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Salaam and grace to you from Jerusalem, City of Peace. So
if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation; everything
old has passed away. Greetings to you from the ELCJ offices in Jerusalem. September brings with it many changes, as a new year begins for the schools and we begin to see small signs of a shift in weather. Here in the ELCJ, change is in the air, as we say farewell and thank you to some and welcome others into a new team. My name is Julie Rowe, and I will be continuing the work of Mary Jensen as Communication Assistant to Bishop Munib Younan. Mary touched many with her words and stories and will be sorely missed. Our prayers and thanks go with her as she takes up life again with her husband in the state of Nebraska, where she is now serving a congregation. I am an ELCA pastor most recently from San Antonio, Texas, and have been in parish, hospital and community ministries there and in Minnesota for about 15 years. Before that, I was an international banker and a reporter. I am honored to be here to live and work among people of great faith struggling for justice, peace and reconciliation. In other staff news, Pastor Ramez Ansara, pastor at the Lutheran Church of Hope in Ramallah, and Outi Merila celebrated their engagement July 20th at the church. Outi is a Deacon with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland and a public health nurse. She has been working with the Martin Luther Elderly Center in Jerusalem since January. The wedding will be October 10th. Congratulations! Pastor Mark Brown is settling in as the new representative for the Lutheran World Federation. His family has now joined him here, although their daughter,Karin, is now studying in France for the year. People say that chances for peace-making here are slim. I respectfully disagree. There is peace-making happening every day here in the ELCJ and other places where dedicated people of differing viewpoints of this conflict make small but significant steps toward a just peace. Someone once said that “hope is believing in something despite the evidence, and then helping the evidence change.” Each day, we face this choice. Will we choose hope and the way of love or will we choose despair and helplessness? As for us – the ELCJ in the midst of conflict and chaos - we choose hope. Bishop Younan's Recent Trips Geneva, Switzerland - In early September, Bishop Younan went to Geneva, Switzerland, for the first full meeting of the new Lutheran World Federation leadership team since election last year. The 49-member Council was joined by 50 other church representatives and 70 more LWF staff, advisors and other invited guests. The Bishop praised the new LWF Mission in Context document on transformation, empowerment and accompaniment described by LWF President and ELCA Bishop Mark Hanson in his address Growing Together, Growing Apart. Bishop Younan believes "the comprehensive approach of our theology of accompaniment helps churches work together as equal partners, sharing resources in the service of God's mission for all people." In other business, the Council: • Re-elected Zimbabwean theologian the Rev. Dr. Ishmael Noko as LWF General Secretary; • Appointed the Rev. Dr. Kjell Birger Nordstokke from Norway as Director of LWF's Department for Mission and Development; • Affirmed an emerging consensus and commitment to "prophetic diakonia" (service with the oppressed, poor and those in need of justice) in the LWF. • Adopted a resolution condemning anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim behavior. Bishop Younan believes it helps the ministry of the church in the Middle East and elsewhere to speak out against any discrimination based on religion, gender, race or ethnicity. • Condemned increasing violence against civilians, naming Sudan, Iraq, Palestine, Israel, Moscow and the Beslan school in Russia as particularly tragic. • Appointed a new 8-member Task Force on Family, Marriage and Sexuality to propose guidelines and processes to facilitate respectful discussion among member churches on these controversial issues. They will meet through 2006 and report on their process. Bishop Younan expressed congratulations to the Rev. Dr. Noko and to the Rev. Dr. Nordstokke on their leadership roles. The Bishop, who serves as a vice-president of LWF, will be pleased to welcome Council members to Jerusalem and Bethlehem at next year's meeting. Finland - The Bishop then traveled to Finland, where he was pleased to attend the consecration of Bishop Dr. Simo Peura in the ELCJ's companion synod, the Diocese of Lapua. The Archbishop of Finland had invited Bishop Younan to participate in the service. The festive, televised celebration was also attended by representatives from the Church in Sweden, the Church of Norway, the Anglican Communion, VELKD and the Church of Lithuania, among others. The Bishop addressed the celebration lunch on behalf of the ELCJ, naming the role of a bishop as the daily carrying of the cross and following Jesus. He then presented Bishop Dr. Peura with a Jerusalem Cross. . "We congratulate the new bishop, and hope he can come visit us soon," Bishop Younan said. He also thanked Bishop Emeritus Jorma Laulaja for initiating the companion synod relationship with the ELCJ.
