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LWF and ELCA Respond to Violence in and around Gaza

Peace Not Walls

​In a 23 July joint statement by Lutheran World Federation President Bishop Dr Munib A. Younan and General Secretary Rev. Martin Junge, the global Lutheran communion reiterated its call on all parties for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire and expressed its “deepest concern and dismay” over the flagrant disregard for international humanitarian law and other binding legal instruments, as fatalities from the Israeli and Palestinian conflict have now surpassed 1,422 Palestinians, 56 Israeli soldiers, and three Israeli civilians (latest count according to the Washington Post).

“The LWF states with all firmness: conflicts and wars do not, and cannot provide any excuse to cease observing international obligations. As we have seen in the past, tampering with these obligations only opens the floodgates for atrocities, war crimes and crimes against humanity,” Younan and Junge emphasized.

As the humanitarian crisis in Gaza continues to escalate the Lutheran World Federation’s Augusta Victoria Hospitaldispatched a medical team to Gaza on Friday, August 1, 2014.

Find below the LWF Statement on Gaza, ELCA presiding Bishop Eaton’s letter to Bishop Younan of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL), and Bishop Younan’s response to Bishop Eaton.

The Lutheran World Federation Statement on Violence in Gaza (July 23, 2014)

LWF Press Release: Abide by International Law in Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (July 23, 2014)

Bishop Eaton’s Letter to Bishop Younan (July 17, 2014)

ELCA Press Release: ELCA presiding bishop joins call for peace in the Holy Land (July 17, 2014)

Bishop Younan Responds to Bishop’s Eaton’s Letter to ELCJHL on Gaza Ceasefire (July 29, 2014)

Take Action here by writing to your representatives:

ELCA Peace Not Walls Action Alert: Call on Congress: Stop Gaza Assault

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WCC General Secretary Calls for Reversal of Israeli Knesset law Categorizing Palestinian Christians

Julie Rowe

​World Council of Churches
19 March 2014 – Joining voices of the churches in Palestine and Israel, the World Council of Churches (WCC) General Secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit has expressed “grave concern” about a law recently passed by the Israeli Knesset or parliament.

The law passed by the Knesset on 24 February would define the status of Palestinian Arab Christians in the state of Israel.

Top officials of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land have said that this new law “introduces a distinction between Christian and Muslim Palestinians and states that Christian Palestinians are Christians and not Palestinians”.  The church added: “This campaign clearly has as its aim to divide Christians from their Muslim compatriots. However, it is equally dangerous because it will divide Christians among themselves even further,”

In a statement issued on 18 March, Tveit called on “Israeli authorities to reverse this law to stop an injustice against the Christian citizens of Israel”.  He encouraged the WCC member churches to “raise this issue with representatives of Israel and with their own governments”, urging reversal of this law.

Tveit said that this law establishes a “legislative distinction between the indigenous Palestinian Arab Christians and Palestinian Arab Muslims, both of whom are citizens of the State of Israel”. This distinction, he stressed, is an “unacceptable severing of entire communities from their cultural identity”.

Tveit added that the “Knesset has transgressed all proper distinctions between state and religious authority by attempting to define the nature and character of Christian communities within Israel against their own will and self-understanding”.

Warning of the adverse implications of this law, Tveit said that “rather than creating divisions among communities, the Knesset should pave the way for breaking down barriers that divide people according to ethnicity and religion.” Tveit echoed heads of the Catholic Church in Israel, who stressed that “it is not the right or the duty of the Israeli civil authorities to tell us who we are”.

The WCC has long affirmed the right of religious communities to define themselves, condemning the manipulation of religious identity for political gains.

Read full text of the WCC general secretary’s statement
Statement on Knesset law by he Assembly of the Catholic Ordinaries
WCC’s Palestine Israel Ecumenical Forum
WCC programme “Churches in the Middle East”

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Prayers for Dr. Tawfiq Nasser and Augusta Victoria Hospital

Julie Rowe

Please join in prayer with your sisters and brothers in The Lutheran World FederationTawfiq Color  for Dr. Tawfiq Nasser who is undergoing surgery today at Stanford Hospital in Palo Alto. Dr. Nasser, CEO of Augusta Victoria Hospital (AVH) in Jerusalem has been instrumental in bringing remarkable improvements to the care, treatment and administration of AVH during challenging times.

The LWF and the ELCA recently issued an action alert to resolve a financial crisis created by the non-payment of $18 million in fees for patients that were referred to the hospital by the Palestinian Authority. Find out how you can help.

Please include Tawfiq, his family, those who care for him and the patients and staff at AVH in your prayers.

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Augusta Victoria Hospital in East Jerusalem Needs Urgent Financial Assistance

Karin Brown

Call for critical financial support for Augusta Victoria Hospital in East Jerusalem to avoid interruption of essential health care.

Click here to contact your representative and senators.

