{"id":2015,"date":"2014-01-08T16:27:34","date_gmt":"2014-01-08T22:27:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/peacenotwalls\/?p=2015"},"modified":"2015-09-20T16:35:13","modified_gmt":"2015-09-20T22:35:13","slug":"christmas-peace-and-unity-in-cairo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/elcasumud\/christmas-peace-and-unity-in-cairo\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas Peace and Unity in Cairo"},"content":{"rendered":"

Julie Rowe<\/p>\n

ELCA missionary Kirsten Fryer\u00a0serves St. Andrew’s International Congregation and the St. Andrew’s Refugee Services in Cairo.\u00a0\u00a0In her blog, Cairos<\/a>, Kirsten describes Christmas Day worship in Cairo where\u00a0Sudanese refugees from various tribes who are fighting in South Sudan came together to worship, sing and commune around\u00a0the table of the Lord.<\/p>\n

\"Christmas<\/p>\n

From Kirsten’s blog:<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you’ve been following the news from South Sudan<\/a>, you’ll understand why I will treasure Christmas Day 2013 for a very long time.\u00a0Even 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.\u00a0In Arabic and English, Nuer, Dinka, and Shilluk, we prayed and sang and came together at the Lord’s Table.\u00a0For those 3\u00bd hours, differences were set aside and prayers were lifted up, together, in thanksgiving and celebration.\u00a0Prayers were lifted up for peace, in South Sudan and Syria and throughout the world.<\/p>\n

There was lots <\/em>of music.\u00a0The song leader would begin to sing, and soon voices were raised throughout the sanctuary, not just by one group, but by the whole congregation.\u00a0Even at the point when the different congregations sang a special song, everyone joined in.\u00a0Women danced in the aisles and voices were raised throughout the old, dusty sanctuary, decorated in its Christmas finest.\u00a0We 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.<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0The good news of great joy that brought us together.\u00a0The good news of great joy that takes strangers and enemies and calls them brothers and sisters.<\/p>\n

On Christmas Day, I looked out over this congregation that the world news would lead us to believe shouldn’t be together.\u00a0Couldn’t be together.\u00a0And yet we were.\u00a0In peace and joy and celebration.\u00a0I was struck by the promise of incarnation.\u00a0By the promise that we celebrate on Christmas \u2014 that God comes to us.\u00a0That God comes, not as the mighty and powerful warrior, but as the humble and vulnerable child.\u00a0And then continues to breathe life and hope and promise into the lives of people, even with all of the baggage that we bring.\u00a0With all of the joys and sorrows that we bear.\u00a0With all of the struggles we face.\u00a0That God continues to come to us, God’s beloved people, is worth remembering and celebrating, not just on Christmas but always.\u00a0It is indeed good news of great joy for all the people.\u00a0And light that shines in the darkness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Julie Rowe ELCA missionary Kirsten Fryer\u00a0serves St. Andrew’s International Congregation and the St. Andrew’s Refugee Services in Cairo.\u00a0\u00a0In her blog, Cairos, Kirsten describes Christmas Day worship in Cairo where\u00a0Sudanese refugees from various tribes who are fighting in South Sudan came together to worship, sing and commune around\u00a0the table of the Lord. From Kirsten’s blog: If […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":189,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1400],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-post"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nChristmas Peace and Unity in Cairo - SUMUD<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Christmas Peace and Unity in Cairo - SUMUD\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Julie Rowe ELCA missionary Kirsten Fryer\u00a0serves St. Andrew’s International Congregation and the St. Andrew’s Refugee Services in Cairo.\u00a0\u00a0In her blog, Cairos, Kirsten describes Christmas Day worship in Cairo where\u00a0Sudanese refugees from various tribes who are fighting in South Sudan came together to worship, sing and commune around\u00a0the table of the Lord. 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