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“So they remained
for a long time,
speaking boldly for
the Lord, who
testified to the
word of his grace by
granting signs and
wonders to be done
through them.”
(Acts 14:3)
 "Act
Boldly,” the theme
for the 2005–2008
triennium, not only
embraces a core
element of the Women
of the ELCA mission
statement adopted at
the 2002 convention
(“to mobilize women
to act boldly on
their faith in Jesus
Christ”), but also
directs us toward
our next step as we
move out from
“Listen, God Is
Calling”: Now that
we have spent time
listening to and for
God’s call, we are
encouraged to
do — with conviction
and with
boldness — what we
have been called to
do.
In designing a
graphic for the
triennium, our goal
was to create a
symbol that spoke to
the fullness of the
theme and embraced
all its
possibilities. Our
call to act boldly
takes place in
community, faith,
and action. So the
graphic for the
triennium conveys
something of those
three areas:
community, through a
set of four distinct
and diverse hands
coming together and
reaching toward one
another; faith,
through the
unmistakable shape
those hands form;
and action, through
the hands
themselves, which
almost seem to be
moving, symbolizing
the “hands-on”
nature of action.
The graphic reflects
quiet boldness — the
boldness of strong
and vibrant faith
through the simple
shape it forms and
its strong yet muted
colors — as well as
the boldness of
attention-generating
action, again
through color but
also through the
sense of motion that
is in the hands.
Particularly in its
black-and-white
rendering, the
graphic reminds us
of the sign with
which we are marked
in baptism and again
every Ash Wednesday.
It is the sign that
signifies our
inclusion in the
Body of Christ and
the call to share
the grace of God
that is shared with
us. We are reminded
that our ability to
act boldly is rooted
in our baptism and
continually enabled,
empowered, and
supported by God’s
grace. |
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