SEE WITH EPIPHANY EYES:
A MESSAGE FROM OUR NEW PRESIDENT

In her inaugural message to the 2007 NABWU Assembly, Linda J. Weber (NABWU president for 2007-2012) challenged us to be an amazing network of women who use our “epiphany eyes” to see and respond to hurting and desperate people.

What if we were to enter the heartache of a fallen world?  What would we see?

1. • Globally half of the world (about 3 billion people) live on less than $2 per day.
   

2. • 1 out of 3 women around the world has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused during her lifetime.
   

3. • 43% of the 35 million infected persons living with HIV/AIDS are women and girls.
   

4. •Women of all races are vulnerable to violence by an intimate partner.
   

5. • 40% of homeless families are fleeing violence in their homes
   

6. • Men who abuse their partners are anywhere from 50-70% more likely to also abuse their children.
   

7. • 1 in 5 female high school students reports being physically abused and/or sexually abused  by a dating partner. Abused girls are significantly more likely to get involved in other risky behaviors.
   

8. •Estimates of between 600-800 thousand people are trafficked world-wide each year.
   

9. •Teen girls disappear from our cities, towns, and suburbia (your neighborhood) every day who are being trafficked to other parts of the country and overseas for sexual exploitation.
   

Our world belongs to God, but it is not as God intended it to be. It is achingly beautiful and yet ugly as sin. Our world in an unfair place where the powerful prosper while the weak struggle to survive a day at a time, most without much human hope for a better future. Though the situations vary, the conditions don’t. They are trapped. Estranged. Rejected. They have nowhere to turn. On their lips, a desperate prayer. In their hearts, desolate dreams....

Can we see the people around us as worthy of our help? I recently came across a Baylor University Christian Reflection that introduced me to the concept of “epiphany eyes”. Most of us do not recognize wrongness or injustice even when we are staring at it. We are usually too busy or think “that couldn’t possibly be happening here”. Epiphany eyes are eyes that pay attention, eyes that look twice, eyes that ask the “why” questions.

Sometimes we become God’s eyes to others. One young women carrying the burden of being forced to work as a prostitute, afraid for her life if she were to walk away, was heard saying ”There is no one to see us with God’s eyes.”

Epiphany eyes see the light of Christ’s word. They are eyes that can only be sharpened through use and by others. One person seeing a massive wrong, then doing something simple, wise, and the right thing, can open the doors to an amazing network of God’s people using their epiphany eyes.

Several months ago, I met two young women who were called by God to have a ministry with women who have been rescued from the streets. Some were runaways, most ended up as prostitutes--young women who were looking for another way. As I talked to them about their ministry, their eyes filled with tears as they shared with me that they had lost faith in the churches in their city. You see, the people of these churches could not see or did not want to see the desperate, hurting women that were a part of this ministry. They felt abandoned by the church.

This past Sunday, my pastor reminded our congregation that we are the Good News to the world in which we live. The Good News of Jesus Christ makes us in to change-agents. We are to be the salt that adds flavor to our community and we are the light that is displayed in the dark places. Our world depends on us shining the light of the Good News. You see, we are the Body of Christ here on earth! It is our job as Christians to come along side the hurting and the desperate. it is our job to develop our epiphany eyes…to step into uncomfortable places to shine a light in the darkness.

We are a strong network of women, and I am honored to be a part of what God is doing though this NABWU network. Each one of you--you and I--we are all a part of this network connected to an even larger network of women who want to make a difference in our world. We are part of a sisterhood of Baptist women joining hands around the world--strong in numbers and strong in our commitment to Jesus Christ-- and we should not underestimate our power to bring about change!

We look forward to working together with you, working together through our various churches and organizations, joining in strength and numbers to make a difference in our world. We need to work together, as we become the eyes of God’s compassion as we walk through this gallery of life that is ours.

WHO WILL SPEAK?

Who will speak for the poor and the broken?

Who will speak for the peoples oppressed?

Who will speak so their voice will be heard?

Oh, who will speak if you don’t?

Who will speak for the ones who are voiceless?

Speak the truth in the places of power?

Who will speak so their voice will be heard?

Oh, who will speak if you (we) don’t?

Who will speak for the children of violence?

Who will speak for the women abused?

Who will speak so their voice will be heard?

Oh, who will speak if you (we) don’t?

Who will speak for the shunned and the outcast?

Who will speak for the people with AIDS?

Who will speak so their voice will be heard?

Oh, who will speak if you (we) don’t?

Who will work for the thousands of homeless?

Who will work in the ghettos and streets?

Who will work so their voice will be heard?

Oh, who will work if you (we) don’t?

Who will speak if you (I) don’t?

Who will speak if you don’t?

Who will speak so their voice will be heard?

Oh, who will speak if you (we) don’t?

(Found on a liturgical website….no author given.)