to administer grants like our Raising Up Healthy Women and Girls’ program and several scholarships as well as provide funding for the costs of our Triennial Conventions and Gatherings. Your offerings allow women from all over to find their voice and then USE it. Boldly. It allows them to break barriers and be heard, much like your assistance with funds to help Toromaree Mananto gain internet access in Madagascar. Our staff works hard to help coordinate and support each of these programs as well as our communications and resources. Without your help funding the day to day functions of our organization, we fail to exist.
Have you heard about our Faithful Friends program? It's an easy way to give to our organization monthly. You choose the amount that you would like to be withdrawn from your checking account or charged to your credit card. You can sign up for this program online or by printing a form from our website and mailing it to the ELCA Gift Processing Center. Your gift can be adjusted at any time with a simple phone call or email.
Please continue to support Women of the ELCA not only monetarily but also in prayer and service. We need to work together as one to be the hands and feet of Jesus, proclaiming God’s love and mercy to one and all, BOLDLY. “Let us, therefore, approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” We can accomplish more together than we can individually by far. Our collective voices are powerful, so let's use them. Let’s be more like Jesus asks in the book of John. Let the same mind be in us that was in Christ Jesus. Let us humble ourselves as Jesus did, for the sake of the whole world. For perhaps we were put in these circumstances for such a time as this.
Will you be a part of this endeavor? Join us and help to ensure that Women of the ELCA is around for our children and grandchildren, for many generations to come. Thank you for inviting me to participate in your convention this year. I hope that I have given you some food for thought as well as encouragement and faith. My mailbox, inbox, and phone are always available if you'd like to talk. :)
Stay safe and keep the faith, always.
Angela Bell