Augusta Victoria Hospital, operated by the Lutheran World Federation in East Jerusalem, continues to provide life-saving health care to Palestinians but is facing a critical financial situation. The essential medical services provided by the hospital are currently threatened by a financial crisis caused by the non-payment of fees for patients that are referred to the hospital by the Palestinian Authority. The debt is now EUR 18 million.

Augusta Victoria Hospital is managed efficiently and effectively. It operates in the black and, had all fees been paid by the Palestinian Authority, the hospital would be able to meet all of its current financial obligations.

In an interview Dr. Tawfiq A. Nasser, chief executive officer of the hospital, said, “It is frustrating for us to be running a very successful hospital serving tens of thousands of patients only to be hindered by external factors beyond our control that are negatively affecting the wellbeing of our patients. The lives of our patients are held hostage to the political economy of the region that is beyond the control of anyone at the hospital. We appeal to anyone who can make a difference to put politics and bureaucracy aside, think of the lives of these poor cancer patients who can only be treated at Augusta Victoria Hospital, and rush to help in any way they can. It is the right thing to do. It is the human thing to do.”

Augusta Victoria Hospital provides life-saving health care to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, including specialized treatment offered at its cancer, diabetes and pediatric centers. The hospital is widely acknowledged in governmental and church circles for its excellent treatment and care and is internationally accredited.

Augusta Victoria Hospital is the first and only hospital to provide radiation therapy for cancer patients in the Palestinian territories and is the only medical facility in the West Bank offering pediatric kidney dialysis. The accumulating debt will cause a humanitarian crisis that will punish the most vulnerable in society, those who depend vitally on the hospital’s medical care.

In 2012, Augusta Victoria Hospital cared for nearly 28,000 inpatients and outpatients. Its specialized care centers offered more than 13,200 dialysis sessions, nearly 10,000 chemotherapy sessions, and over 14,000 interventions in the radiation oncology unit on an outpatient basis.

In order to prevent a catastrophic interruption to these critical health services the U.S. government needs to step in and help find a solution to this financial and humanitarian crisis.

See ELCA Press Release and LWF Press Release for more information.

Click here to contact your representative and senators.

Ask them to:

  • Contact Secretary of State John Kerry and USAID and ask for the U.S. government to help find a solution that will enable the Palestinian Authority to honor its financial commitments to humanitarian institutions such as Augusta Victoria Hospital.
  • Ask Secretary of State John Kerry to recognize the humanitarian crisis that is unfolding and to respond immediately by providing funding to the Palestinian Authority that is restricted to paying down the debt to Augusta Victoria Hospital. This earmarked funding for Augusta Victoria Hospital will help to insure that there is no interruption to patient services.
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Dedication of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Bethany-Beyond-the-Jordan

Julie Rowe

processionwebOver 150 international companions from around the world and local Christians gathered for the dedication of the new Evangelical Lutheran Church at Bethany-Beyond-the-Jordan, built on the Jordan side of the river, said to be the site of where John the Baptist baptized Jesus and crowds of others.  The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan gave land to 7 churches, including the ELCA’s companion the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land, to build pilgrimage sites around the baptismal sites.

Rev. Rolf Pearson and his wife Kerstin were installed as aretakers of the new site.  He will be developing worship services and spiritual practices and both Rev. Pearson and Kerstin will be working on creating a pilgrim center.

Click here to see more images of the dedication from Danae Hudson, Communications Assistant at the ELCJHL.

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ELCA urges US Senate hearing to increase aid to Syrian refugees and IDDPs

Julie Rowe

​The ELCA released a statement today urging increased financial support for Syrian refugees and internally-displaced persons as well as encouraging refugee resettlement in the US and other countries.  The ELCA presented the statement to the hearing on the Syrian Refugee Crisis held by the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Human Rights.  Read full statement.

The ELCA’s recent statement concluded:

As the Subcommittee considers how best the U.S. can help protect and support vulnerable Syrian refugees, the ELCA recommends the following:

• The U.S. Government should increase its financial support to the region as a necessary to means to meet the basic short-term needs of Syrian refugees. The ELCA recommends that the U.S. government further appropriate resources in order to keep up with the growing basic food and housing needs of refugees living in either camp or urban settings. An increase in financial support to help Syria’s neighbors meet the basic needs of its refugees is necessary. The U.S should also encourage its international partners to increase support for refugee-hosting countries through development assistance, bilateral aid, and increased funding of U.N. humanitarian appeals.

• The U.S. must help the international community to open all parts of Syria for humanitarian access. Any effort to ease the refugee situation in neighboring countries should take in to consideration measures that can alleviate the dire conditions of IDPs and IDDPs. Such measures require that the U.S. help the international community to open all parts of Syria for humanitarian access. NGO and church partners are prepared to further carry out these important humanitarian aims should additional resources be made available and should Syria be opened so that humanitarian help can reach those who need it.

• All vulnerable Syrian refugees should have access to the U.S. Resettlement Program. Supplementary resources need to be made available for Syrian refugees so that additional Syrian arrivals into the U.S. do not disrupt the regional allocations as outlined in the FY2014 Presidential Memorandum for Refugee Admissions. Syrian refugees should be welcomed in addition to the 70,000 already allocated for arrival in FY2014.

