PHILADELPHIA (ELCA) -- Promising to overlook everyone's "funny accent," Dr. Musimbi R. A. Kanyoro discussed how people in the Church handle difference in a Bible study presentation Monday. Her presentation received a standing ovation during the fifth biennial Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America meeting here Aug. 14-20.
Kanyoro, executive secretary for women in church and society, Lutheran World Federation, is one of three Bible study leaders examining St. Paul's first letter to the Corinthians. Kanyoro discussed how food practices are connected to mission -- in Corinth two thousands years ago and among ourselves today.
"Is the problem the food or ceremonies accompanying the food, or is the real issue here about difference?" asked Kanyoro after those in the assembly hall viewed a video of animal sacrifice and of the Easter celebration with eggs in the Orthodox Church in Russia. Paul addressed such questions from the ancient Corinthian congregation.
"Can food distract people from mission? Yes, the Church has sometimes allowed itself the luxury of risking mission for food," said the native of Kenya. She shared a missionary story of her own grandfather, who was in attendance, not being baptized into the church because he would not give up his medical and beverage science.
In Corinth, Christian converts brought opposing pagan and Jewish food traditions to the congregation. Some advocated eating sacrificed meat, arguing "all things are lawful." These confident, knowledgeable people reasoned that one Christian person's liberty should not be determined by another person's problems, said Kanyoro.
Others, more fragile, were troubled by their consciences about eating food that had been offered to idols, because for them the idols were real, she said.
"For me the process that Paul uses to respond to the Corinthian concerns is more meaningful for my quest to understand mission than the actual answers he provides," said the international scholar.
"Paul warns that if another Christian is hurt by your eating, do not use your freedom," Kanyoro said. "Mission is about caring for all people in their needs, not just caring for those we know and associate with. We must not let rights cause the fall of a brother or sister. Christians have a responsibility not to use freedom to injure other people's spiritual life.
"We always live in tension between opinions. This is embarrassing in our world where knowledge is the badge to success, " she continued. "These scriptures shame us to humility if we have to do mission.
"`Difference is a reality, but it need not be a liability,' is what Paul seems to be saying to us," Kanyoro said.
Kanyoro has served as the executive secretary for women in church and society for the LWF in Geneva, Switzerland, since 1988. Kanyoro studied philosophy and religious studies at the University of Nairobi, Kenya, and received the master's degree and Ph.D. in linguistics from the University of Texas at Austin.
She has traveled extensively to all regions of the world to develop and maintain contact with the leadership of the churches and with women, working to improve the status of women in the Church and in society. She is internationally known as a public speaker, advocate and writer, and also has served as a representative to the United Nations on women's issues.
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