Hand in Hand Global Mission Support Blog Digest

This "blog digest" is brought to you by the ELCA Global Mission Support team. Here you will find posts and re-posts by ELCA missionaries, ELCA Global Mission churchwide staff, and other friends.

Dick Young: pastor, physician, missionary

Posted on April 29, 2010 by Hand In Hand

ELCA NEWS SERVICE
April 29, 2010

ELCA Pastor, Physician
in Guyana Combines
Spiritual, Medical Well-Being
10-128-MRC

CHICAGO (ELCA) — Some pastors, particularly bishops in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), wear a cross. But the Rev. Richard L. Young bears a stethoscope. Serving as pastor of six Lutheran congregations in Guyana, Young is also a licensed physician tending simultaneously to the spiritual and medical well-being of people.
     “My call with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Guyana through ELCA Global Mission is 50 percent medical and 50 percent pastoral work,” said Young. Although the need for medical care can be great in Guyana, people there have tended to focus more on Young’s call as pastor.
     “I was struck by the fact that the spiritual needs of Guyanese were often placed above their physical ones. Prayer will often be asked first and medicine comes second,” he said.
     Young is an ELCA missionary serving in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Guyana (ELCG). The ELCG and ELCA are members of the Lutheran World Federation, Geneva, and both share a church-to-church relationship through ELCA Global Mission. The ELCG has 5,000 members in 46 congregations in 13 multi-point parishes.
     “There have been North American missionary pastors working in the ELCG (since) about 1890,” said Young. “It’s a ‘normal’ thing for them to have missionary pastors serving the church.”
     Work as a parish pastor in Guyana is similar to the work of an “American pastor, with some exceptions and additions,” according to Young. “I lead worship and preach, supervise Sunday school, men’s groups, women’s groups, youth groups, run council meetings, visit in homes and hospitals, conduct funerals and weddings, fill out forms and statistical reports.”
     But the difference is that Guyanese pastors are “given more responsibility for decision-making in the congregation. They are considered to know the right way to do everything and expected simply to give directions,” said Young.
     Among his responsibilities, Young said his favorite thing is witnessing “Aha!” moments “when someone comprehends for the first time that the gospel is really for them.”
     Originally from Oregon, Young came to Guyana in 2001. Before entering Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minn., in 1997, he was an obstetrician/gynecologist in Elko, Nev. Luther is one of eight ELCA seminaries.
     “I came to Guyana directly out of seminary. Ever since, I have simultaneously been trying to learn how to live in Guyana and how to be a pastor,” he said.
     Young’s medical work is practiced at various places of need that he has identified over the years.
     “When I travel out to give medical care, I carry my little black bag,” he said. In it, there is “a little black Bible and a supply of medications which are dispensed free of charge,” said Young. “I am able to purchase medications wholesale in Guyana through funds supplied to me by (ELCA) World Hunger.”
     Young regularly treats members of his congregations and holds a monthly clinic. He also serves at various community clinics, shelters and homes “for the aged and poor.” And “over the years, it has also fallen to me to be the local coordinator for Lutheran medical teams coming to Guyana on mission trips. This requires finding sites to visit and arranging transportation, housing and other logistics.”
     “Teaching is also an important part of my medical work,” said Young. “The medical culture in Guyana can often be paternalistic. People leave hospital clinics with a prescription and a pat on the head but often do not know their diagnosis, how they got it, what the prognosis is, what medicine they have been given, what they can do to help or prevent the problem.”
     Young said that he was taught “very early in medical school that the word ‘doctor’ means ‘teacher’ not ‘healer.’ Since my patients all know that I am a pastor, too, they often request prayer as part of the encounter. I hope they can leave the visit feeling validated as a valued child of God and capable of having a positive effect on their own well-being.”
     Despite the differences between life in the United States and Guyana, Young said people “are remarkably the same in our response to God’s love and care in Jesus Christ. This is because all of our needs as humans are so much the same, as is our tendency to sin and fail.”
     The ELCA has more than 245 mission personnel serving in 48 countries around the world. Mission personnel are supported through ELCA Missionary Sponsorship — congregations and individuals known as “covenant sponsors” make a prayer, financial and communication commitment to support a specific missionary.
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     Information about ELCA Global Mission, the work of ELCA mission personnel and missionary sponsorship is at http://www.ELCA.org/globalmission on the ELCA Web site. “Hand in Hand,” a newsletter and blog about global mission support, is at http://www.ELCA.org/handinhand on the ELCA Web site.

Prayers needed for Thailand

Posted on April 27, 2010 by Franklin Ishida

A letter from ELCA companion in Thailand, the Church of Christ in Thailand:

“The situation has not improved since April 10 when 24 people were mortally wounded and over 800 injured in clashes between the security forces and the ‘red shirt’ [anti-government] demonstrators. Since then the tension has escalated. An estimated 63,000 people have not been able to return to their places of work in the normally busy center of the city of Bangkok because of the disruptions and baricades. … Other groups have started to take to the streets to demonstrate against the ‘red shirts’ and in support of the government. These have clashed with the red shirt faction and there have been more injuries. Last Thursday [April 22] night several grenages were launched into a crowded area of downtown [near the CCT guest house]. One of these exploded in the mass transit system, killing one more person and injuring many others.

