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.

Graffiti from the Separation Wall near Bethlehem.

The Palestine Israel Ecumenical Forum (PIEF) of the World Council of Churches invites member churches, faith-based communities, and civil society organizations to join together in 2013 for a week of advocacy and action in support of an end to the illegal occupation of Palestine and a just peace for all in Palestine and Israel. Congregations and individuals around the globe who share the hope of justice shall unite during the week to take peaceful actions, together, to create a common international public witness.

The theme of the week in 2013 is: “Jerusalem, the city of justice and peace.”

As part of the most recent World Week for Peace in Palestine Israel, from 28 May to 3 June 2012, churches in at least 25 countries around the world sent a clear signal to policy-makers, community groups, and their own parishes about the urgent need for a peace settlement that ends the illegal occupation and secures the legitimate rights and future of both peoples.

During World Week for Peace 2013, participants will organize and join in events and activities around the following three principles:

1. Praying with churches living under occupation, using a special prayer from Jerusalem and other worship resources prepared for the week. Note that Tuesday of this week falls on  Sept 24, the date of the monthly prayer vigil called for by ACT Palestine. 
2. Educating about actions that make for peace, and about facts on the ground that do not create peace, especially issues related to the city of Jerusalem.
3. Advocating with political leaders using ecumenical policies that promote peace with justice.

Find more information and resources at the PIEF webpage, including:

• The Jerusalem Prayer from the Churches in Jerusalem
• The liturgy “Jerusalem, the City of Justice and Peace,” written by Palestinian Christian laity and clergy for Sunday 22 September
• Proposed common action and advocacy for Sunday 22 September, based on the theme: “To pray, you need a military permit!”
• A resource on Jerusalem created by our international working group, with information, theological reflections, and advocacy suggestions for each day of the Week
• Testimonials from the Wall Museum near Rachel’s Tomb, a project of the Sumud Story House of the Arab Educational Institute
• A policy paper on Jerusalem, published March 2013 by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung office in East Jerusalem

CHICAGO (ELCA) — The United States and its president have a role to play to stop the atrocities in Egypt and allow for the self-determination of that nation to be practiced, according to top Middle East and U.S. Lutheran church leaders.

In a joint Aug. 19 letter to U.S. President Barack Obama, the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), and the Rev. Munib A. Younan, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land, expressed their concern to the president over the current situation in Egypt and its implication throughout the region.

“We hear from fellow Christian leaders and our Muslim friends that churches and mosques are being used as political tools,” wrote Hanson and Younan. “We are aware that there are some who are trying to transform the political struggles of the region into religious wars.”

The two leaders wrote that what is happening in Egypt is not only a struggle for democracy but that this crisis could transform “Egypt into a battlefield of extremist powers that will not allow the Egyptians to live in dignity. If not quickly resolved, the crisis there will affect the whole region, and we will enter again into another vicious cycle of hatred, bloodshed and war.”

Recalling the president’s speech in Cairo five years ago, where Obama emphasized the right of every nation to determine its own policies, Hanson and Younan wrote that the anarchy afflicting Egypt “is creating fertile ground for all kinds of groups to intervene, endangering the possibility for healthy self-determination.”

Hanson and Younan wrote that such a situation will “only endanger all moderate forces in Egypt — be they Coptic or Muslim — and will only give a boost for non-democratic groups to hold Egypt and the whole Middle East hostage.”

Making it clear that no religion has a monopoly on extremism, Hanson and Younan said that in the Middle East, people are confronted by religiously sanctioned political extremism — a threat to common citizens and persons of faith.

Hanson and Younan urged President Obama to define a clear line of U.S. policy toward the region in light of Islamic extremism. “The appearance that the U.S. is investing in one group alone has already exacerbated sectarian tensions. Not all Islamists are political extremists. Peace-seeking Egyptians, whether Coptic or Muslim, are committed to the well-being of all their neighbors and to the promotion of democracy and a vibrant civil society.”

They also urged the president to take every possible step to stop the violence, actively seek peace, play a constructive role in Egypt for the sake of humanity and encourage all groups to gather at one table to construct a road map toward reconciliation, which would make provisions for human rights and fundamental freedoms.

(Text from ELCA NEWS SERVICE)

Full text of the letter to President Obama

In their Easter message, the Heads of Churches in Jerusalem “call upon all Christians from around the ecumenical world to come and visit with our churches and walk with the living stones of the Holy Land  in the footsteps of our risen Lord.” If you are interested in responding to this call take a look at Peace Not Wall’s resources for traveling to the Holy Land.

