Gathering an exercise of many types
PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil – The women, youths, indigenous people and the disabled who gathered Tuesday before the start of the World Council of Churches Ninth Assembly stretched their limits physically, mentally and spiritually.
As participants from 348 churches, they were asked to respond to the assembly’s prayer theme: “God, in your grace, transform the world.”
The physical stretching for the seat-bound was in large, long meetings. For two mornings, Corazon Tabing-Reyes of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines, representing the Christian Conference of Asia in Hong Kong, led Chi bashi meditative exercises for the women.
She guided the group through motions she called “painting a rainbow in the sky,” “scooping from the sea and viewing the sky,” “reaching back to the moon” and “holding a watermelon while turning the windmill.” These stretching exercises helped keep the women awake through jet lag and hours of sitting.
Other women made plans to persuade church representatives to confront violence against women, children and the earth. They called for “a caring economy,” in contrast to “the globalized system of production, distribution and consumption of goods.”
Through small groups, ecumenical conversations and Bible study, the gathering’s youth contingent developed the sense of empowerment that would enable them to speak at the assembly. In a youth worship service, Simeon Munezero of Rwanda observed that many people take time to “go to gyms to look good and be busy with business” but compromise when it comes to taking time for faith.
The 50 indigenous representatives appreciated the WCC’s effort to partner with indigenous people from around the world.
A Masai participant from Kenya said indigenous people hold “the memory of the earth.” Loss of land means loss of their spiritual roots, languages and traditional cultures.
Jillian Harris, an Anglican Nez Perce woman who lives in Vancouver, B.C., wondered aloud: “How do we help all people recognize themselves as being people who are indigenous somewhere?”
A disabled woman from Boston expressed frustration at how few disabled persons are attending the assembly. While celebrating that 37 percent of participants are women and 15 percent are youth – the highest proportions ever for those groups – she said there are only three disabled persons among the 704 delegates.