“The rhetoric for and against this group or that group is being ratcheted up – in their talk people often demonise the enemy and white wash those whom they support. We in the Church of Christ in Thailand with many others are despairing over the situation. There seems to be no obvious solution.

“Please continue to pray with us and all people of faith here in Thailand. We wish for peace to return to this country. We are aware however that ‘peace’ without justice and equity would be a bitter pill to swallow for many in our society who have suffered for years from systems of oppression and corruption. We pray therefore for change that benefits the least and the poorest in our society. It is only with that combination that we will ever have lasting peace.

“One positive outcome of the uncertainty of the last few weeks is that churches have been unified in their commitment to prayer. Our moderator, Rev. Virat Koydul, called for our churches in Bangkok together with the Catholic churches and other denominations to gather on the April 25 to prayer for the nation. Over 700 people attended and other events of this is kind are happening throughout the country. Many Christians, in their search for a solution, have turned to the books of the prophets in the Old Testament finding parallels with the nations addressed there with our own country today. One significant point the prophets make is that the faithful are called to repent on behalf of and speak to the nation that has lost its way. Many of us are therefore finding a new understanding of the church’s responsibility to the society in which we live.

“Again may I thank you on behalf of the Church of Christ in Thailand for your concern and continued commitment to our welfare here in Thailand. May we all take assurance from the words of the Apostle Paul that, ‘all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His
purpose.’”

Rev. Sayam Muangsak
General Secretary

Hand in Hand snapshot: Circles

Posted on April 26, 2010 by Hand In Hand

Gardening gloves, the gift for participants at the Waco Conference Gathering of Women of the ELCA, supported the Gathering's "Hand in Hand" focus on ELCA Missionary Sponorship.

This story begins with circles (AKA bracelets) and circles back to “Hand in Hand,” the theme of the ELCA Missionary Sponsorship program–by way of the Waco Women of the ELCA Conference Gathering, held at St. Matthew Lutheran in Waco, Texas, on April 17, 2010.

After reading “Circles of History,” an article in the January/February 2010 issue of Lutheran Woman Today magazine, Paula Gillaspie (Robinson, Texas) contacted  the Rev. Twila Schock, the article’s writer, and asked her to offer the keynote address at the Conference Gathering.  When asked for the title of her presentation, Pr. Schock, ELCA director for Global Mission Support, offered “Hand in Hand,” the theme of the ELCA Missionary Sponsorship program.  The conference organizers went on to use “Hand in Hand” as the theme for the whole Gathering.

The “Hand in Hand” theme rippled through the event, right down to the gift for participants:  “Hand in Hand” garden gloves.  A handy idea to support ELCA missionaries was circulated:  gift suggestions to make donations for ELCA Missionary Sponsorship more tangible.   A $10 gift, for example, could pay for a month’s supply of cooking kerosene; a $50 gift donation* might purchase a pass for public transportation.

ELCA Missionary Covenant Sponsors make a financial, prayer, and communication commitment.  What goes around comes around: The ”hand in hand” relationship blesses our sponsors, missionaries and global companions.  The relationship energizes sponsoring congregations and groups as it sustains our international personnel. Contact globalmissionsupport@elca.org to be matched with a missionary.  Learn more at www.elca.org/missionarysponsorship.

To contribute to ELCA Missionary Sponsorship through Women of the ELCA, make the check out to Women of the ELCA, noting ”ELCA Missionary Sponsorship” on the memo line.  Donations may be transmitted through your Synodical Women’s Organization or mailed directly to ELCA Global Mission Support, 8765 W. Higgins Road, Chicago, IL 60631.

P.S.   When you offer a gift donation to ELCA Missionary Sponorship in honor or in memory of someone special, contact the Global Mission Support team (800-638-3522, ext. 2657) to request an “Honoring,” “Thanking,” “Remembering,” or “Celebrating” gift card.

Hand in Hand snapshot: Glocal Mission Gatherings

Posted on April 26, 2010 by Hand In Hand

Photo by Greg Kaufmann

The warm hospitality and smooth logistics of the first Glocal Mission Gathering, held at Our Savior’s Lutheran, Eau Claire, Wis., April 23-24, 2010, can be credited in large measure to the amazing local committees that facilitated the event and the event’s local “organizer of the organizers”: Karen Ressel, a former ELCA missionary who served in Uganda. 

Servers with “Beverage IDs” is just one of the touches that communicated efficient caring. 

By the way, Glocal is not a typo.  The Glocal Mission Gatherings explore the local-global connections that make a world of difference for congregations and glocal companions.  Learn how you can participate in a Glocal Mission Gathering by visiting www.elca.org/globalevents or call 800-638-3522, ext. 2700.

