2009 Conference of Bishops

More than half of the 66 bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), the ELCA secretary, and five of the six bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC), plus spouses and staff visited the Middle East, Jan. 6-13, 2009.

ELCA, ELCIC Bishops Report on 2009 Bishops’ Academy

Posted on January 23, 2009 by
ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson addresses a news conference in Amman, Jordan Jan. 5. At left is ELCIC National Bishop Susan Johnson.

ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson addresses a news conference in Amman, Jordan Jan. 5. At left is ELCIC National Bishop Susan Johnson.

CHICAGO (ELCA) — Bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC) released “Report and Reflections from the Bishops’ Academy Visit to the Holy Land,” an account of their recent visit to the Middle East. The Jan. 22 report was signed by the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop, and the Rev. Susan C. Johnson, ELCIC national bishop, on behalf of academy participants.

Bishops from both churches visited Israel and the West Bank Jan. 6-13, and a few visited Jordan Jan. 3-6. The 44 bishops met with religious, political and community leaders in the region, and visited sacred sites. The visit focused on supporting the mission and ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL), learning about what life is like for Israelis and Palestinians, and advocating for peace and justice for all people there.

In their report, the Lutheran leaders noted that the war in Gaza between Hamas and Israel started shortly before the trip began, but the group decided to continue with their visit as planned.

“Throughout our time in the Holy Land, the situation in Gaza was a dramatic backdrop to our travels and for our conversations with people from different faiths and viewpoints who endure fear and bear oppression in ways that we have never known,” Hanson and Johnson wrote.

The report recounts much of what the bishops experienced during their Holy Land visit. They concluded the report by pledging to continue to “accompany” the ELCJHL, to learn more about the situation in the Middle East and how to change it, “and to advocate in every way possible for the justice that will lead to the security and shared homeland that is the only foundation for lasting peace.”

“We will be faithful in ongoing visitation to our Palestinian brothers and sisters, determined in our call to be a public church, and communicate with our governments for their intervention in the Middle East,” the Lutheran bishops wrote. They added they will be “persistent in our efforts to build bridges with inter-religious partners, and courageous in telling the truth of the ‘facts on the ground’ in the Holy Land.”

The complete text of the bishops’ “Report and Reflections” is at www.ELCA.org/bishopstatement.

A Day in Jerusalem

Posted on January 7, 2009 by

By Daniel J. Lehmann

Bishops visiting Jerusalem learned firsthand the ups and downs of life in Jerusalem Wednesday.

Leading clergy from the ELCA and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada started their day with a Eucharist in the starkly handsome Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in the center of the Old City.

Acoustics in the 1898 sanctuary built by the German kaiser are exceptional. The bishops and staff did not hold back in their singing as part of their second day of a seven-day meeting in Jerusalem and the West Bank.

The obvious joy from the service would soon dissipate as the group walked through the narrow, covered streets of the Old City for a rare tour by Christians of the al-Aqsa Mosque, one of Islam’s most revered worship sites that rests atop the Temple Mount. The visit was arranged by Grand Mufti Muhammad Ahmad Hussein.

The group was turned away at the mosque by Israeli authorities after a short and frank verbal exchange. Israeli officials contacted group leaders to say the visit could occur later in the day. The deed was done, however, and the bishops moved on with their day.

Clerical leaders of the two North American churches are on a mission of accompaniment, awareness and advocacy for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land and peace efforts between Israelis and Palestinians.

After lunch Redeemer’s courtyard buildings, parts of which date from the 12th century, the bishops divided into groups for walking tours of the Old City. They visited churches and former mosques and synagogues of various kinds, witnessing the street life where Israelis, Palestinians and tourists mingle on streets some 2,000-plus years old.

The life in Israel and the West Bank and Gaza confronted them again in the evening during a presentation by a United Nations official on the walls surrounding the Palestinian areas and the Israeli settlements on the West Bank.

Then came testimony for peace and mutual understanding — not revenge — between the two sides from an Israeli whose 14-year-old daughter was killed by two Palestinian suicide bombers and a Palestinian whose 62-year-old father was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers. The bishops supported the pair with a long ovation and prayer with the laying on of hands.