Below is the full text of the Easter message:

“He is not here; he has risen, just as he said.
Come and see the place where he lay.” Matthew 28:6

We, the Patriarchs and Heads of Churches in Jerusalem, bless our faithful people in this region and the people of God everywhere in the name of the risen Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

Each year the Church calls us to celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ through Divine Liturgies and Paschal ceremonies and gatherings. The Church in the Holy Land offers what no other church around the world can offer – Pilgrimage in the land where it all happened. Through many prayers, fasts, and holy journeys, this land we call Holy became a fifth gospel. Indeed, our Easter greetings come from the heart of the City of Hope, Resurrection and the Empty Tomb.

As Heads of Churches in Jerusalem, we call upon all Christians from around the ecumenical world to come and visit with our churches and walk with the living stones of the Holy Land in the footsteps of our risen Lord. And for those who are not able to make their pilgrimage to the Holy Land, we appeal to them to hold the peoples of this land in their prayers, particularly the Christian presence that keeps dwindling and faces existential challenges throughout the Middle East.

The holy fire on Holy Saturday and Easter Vigil remind us, and the entire world, of the ‘Light of the Risen Lord’, which illumines the whole world, even in the darkest places of the earth. Our world today is full of false idols that separate people from the light of Christ and the truth of his Gospel. The Christian presence here in the Mother City of our faith continues to serve as a beacon of light of the risen Christ, which the first disciples witnessed here at the empty sepulcher in Jerusalem.

As a continued witness of the resurrection, the Church in the Holy Land urges all people of faith and goodwill around the world, especially those in authority, to strive for justice and peace among the nations. In particular, pray with us for the situation in Syria; in Lebanon; in Palestine and Israel; in Egypt; in Iraq, and wherever there is political unrest. Pray for all victims of violence and oppression, for prisoners, for those who live with the lack of security, and those who are displaced and refugees, especially here in our land.

May the light of the risen Lord shine upon the whole world and in our region, and may we all be raised with Christ into life victorious. Alleluia, Christ is Risen! He is Risen indeed.

Alleluia!

Patriarch Theophilos III, Greek Orthodox Patriarchate
Patriarch Fouad Twal, Latin Patriarchate
Patriarch Norhan Manougian, Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Patriarchate
Very Rev. Pierbattista Pizzaballa, ofm, Custos of the Holy Land
Archbishop Anba Abraham, Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate, Jerusalem
Archbishop Swerios Malki Murad, Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate
Aba Fissiha Tsion, Locum Tenens of the Ethiopian Orthodox Patriarchate
Archbishop Joseph-Jules Zerey, Greek-Melkite-Catholic Patriarchate
Archbishop Moussa El-Hage, Maronite Patriarchal Exarchate
Bishop Suheil Dawani, Episcopal Church of Jerusalem and the Middle East
Bishop Munib Younan, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land
Bishop Pierre Melki, Syrian Catholic Patriarchal Exarchate
Msgr. Joseph Antoine Kelekian, Armenian Catholic Patriarchal Exarchate

Taken from Independent Catholic News website

httpv://youtu.be/PDaMlJVcMkA

According to a report by the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI), on Wednesday, March 20, at 7:30 am, the day President Obama landed in Tel Aviv, 22 Israeli soldiers arrived at the Hebron Public Elementary School where they forced schoolchildren to walk to Checkpoint 29 and then into military vehicles. In total, the Israeli Military apprehended 27 minors, ages 7-15 during this incident.  An international protester took the video above.  According to BtSelem, an Israeli human rights group, 14 were under the age of 12.  It is illegal to detain Israeli children under the age of 12, but the occupied Palestinian territories are subject to a different set of laws through the Israeli military.

Though reports of the details differ, according to the EAPPI report:

– two of the children were released on the side of a road shortly after being detained. The remaining 25 children were taken to the police station near the Ibrahimi Mosque, where they were photographed and had their fingerprints taken.  Teachers from the school went to the police station but were not allowed to enter.

– At 2:00PM the soldiers released the 8 youngest children, and continued to detain the remaining 17, who are all between the ages of 13 and 15.  After interrogating them at the police station the soldiers transported the 17 children to the Jabarah and Junaid military bases, where they continued to question them.

– Later that night soldiers released 14 of the remaining children. Three of the children, Muhamad Al-Razim, Muhamad Burqan and Muhamad Al-Fakhoury (ages 14-15) were transported to the Ofer Military Prison where they were still detained as of Wednesday, March 27.  

