wfn.org | Christmas Message from the Lutheran World Federation President

[FRANK_IMHOFF.parti@ecunet.org (FRANK IMHOFF)]

"For the Grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all."
(Titus 2:11)

Dear Sisters and Brothers in all parts of the world,

I wish to bring Christmas greetings to the worldwide communion of our
Lutheran churches.
God has become human among us. How come? "This will be a sign for you: you
will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger" (Luke
2:12). It is there that you find God's love. He is very close to us.
Everywhere. Even in poverty and need.

We experience the message of God's coming in Jesus Christ in very
different contexts. I am thinking, for example, of the sister churches in
our communion which I had the privilege to visit this year: those in El
Salvador and Nicaragua where, in the midst of poverty, the devastating
storm often managed to tear away the last sheltering roof; I am thinking
of the churches in Suriname, Brazil and Argentina which, together with the
landless and the dispossessed, are struggling for justice and human
dignity. I am thinking of the encounters in our churches in the Czech
Republic, in Poland and in Slovenia where, after generations of
oppression, there is so much new hope for free speech and actions in God's
love. I am experiencing my own church in Germany which, while being
well-off in many respects, has become spiritually poor in others.
Everywhere Christmas is to come, indeed will come. How come?

I am thinking of our marvelous experience of community when we gathered in
June as the Council of the LWF where our strong underlying conviction
became very clear, namely that only by God's grace and through faith and
trust in his mercy we become just and free for life. This is where the
Christmas message shines: Indeed "the grace of God has appeared, bringing
salvation to all" (Titus, 2:11) - wherever and whoever we may be. For this
reason "there will be no gloom for those who were in anguish" (Isaiah
9:1).

Let me take this opportunity to thank all those who in their respective
places and in the joint responsibility as LWF staff have throughout the
year brought the Christmas message to people in word and deed and in so
doing have borne much strain when faced with relief actions in wars,
famines and emergencies of all kinds.

Bethlehem is before our eyes. At the beginning of the year, on the day of
the Orthodox Christmas, I was invited there by President Arafat. My
companions and I were still suffering from shock in view of the conflicts
we had experienced when visiting both shores of the Jordan. The
deep-rooted distrust and violence were clearly before us. But here, too:
Bethlehem! God's message has a name and a place - in the midst of people.
"Glory to God in the highest - and peace on earth."

With this call of the angels from the fields of Bethlehem, I wish you a
blessed Christmas, and may God comfort and accompany you also in the new
year 1999.

Yours,

Christian Krause
President of the Lutheran World Federation
Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Brunswick

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Lutheran World Information
Assistant Editor, English: Pauline Mumia
E-mail: pmu@lutheranworld.org
http://www.lutheranworld.org/