{"id":856,"date":"2011-12-27T12:13:01","date_gmt":"2011-12-27T18:13:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/peacenotwalls\/?p=856"},"modified":"2011-12-27T12:16:28","modified_gmt":"2011-12-27T18:16:28","slug":"joseph-also-went-along-with-mary-his-wife-who-was-expecting-a-child-luke-24-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/elcasumud\/joseph-also-went-along-with-mary-his-wife-who-was-expecting-a-child-luke-24-5\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cJoseph also went. . . along with Mary, his wife. . . who was expecting a child.\u201d (Luke 2:4-5)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>These words are taken from the Christmas Eve sermon\u00a0from Pastor Fred Strickert, the ELCA missionary who serves at the English-speaking Redeemer Lutheran Church in Jerusalem.\u00a0 On Christmas Eve, the Arabic, German and English-speaking congregations join together at Christmas Lutheran Church in Bethlehem (below) for an international service.\u00a0 Pastor Fred preached this year’s sermon:\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘And so the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.’\u00a0 (John 1:14)\u00a0 Among us in our world filled with refugees and immigrants.<\/em><\/p>\n

The child of a refugee family finding hospitality and welcome in Bethlehem, just as the church today accepts the challenge of welcoming the stranger today.\u00a0 Fred Otieno, from the Church in Nairobi, recently said reflecting on his 18 hour a day, seven day a week position as camp coordinator at the Dadaab Refugee Camp, ‘God has a purpose for us being here to make a difference in the lives of these people, so we must try and help them enjoy their stay, because at the end of the day we all need one another.’\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

This is the message that goes out from the Bethlehem manger, “At the end of the day we all need one another.”<\/em><\/p>\n