– The minors were questioned, photographed and had their fingerprints taken multiple times without consent and without the presence of parents, legal guardians, lawyers or teachers. Moreover, throughout the incident, the children were held along with other adult detainees, one of which is a long-time contact of EAPPI, Issa Amro, who confirmed that the children were both blindfolded and handcuffed for extended periods while being detained in the police station.

Ynet reports that the IDF confirmed it had arrested Palestinian schoolchildren on Wednesday morning “due to recent stone-throwing incidents toward the security forces and citizens in the city.” The Israeli army added that seven children had been taken for police interrogation.

Under international law, children should be restrained only if they pose an imminent threat to themselves or to others, and all other means have been exhausted.  They also are entitled to have a parent, guardian or lawyer present for the interrogations.   

Also in Hebron that day, according to Reuters, dozens of children and adults marched through Hebron’s Shuhada Street to protest the American president’s visit. Hebron is a flashpoint of tension between the more than 150,000 Palestinians and the less than 1000 Israeli settlers who live in the city.  Shudada Street has been closed since 1994, and parts of the Old City of Hebron, where Palestinians used to own houses and shops, have been either closed or taken over by settlers.  

According to Ali Gharib, reporting for the Daily Beast from Hebron, the protesters wore cartoon Obama masks and spoke out against segregation of Palestinians and Israelis in the city. They were joined by international activists with t-shirts saying “I have a dream.”

See EAPPI action alert  |   See story in Huffington Post  |  See BtSelem report

(Left to Right) Rev. Ibrahim Azar, Pastor of the Arabic Speaking congregation of the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer; Rev. Mark Brown, Church Council Chairperson of the English Speaking congregation of the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer; Bishop Munib Younan, Bishop of the ELCJHL; Propst Wolfgang Schmidt, Representative of the Evangelische Kirche Deutschland in Jerusalem bless Rev. Dr. Martin Zimmann and Rev. Dr. Angela Zimmann. © Danae Hudson/ELCJHL

On March 10th, 2013, ELCJHL Bishop Munib Younan installed Rev. Dr. Angela Zimmann and Rev. Dr. Martin Zimmann as pastors of the English Speaking Redeemer congregation and Special Assistants to the Bishop. Also installed were Danae Hudson, as Communications Assistant to the Bishop, and Steve Hudson, as volunteer accountant for the ELCJHL.  

Bishop Younan challenged them in his sermon: “You are called to accompany the people of Palestine in their struggle to realize the dream of a peaceful coexistence with their Israeli neighbors. You will hear the pains and insecurity of both peoples, Israeli and Palestinian, but you are called to give them a word of comfort, a word of peace, a word of love. The road is difficult, the work is challenging. I pray you will be up to the task. And we in the ELCJHL will be supporting you.”

Listen to Bishop Younan’s sermon for the installation service.  See more photos of the installation. 

From left: Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, WCC general secretary; Rev. Dr Margaretha Hendriks-Ririmasse, vice-moderator of the WCC Central Committee; Rev. Dr Walter Altmann, moderator of the WCC Central Committee; Bishop Dr Munib A. Younan; and Metropolitan Prof. Dr Gennadios of Sassima; vice-moderator of the WCC Central Committee, after the WCC Executive Committee vote.

The Executive Committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC) meeting near Geneva at the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey voted to approve the full membership of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL) in the WCC. The approval ended a two-year process in which both the Executive Committee and Central Committee of the WCC considered the application of the ELCJHL. During this period, visits to the churches in Jerusalem and discussions with other member churches in the area took place. The ELCA has a long relationship with the ELCJHL.

“The ELCJHL widely identifies with ministries of the World Council of Churches,” Bishop Dr Munib A. Younan of the ELCJHL said in a brief speech to the Executive Committee after the vote, pointing to their support of the Jerusalem Inter-church Centre, the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel and the Palestine Israel Ecumenical Forum.

“We are honoured to serve God’s will through the essential ministries of the World Council of Churches,” Younan said. “The ELCJHL supports these ministries … because they show our people in Jerusalem, The Holy Land, and Jordan that their Christian sisters and brothers around the world stand with them, accompanying them in their sorrows and in their joys.”

Younan said, “in this age of globalization, we join with the churches in the world around us to be instruments of peace, harbingers of justice, initiators of dialogue.”

“The ELCJHL is richly blessed by the accompaniment we have received through this ecumenical body, and we hope that we have returned some of that goodness to you,” he said.

