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Salaam and grace to you from Jerusalem, the city of Christ's death and resurrection.
From Jerusalem, where Jesus died on the cross and where he rose from the dead, we send Easter greetings and the witness of the resurrection. The Lord is risen! Only a short distance from the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer is the church known in Arabic as the Church of the Resurrection. Archeologists and historians believe this is the very place of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Christian pilgrims have come to this place for two thousand years to remember and honor Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and rejoice in his resurrection from the dead. With many other people, we in the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in Jerusalem actually live in the “resurrection neighborhood”! In truth, of course, wherever Christians are gathered as witnesses of Christ – that place is a resurrection neighborhood. This reality has great implications for us as followers of the Risen Lord. In this newsletter we will tell you about Holy Week and Easter observances in the ELCJ churches; about a special award to a Palestinian American Lutheran woman; about Bishop Younan’s visit to Milan, Italy; about the recent meeting of the Fellowship of Middle East Evangelical Churches; about the ongoing humanitarian problems related to the occupation; and we will share an article by Andy Willis about the Lutheran School of Hope in Ramallah. 1. Holy Week and Easter in the ELCJ Congregations
2.
Ms. Ghada Saleem Kasabreh Huleis Given Major Honor by the ELCA “The Division for Higher Education and Schools of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America celebrates the selection of Mrs. Ghada Huleis as the 2004 ELCA Principal of the Year. Her persistence, professionalism and ministry filled with prayer have been acknowledged and affirmed through the nomination and selection process. . . As a leader at Salem Lutheran School, Mrs. Huleis diligently works to build special programs, secure the best curriculums, provide challenges and the extra help it sometimes takes for a child to achieve. She provides support and nurture for children, families, the school community and the supporting congregations.” Ghada Huleis was born into a Lutheran family in Jerusalem. Her parents were both educators. She describes her education at the Martin Luther School in Jerusalem as “a firm foundation” for the rest of her education. Ghada completed her high school education at the Friends School in Ramallah and her liberal arts degree and her masters degree in education administration at California State University in Northridge, CA. Ghada’s mother and two brothers are members of the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, Jerusalem. Ghassan Kasabreh, Ghada’s brother, is the organist for the Arabic-speaking congregation where the Rev. Sani Ibrahim Azar is the pastor. The award was announced and celebrated at Redeemer. In a letter to Bishop Younan, Ghada Huleis said, “My sincere thanks also go to my fellow family of the ELCJ as you share the good news with me. It is our news and our success. We are one family in Christ.” Ghada Huleis is the first Palestinian woman to receive this nationwide award and honor in the ELCA. Her application will now be sent to the U.S. Department of Education and the National Association of Elementary School Principals for consideration in the National Distinguished Principals Program. 3.
Bishop Younan Speaks in Milan, Italy
The four lectures in March, April and May are being sponsored by four cultural and religious groups in Milan: the Goethe Institut, the Casa della Cultura, the Communita di Sant Egidio, and the Chiesa Cristiana Protestante in Milano.
4. Fellowship of Middle East Evangelical Churches
Meets in Cyprus In this assembly the Reformed and Lutheran churches were represented, but the Anglican churches absented themselves, for their own reasons. Representatives of regional and international churches and church-related agencies also attended the assembly and brought with them letters of greetings, love and support. The assembly studied, prayed and met together with love, a warm family atmosphere, unanimity and seriousness that prevailed throughout the gathering. It was a good opportunity for sisters and brothers in FMEEC to meet, especially in the sessions where the experiences and witnesses of the member churches were heard. A great part of the deliberations concentrated on the importance and necessity of unity of the Evangelical family in its witness, relationships and contributions, which are expressed its long history of contribution to the ecumenical movement in the Middle East. There were many expressions of love and invitation to the Anglican churches from the assembly, calling for unity. The assembly concluded by electing the Executive Committee of FMEEC for the next legislative period. Elected were the President, Bishop Dr. Munib A. Younan, and the Vice-President, the Rev. Habib Badr. Ms. Roseangela Jarjour was reelected as FMEEC General Secretary. 5.
Ongoing Humanitarian Problems in Palestine “The
Israeli government is clamping down on the issuance of visas
to the Christian churches for their expatriate workers, students
and men and women religious. This increasingly tight policy
is affecting all the Christian churches and institutions. The
clear intention of the Israeli bureaucracy is to limit the number
of Christian expatriates who will assist the local churches.
