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.
Christians Express Fear, Concern to North American Lutheran Bishops
RAMALLAH, West Bank (ELCA) — Israel is targeting the small Palestinian Christian community here, threatening a key connection to the West and worrying Christian leaders, said Dr. Rafiq Husseini, chief of staff to the president, Palestinian National Authority. He made the comment Jan. 13 in a meeting here with seven North American Lutheran bishops.
The bishops were part of a group of 44 bishops representing the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC), who visited the West Bank and Israel Jan. 6-13. The bishops met with religious, political and community leaders, and visited sacred sites. Their visit focused on support and encouragement for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL).
More than 1,000 Palestinians have died and nearly 5,000 have been injured in the war between Hamas and Israel in Gaza. Many of the dead and injured are women, children and elderly people. “Civilians are paying the price,” Husseini said. Thirteen Israelis have died.
The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop and president of the Lutheran World Federation, said the committee’s comments were disturbing and showed regression for Christians here. He said the war in Gaza fails to meet the test of Christian “just war” principles and the Israeli response to Hamas is disproportionate.
“As leaders we are called to obstruct injustices and (to) open doors,” he said. Hanson pledged that Lutherans in the United States will engage the Obama administration, which he hopes will exercise power in ways different than the Bush administration has.
“The war in Gaza has made it difficult for us as moderates. Extremists are winning the day,” Hanson said. He pledged to use his influence to help U.S. religious leaders speak with one voice on the Middle East.
< more >
Lutheran Bishops Plant Olive Trees, Pray at Israeli Separation Barrier
BEDDO, West Bank (ELCA) — North American Lutheran bishops visited this small Palestinian village in the West Bank, northwest of Jerusalem, an area where the Israeli separation barrier cuts through Palestinian agricultural lands, making way for Israeli settlements to be constructed. Many of the bishops helped plant olive trees near the barrier as signs of peace.
Forty-four bishops representing the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC) are participating in a weeklong series of meetings with religious, political and community leaders in Israel and the West Bank, and visiting religious sites. Their visit, concluding Jan. 13, also focuses on support and encouragement for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL), which is timely because of the war in Gaza.
Some 500 trees are to be planted here eventually. Before they left, the bishops visited a local Palestinian man’s home, now surrounded on three sides by a tall metal barrier. Newly constructed Israeli settlements surround his home on the other side of the fence on land that was once his, he said. The bishops prayed at the barrier before leaving.
In remarks here, Adnan Husseini, governor of Jerusalem, Palestinian Authority, said life in the area was difficult for residents because of the barrier. “We need permission to move in and out of the wall,” he said. “If we want to build a Palestinian state, we have to move in this state.”
The bishops visited this area to do two things, said the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop. “We will cry out songs of lament for all people, and we will plant olive trees here as a sign of commitment for the generations to come . . . to see olive trees, not walls.”
The bishops concluded their day with dinner at the International Center of Bethlehem.
< more >
Tree Power
By Daniel J. Lehmann
Monday found Lutheran bishops from North America planting olive trees, praying for peace and understanding along a separation wall and listening to students at a West Bank school speak frankly about their future.
Leaders of the ELCA and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada ventured to the village of Beddo, near the city of Ramallah and north of Jerusalem to plant the hardy trees in a wasteland of trash, construction debris and destroyed arbors.
The ground sits below an Israeli settlement along a separation wall dividing Israelis from Palestinians. The Palestinian-owned hillside was strewn with debris reportedly dumped there by the settlers.
Some 90 bishops, spouses and church staff planted the trees in an attempt to reclaim some of the devastated landscape.
They then gathered at a nearby gate along the separation wall to pray for peace. They did so under the watchful eye of an Israeli police crew.
The bishops are in the Middle East in an effort to stress accompaniment with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land, raise awareness of regional issues and boost advocacy for peace.
Earlier in the day, they visited Lutheran School of Hope in Ramallah. The school educates 482 Christian and Muslim students. High-school age students sat with bishops in question and answer sessions that focused primarily on the fighting in the Gaza Strip and the students’ future in the West Bank.
In one group, five of eight students said they planned to emigrate when they’re finished with school. They spoke frankly of their anger with Israel for what they said was an overly violent assault on the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
“We are not animals, we have feelings, we are human beings,” said Majdi Habash.
The bishops conclude their visit Tuesday with tours to three other schools on the West Bank.
All Quiet — Sort of — in the Church
By Daniel J. Lehmann
The sometime raucous Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem was, well, a quiet church Friday morning except for the spirited singing as Lutheran bishops from the U.S. and Canada held a communion service in a small chapel.
Thanks to the Roman Catholic Franciscans, leaders from the ELCA and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada filled a chapel the religious order controls a few steps from what some considered to be the tomb of Jesus.
The closed door to the main part of the church might have helped. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is run by a handful of Christian denominations that in some instances see themselves in competition for the site. Shoving matches occur occasionally, and the keys to the building are held by a Muslim family.
The 8 a.m. service found the normally bustling church virtually empty and the service went off without a hitch. Celebrants kept their vestments inconspicuous as they entered and left the chapel, so as not to draw attention from the other Christian sects.
A young Franciscan priest did come in through a back door to observe a portion of the eucharist, joining the bishops, spouses and staff singing “Dona nobis pacem.”
The group left immediately afterward for Augusta Victoria Hospital on the Mount of Olives. The Lutheran World Federation-owned facility sits atop the mount from where bishops could see a police observation balloon and helicopters scan the Old City of Jerusalem.
Security was tight on Friday as some Muslim leaders called for demonstrations following Friday prayers in opposition to the Israeli incursion into the Gaza Strip. The group encountered no trouble reaching the hospital, or later when it was taken by bus to Bethlehem, which sits in the West Bank territory and on the opposite side of Israeli’s controversial separation wall.
At the Mount of Olives, bishops were updated on the hospital’s evolution into a specialties facility, particularly oncology. The 46-acre site will also be home to an $8.4 million housing project for Palestinian Christians once zoning approval is received from the Israeli government. Funding has been all but secured.
In Bethlehem, some bishops crossed back into the Israeli portion of Jerusalem and participated in Shabbat services at two synagogues and meals with member families.
The trip is to stress accompaniment with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land, raise awareness of regional issues and boost advocacy for peace. It runs through Jan. 13.
A Day in Jerusalem
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.