The ELCJHL, with its origins in 19th century missionary activity in the Holy Land, is made up of congregations in Amman, Jerusalem, Ramallah and the Bethlehem area. An updated count of WCC member churches will come after the WCC 10th Assembly being held in Busan, Republic of Korea, 30 October to 10 November, 2013.

See the ELCJHL’s story.       See World Council of Churches’ story.

On Monday, a team of researchers presented the results of a three-year study that tried to objectively look at bias in Israeli and Palestinian textbooks directed against “the other.” The results and the responses they engendered were mixed, leaving the State Department, the primary funder of the study, to dance around the results.

While the report found that each side teaches their children little about the other’s religion, culture or economy and most maps on both side ignore the other, the results were not all negative. For years, the debate over incitement in textbooks has fueled accusations that there is no desire for peace. According to the Guardian, “Israel and the Palestinian Authority have both been accused of teaching violence and hatred, demonizing the other, or using excessively negative depictions in children’s education” but the study found these claims unfounded. National Public Radio reports: “there are few dehumanizing references in the textbooks of either side. The research team found few if any references to the other culture as ‘subhuman,’ something they said is common in other tense situations.”

The study was initiated by the Council of Religious Institutions of the Holy Land comprised of the Chief Rabbis of Israel, the Minister of Religious Affairs of the Palestinian Authority, the Greek, Armenian and Latin Patriarchs of Jerusalem and the Anglican and Lutheran Bishops of the Holy Land; and was fully funded by the U.S. State Department.

The reactions to the report were varied. Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad welcomed the study, saying it “proves what we have repeatedly affirmed in response to allegations” about Palestinian incitement against Israel. He said he had encouraged the Ministry of Education to adopt its recommendations for improving the Palestinian curriculum.

The Israeli Education Ministry denounced the report’s findings as an attempt to create a parallel between the Israeli and Palestinian educational systems and explained it chose not to cooperate with the study whose members “are interested in maliciously slandering the Israeli educational system and the State of Israel.” In the U.S., the Anti-Defamation League supported the Education Ministry’s criticism, calling the study “distorted and counterproductive.”

Dr. Bruce Wexler, the Yale University psychiatry professor who designed the study, countered those claims to reporters on Monday saying, “Frankly, I think that the minister of education is a great example of the power of these unilateral narratives. That man cannot see beyond the blinders that have come into his mind by developing as a product of a national narrative that can’t understand the types of things we’re talking about here.”

The State Department distanced themselves from the findings of the report, a reaction that The Washington Post said was  “probably owed to ally Israel’s angry reaction.” The spokeswoman told reporters, “The results are not necessarily endorsed by the U.S. government, but we fund NGOs who are seeking to do independent analyses so that parties on the ground can use them in their own evaluation of these things…So you know, we’re not taking a position one way or another on what the study found.”

Sami Adwan of Bethlehem University, the chief Palestinian researcher on the project, says that despite the Palestinian textbooks’ low instances of dehumanization, “How can you teach children to act positive toward the Israelis when they’re creating a much more difficult life? How can you tell them, ‘Be nice to your neighbor’ while you only see your neighbor in bulldozers and at checkpoints?”

Mohammed Dajani, a former Fatah fighter turned peace activist, who served on the advisory board of the textbook study says now is the time to make changes in the curriculum. “We should not let our children inherit our problems.”

Taken from the Churches for Middle East Peace website

Hold a prayer vigil in your local area on the 24th of the month and join the global voice praying for peace.

We are reinvigorating the Ecumenical Prayer Vigil for Peace in the Middle East, in response to a call from the ACT Palestine Forum. This global ecumenical prayer vigil began on Dec. 24, 2012, and will continue across the globe, on the 24th of every month, until the Israeli occupation is dismantled, violence in the Middle East ends, and all can celebrate a just and lasting negotiated resolution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Please sign your congregation or group up for the prayer vigil here.

You can find prayer resources here.

Many of you have actively participated in the prayer vigil since 2000 — please help us raise awareness about and bring energy to the new prayer vigil. Encourage people to pray together as a family, as office or parish colleagues, or as a congregation, on the 24th of each month as part of this vigil.

Please email Karin Brown (Karin.Brown@elca.org), Peace Not Walls coordinator, with any prayer vigil resources or ideas that you want to share with the wider network.

ELCJHL Bishop Munib Younan, President of the Lutheran World Federation, gives a Christmas video greeting from Jerusalem:

Don’t forget the simulcast Christmas service between Christmas Lutheran Church in Bethlehem and the National Cathedral in Washington, to be broadcast at 10 am EST here.