Prayer shawls and harps

Posted on April 22, 2010 by Franklin Ishida
Lyra Precaria students and their prayer shawls

Some of the Lyra Precaria students with their prayer shawls

Shame is a common human experience and the medicine is grace and unconditional love. ELCA missionary Carol Sack has taken some of the theological aspects of shame and has developed this into a framework for understanding healing as offered through Lyra Precaria, a program of pastoral harp supported by the Lutheran church in Japan.

“The word ‘shame’ has its roots in a word that means ‘to cover,’” says Carol. “The human phenomena of shame is that you feel ‘exposed’ and you intrinsically want to ‘cover’ yourself — to hide or veil, or wear a mask that makes you look on the outside not what you know yourself to be on the inside.”

Based on this, Carol offers Lyra Precaria students the image of the Prayer Shawl as a healing of shame. She then invites them to envision the music Lyra Precaria offers as a kind of swaddling blanket and prayer shawl to envelop people in the warmth of their belovedness in the eyes of God and other human beings.

[Lyra Precaria offers comfort for the sick and dying through harp and song. Many patients are in hospice care, even forgotten by society -- something that became a theme of a film in Japan.]

Recently, one of the Sacks’ sponsoring congregations, St. Philip’s Lutheran Church, Fridley, Minn, sent prayer shawls for Lyra Precaria students. “They were thrilled,” Carol said, “and some of them have mentioned that they keep these prayer shawls with them by their pillow or whatever at all times. It is a powerful image for what we hope our music to be.”

Compiled by Y. Franklin Ishida, Director for Asia and the Pacific, ELCA Global Mission, from information provided by Carol Sack.

Happy Anniversary, HiHBD

Posted on April 16, 2010 by Hand In Hand

The Hand in Hand Blog Digest (HiHBD) debuted on April 6, 2009.  Since then, the blog has been read by 4,035 unique visitors representing every U.S. state and 97 other countries and territories.   The top visiting countries (in addition to the U.S.) are Japan, Canada, Germany, India, Hong Kong, Slovakia, United Kingdom, Australia, Argentina, South Africa.  The top visiting states are  Illinois, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, New York, California, Iowa, Texas, Ohio, Washington.

Subtracting the index pages, here are the top Hand in Hand Blog Digest posts from its first year.  What are your favorites?

It’s free and easy to join the 117 subscribers who automatically receive new posts by e-mail.  Find the subscribe box in the upper-right corner of http://blogs.elca.org/handinhand.   Thanks to all who forward favorite posts by e-mail, Facebook. and tweet.  Sharing these stories help us connect, hand in hand, with global and local companions in world-wide ministry.

The Hand in Hand Blog Digest exists to lift up the ministries of ELCA missionaries and their local and global companions.  Considering making a gift donation to ELCA Missionary Sponsorship in honor of a special anniversary, event or person in your life.  You can give through your congregation (write “ELCA Missionary Sponsorship” on the memo line of your check), by phone (800-638-3522), online, or by mailing a check to ELCA Missionary Sponsorship, 8765 W. Higgins Road, Chicago, IL 60631.  E-mail globalmissionsupport@elca.org to request a tribute card to announce your special gift.

Thanks for your hand in the Hand in Hand Blog digest!
Sue Edison-Swift is associate director for ELCA Global Mission Support and the HiHBD Queen.

Evidence: An Easter story

Posted on April 11, 2010 by Hand In Hand

 The following is drawn from a recent blog post by the Rev. Christa Von Zychlin, an ELCA missionary serving in Hong Kong.–Sue Edison-Swift

 The Thursday before Easter I got a phone call from my 86 year old mother back in the United States. It was just past midnight her time in the U.S., even though it was in the early afternoon here in Hong Kong. It was a very unusual time for her to be calling me. She said something to me on the telephone but all I heard was “Torsten” (my son’s name), “hospital” and “car accident”

My mother very quickly added, “He’s okay! He’s okay!” “I picked him up from the hospital…the cars are both destroyed, but it’s a miracle, Torsten and his friend and the other driver, they all had their seatbelts on. They all had airbags in the cars. And they all only have cuts and bruises from this big accident.”

My son is alive and well.

She went on to say that Torsten’s friend was driving the car, and the other car had pulled out right in front of them.

Because of the time difference between us, I had to wait the whole day before I could speak with my son personally. Meanwhile, though, he sent me pictures of the crumpled cars.

If I thought it was all a bad dream, now I had evidence that this accident was very real.

The next day, I was finally able to call my son, using Skype, so that I was able to see him, and hear from him personally about what had happened. And do you know what nearly the first thing he said was?

Do you want to see my scars and bruises?

And my grown son pulls up his shirt to show where the seatbelt had left a dark purple bruise across his shoulder, and he pushes down his belt to show where the airbags had left a big red welt on his hip.

My son looked at me and smiled. “It’s a miracle I’m alive,” he says.

In just that same way, but of course a hundred times more intense, does Jesus show the disciples his hands, and pulls aside his robe to show them his side, where the spear had made a deep ugly gash in his skin.

Peace be with you, he says.

My guess is that Jesus smiles as he says this.

It’s such a human thing to do, to show your scars after a near escape from death. But in Jesus’ case, he hasn’t just escaped death, he has defeated death.

“When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.”– John 20:19-20