2014 LUTHERAN WOMEN’S BIBLICAL LIFE CONFERENCE IN MYANMAR
Oh Sing to the Lord, Oh
sing God a new song!
For God is the Lord, and God has done wonders!
And sing we
did! And wonders we have seen! Gathered by the Word, thirty-five women from all
four of the Federation of Lutheran
Churches in Myanmar took part in the Lutheran
Women’s Biblical Life Conference mid -November 2014. Hosted on the grounds of the historic
Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Yangon, the event was co-sponsored by the Mekong
Mission Forum (MMF).
Dr. Margaret
Hunt from the Lutheran Church of Australia (LCA) challenged us to consider how God
speaks to us today through women in the Bible. These were not easy stories:
Tamar, Lot’s daughters, the widowed Ruth, the five
Zelophehad sisters. For each Biblical passage we asked: Who? What? Where? When? And then the big questions: Why is this story in the Bible? What does
God want us to learn from this story?
Engaging
with multi-media slides, works of art, song, small group discussion, and even a
“Bible Bingo” game, participants
explored these fascinating, but in some cases little known stories of
Holy Scripture. In addition, participants were invited to note how various
women of the Bible offer clear examples of the Lutheran understanding of the priesthood of all believers, call and vocation, servant leadership,
as well as the way in which God’s people are saints and sinners.
The women each crafted hand-sewn decorations for
their “servant stoles” as a symbol of this priesthood we all share as sisters
in Christ.
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I have to laugh at the way I look in this last photo (front & center!) - like an exhausted old missionary lady!!! And I was exhausted, dealing with Yangon heat, traffic, logistics, language translation, financial reimbursements. I've since found out I was already suffering from a hyper-thyroid which affected my energy levels. But it was a highlight of 2014, to be able to sit at the feet of my Myanmar and Australian (co-presenter) sisters and listen to their insights and encouragement to speak the TRUTH about what's happening in their communities, and plan for ACTIONS of GRACE, in Jesus' name. Wow!
"The daughters of Zelophehad are right in what they are saying;
you shall indeed let them possess an inheritance among their father’s brothers and pass the inheritance of their father on to them."
-- GOD, quoted in Numbers 27:7
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