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Find out more about the ELCA Lutheran Disaster Response in Syria and how you can help support it.

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Follow the ELCA Peace not Walls/Young Adult Leadership Trip to the Holy Land

Julie Rowe

Sixteen ELCA young adults from all over the US are in the Holy Land right now visiting holy sites, experiencing everyday realities and meeting their Palestinian sisters and brothers in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land and others working for peace with justice in the Holy Land.  They plan to go back to the US and plan similar trips when they return.

Follow the trip’s blog at http://peacenotwalls.wordpress.com/. 

From the blog:

What do you get when you mix 16 ELCA young adults from all over the United States who have flown to Israel and Palestine (with a quick stop in Jordan for a dedication of a church), asking them to learn more about Israel and Palestine in the context of their shared Christian faith, to grow in their leadership skills, connect with other young adults engaged in social justice, get involved with the Peace Not Walls Campaign of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and blog about it?

You get us! (and a ridiculously long sentence).

The sweet 16 are in the midst of a two week experience of a lifetime and will be using this blog to share their reflections along the way.

Thanks for joining us along the journey! leave a comment, lift up a prayer, and spread the word!  The opinions expressed are the opinions of the individuals writing them and not necessarily the opinions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

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Christmas Peace and Unity in Cairo

Julie Rowe

ELCA missionary Kirsten Fryer serves St. Andrew’s International Congregation and the St. Andrew’s Refugee Services in Cairo.  In her blog, Cairos, Kirsten describes Christmas Day worship in Cairo where Sudanese refugees from various tribes who are fighting in South Sudan came together to worship, sing and commune around the table of the Lord.

Christmas service_Cairo_1-7-14

From Kirsten’s blog:

If you’ve been following the news from South Sudan, you’ll understand why I will treasure Christmas Day 2013 for a very long time. Even while Nuer and Dinka in South Sudan fight and kill one another, the two communities in Cairo, as well as the Sudanese Lutheran congregation that worships at St. Andrew’s, and representatives from the Shilluk congregation that worships elsewhere in the city, came together for worship on Christmas Day. In Arabic and English, Nuer, Dinka, and Shilluk, we prayed and sang and came together at the Lord’s Table. For those 3½ hours, differences were set aside and prayers were lifted up, together, in thanksgiving and celebration. Prayers were lifted up for peace, in South Sudan and Syria and throughout the world.

There was lots of music. The song leader would begin to sing, and soon voices were raised throughout the sanctuary, not just by one group, but by the whole congregation. Even at the point when the different congregations sang a special song, everyone joined in. Women danced in the aisles and voices were raised throughout the old, dusty sanctuary, decorated in its Christmas finest. We were welcomed at the Lord’s Table and came forward with outstretched hands, each fed with the bread of life, regardless of where we came from or what marks might otherwise distinguish us.

The Spirit moved among us and did not distinguish us by tribe or language but called us together as brothers and sisters in Christ and made us witnesses of the good news of great joy for all the people. The good news of great joy that brought us together. The good news of great joy that takes strangers and enemies and calls them brothers and sisters.

On Christmas Day, I looked out over this congregation that the world news would lead us to believe shouldn’t be together. Couldn’t be together. And yet we were. In peace and joy and celebration. I was struck by the promise of incarnation. By the promise that we celebrate on Christmas — that God comes to us. That God comes, not as the mighty and powerful warrior, but as the humble and vulnerable child. And then continues to breathe life and hope and promise into the lives of people, even with all of the baggage that we bring. With all of the joys and sorrows that we bear. With all of the struggles we face. That God continues to come to us, God’s beloved people, is worth remembering and celebrating, not just on Christmas but always. It is indeed good news of great joy for all the people. And light that shines in the darkness.

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ELCJHL Prepares for Dedication of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Bethany-Beyond-the-Jordan

Julie Brenton Rowe

Learn about the ELCJHL’s new pilgrimage center at Bethany beyond the Jordan, believed to be the site where Jesus was baptized.

Ecumenical and faith leaders from around the world are gathering with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land for the Jan. 6 dedication of the first Lutheran church built on a holy site:  The Evangelical Lutheran Church at Bethany-Beyond-the-Jordan.

This site on the Jordan River is believed to be the site where John the Baptist baptized Jesus and crowds of others, as related in John 1:29, which refers to “Bethany beyond the Jordan.”

The ELCJHL is one of 7 churches given land at this site by the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.  Pilgrims visiting “the Holy Land” are encouraged to remember this and other Biblical sites in Jordan in their trip plans.

Rev. Rolf Pearson and his wife Kerstin will be caretakers of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Bethany-Beyond-the-Jordan, which consists of a church, pastor’s house and multipurpose hall. They will be developing worship services, baptismal renewals and spiritual practices as they develop the pilgrim center.

Find out more about how to support this site and other ministries of the ELCJHL.

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