An Israeli ministerial committee is being formed to investigate
every expatriate who applies for a visa. The Bethlehem area has once again been experiencing Israeli military incursions and 24 hour curfews. On April 26 the schools had to close shortly before noon and parents quickly were gathering their children. After arranging for the children, the teachers and administrators of the Lutheran schools also hurried home, knowing it is dangerous to be on the streets during curfew. Evangelist Hani Odeh stated that a private home belonging to his neighbors in Beit Sahour was taken over by Israeli soldiers who wanted a lookout point. The family was made to stay on the ground floor of the house. Permits also continue to be difficult to obtain for Palestinian people. Once again Pastor Raheb in Bethlehem could not travel to the U.S. for meetings, having been denied permission to fly from Ben Gurion Airport and even to reach the border crossing into Jordan. The Jordanian crossing was not possible because of the aforementioned curfew. *********************** ELCJ
Schools and Educational Programs A
Long Overdue Field Trip for the Lutheran School of Hope On Saturday, March 20, the school took all students in grade two through twelve for a day of education and recreation in the nearby West Bank town of Jericho. For years the School of Hope has kept a tradition of taking the school community for a large-scale field trip at the start of spring. Past trips have taken students as far north as the Sea of Galilee and the Golan Heights and as far south as Eilat. This tradition, like so many others, came to a halt with the start of the second intifada. March’s trip to Jericho was the first excursion the school has taken since the spring of 2000. “It’s been four years since our students have gotten to travel like this,” says Taghreed Qassissiyeh, an administrator at the School of Hope. “We used to go somewhere every year, but it’s not always possible today.” A trip to Jericho was nothing worthy of note just a few years ago. Ramallah residents would regularly make the thirty-kilometer trip on cool winter evenings for dinner in one of the town’s outdoor restaurants and a stroll in Jericho’s temperate climate. Since Israel’s adoption of increasingly harsh “security” measures began taking effect in 2000, however, Palestinians have more and more difficult restrictions placed on their freedom of movement. And not only in moving from the West Bank into Jerusalem or Israel. Travel within the occupied West Bank itself has also become a major endeavor, often involving a maze of checkpoints, barriers and hassles. It’s far easier today to just stay home. But it’s more fun to get out once in awhile. The kids hopping up the big bus steps weren’t wearing their usual 7:00 am Saturday faces this morning. Everyone was wide awake and ready to go. Some students from grade twelve had brought along a tableh (a traditional Palestinian drum), and it didn’t take long for their bus to burst into a medley of Middle Eastern beats and lively clapping and cheers. The teachers danced their way on to the buses and the caravan headed off for Jericho. Taking a wide and roundabout route to avoid checkpoints, the buses made a stop at Nebi Musa, the site Muslims traditionally recognize as the place of Moses’ burial. A history teacher from the school gave an explanation of the site’s history and significance before the buses rolled on. In Jericho the group visited a large outdoor city park and rode cable cars to the top of the Mount of Temptation, the site Christians traditionally recognize as the setting for Jesus’ temptation by the devil during his forty days in the wilderness. At the lookout area near the top, School of Hope students ran into a group from another Christian school in Ramallah. In universal high school form, a friendly dual of chanting ensued. Rough translation of the School of Hope chant (in Arabic, of course): “Go Lutherans!” “You see how much fun we have?” said Samir, an eleventh-grader at the School of Hope. “We can’t let ourselves get dragged down by the situation. We must try to go on enjoying our lives as best we can.” The grade levels split up for lunch and afternoon activities. Younger classes went to restaurants in Jericho, while the upper classes had a barbeque at the home of a teacher in town. Students at the picnic took care of the cooking, serving and clean up while the teachers sat back and gratefully enjoyed the chance to be served. By 6:00 pm all the buses had arrived back in Ramallah, parents waiting to drive their sleepy kids home. With Israel’s continuing construction of the Separation Wall and systematic isolation of Palestinian communities throughout the West Bank, no one knows if a trip of this sort with its immeasurable therapeutic benefits will be possible for the School of Hope next year. Little by little, such basic routines of daily life as visiting nearby family and friends are becoming more and more difficult, and in some cases impossible. “Every year we hope to take our students for a trip like this,” says School of Hope Principal Michael Abu Ghazalleh. “It’s especially important in this time. And we will keep trying, even as the situation gets worse and worse.”
A
Personal Note: The Rev. Dr. Mary E. Jensen will soon
be finishing her term of service from the ELCA Division for
Global Mission, serving as the Communications Assistant to Bishop
Younan and the ELCJ. She has served from February 2002 to June
2004. She extends her gratitude to everyone who has taken time
to read the ELCJ newsletters, articles and calendar pages, and
to share the information with others. Noted
by Rev. Dr. Mary E. Jensen  |
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