In late August, more than 500 people from the Evangelical Lutheran Good Shepherd Church in Amman and the community crowded into the church to celebrate 25 years of active Lutheran presence. ishop Munib Younan was pleased to bring greetings from the ELCJ. He presented a memorial plaque to Rev. Numan Smir, the founding pastor of the church, for his long years of hard work. Many government officials and representatives of all area churches came to show support and appreciation for the church’s witness and cooperative ministry over the years. The Bishop pointed out that the Amman area Christian ministry is a good example of how Christians can complement each other and not compete with each other in the heart of Jordan and the Arab world. Bishop Munib Younan offered his appreciation and admiration for the church’s steadfast care and ministry throughout the community, especially its prophetic voice and living witness of reconciliation and faith. It was only by the pure grace of God and deep faith that the church not only survived crisis and turmoil, but grew stronger from it, the Bishop said. “It is not what you say, but how you act,” he said, noting that now the church stands as a model of reconciliation and healing in the community. The Bishop expressed deep gratitude for all the support the church has received over the years, including that of the Government of Jordan, the late King Hussein and the present King Abdullah. Both kings have shown great respect for freedom of religion and allow the Christian churches to operate freely. The church also would not have grown without the personal and institutional commitment of the Church of Sweden Mission, FELM (the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission) and VELKD in Germany. A Lutheran Response to the “Left Behind” Series by LCMS The popular 'Left Behind' book series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins endorse an understanding of what will happen in the "final days" that troubles many pastors, including Bishop Munib Younan. Lutheran pastors in Jerusalem recently met and discussed a very helpful new resource examining these issues called "A Lutheran Response to the 'Left Behind' Series," developed by the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod. The Bishop applauds this resource because "it reflects sound Christian theology and eschatology that needs to be emphasized and re-emphasized in today's world for the sake of the mission of the Church." Some conclusions of the study: The 'Left Behind' series fails to do justice to the Christ-centeredness of Scripture by encouraging people to fix their eyes on current events in the Middle East, the nuclear build up in other nations and the ongoing crisis in Israel, rather than upon Christ alone. Page 21 The teaching that God promises through "the rapture" to rescue true believers from the suffering of the 'great tribulation' of the end times also raises troublesome questions about God's care and compassion for the millions of believers throughout history (and in our present time) who have endured (and are enduring) unspeakable persecution and tribulation as a result of their faithful witness to Christ and His Gospel. Page 20-21 The
study considers these issues: the rapture and the millennium;
Israel and the Church; the relationship of the Old Testament
to the New Testament; the land of Israel; and the Book of Revelation. Congratulations to ELCJ Students and Teachers ELCJ
schools have begun again with full speed and God's blessing.
Students recently received their All 98 seniors graduating from the four ELCJ Schools in 2004 took the test this spring. Of those 98, 99 percent passed the test on their first attempt. Omar Ramez Mohtadi, a 2004 graduate of the Evangelical Lutheran School of Hope in Ramallah, scored a 99.3 percent on the Tawjihi exam. His score was the second highest obtained in the West Bank this year. Omar hopes to become a physician and is now beginning his first year of medical studies in Jordan. Congratulations also go to Clara Shihadeh, daughter of Pastor Jadallah Shihadeh of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Reformation in Beit Jala, and graduate of the Evangelical Lutheran School of Talitha Kumi, for her score of 97.8%. Clara plans to study medicine in Germany. The vast majority of 2004 ELCJ Schools graduates are now beginning university studies, both in Palestine and in a variety of locations abroad. Engineering, education, medicine, and social sciences are among the most popular future fields of study. The faculty and staff of the ELCJ Schools and the whole ELCJ community send their heartfelt congratulations to a talented and energetic graduating class as we all look to their lives of leadership and service in the years ahead. Farewells
and Welcomes in Beit Sahour and Talitha Kumi Mr. Hani Odeh, principal of the Evangelical Lutheran School in Beit Sahour since 1984, retired from twenty years there expanding and deepening the school’s educational offerings and building relationships with other schools and institutions—both locally and internationally. A native of Beit Sahour, continued to teach, modeling his belief that a successful school is founded on quality teaching and close communication with students. “Mr. Odeh taught us to be who we are and to be proud of it,” said one student of Mr. Odeh at his farewell ceremony. Mr. Odeh will continue to serve as evangelist to the Beit Sahour Lutheran congregation. Mr. Wilhelm Goller served as principal of the Evangelical Lutheran Talitha Kumi School since 1995. Mr. Goller worked diligently and cooperatively with the faculty and staff of Talitha Kumi as principal through almost a decade of political instability and great challenges in education. During this time, Gabriele Goller served as German language coordinator for the ELCJ Schools. Together they returned to Germany this July, where Mrs. Goller is assuming duties as principal of a secondary school in Dresden. Hani Odeh is succeeded by Mr. Salameh Bishara, a native of Beit Jala who has long worked as a math teacher and administrator in the Talitha Kumi School. Wilhelm Goller’s successor, Dr. Georg Dürr, is a lifelong educator with extensive international experience, including twelve years as an educator and school principal in Namibia and South Africa. The ELCJ wishes Mr. Odeh and Mr. Goller success in their next endeavors and welcomes the new gifts and experiences brought by Mr. Bishara and Dr. Dürr.
Noted
by Rev. Julie Rowe  |
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