wfn.org | Celebration of LWF Sunday 1999

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

Sharing gifts in the Lutheran communion

GENEVA, 31 July 1999 (lwi) - As the Lutheran World Federation (LWF)
member churches celebrate the LWF Sunday this year, they are reminded of
the implications of being a communion of churches particularly as they
reflect on the 1999 theme, "Communion in a Divided World".

In his letter to the 128 member churches dated July 1999, the LWF
General Secretary Dr. Ishmael Noko, points out that being a communion
includes among other things sharing "faith, pain, joy, hope, personal
and material resources as well as bread and wine at the Lord's table."

The concept of an "LWF Sunday" or a "Lutheran Communion Sunday" was
adopted by the LWF Council at its meeting in Windhoek, Namibia in 1995.
The Council expressed the hope that such a Sunday would be celebrated
annually in all the churches, with flexibility as to its content and
date, but preferably on or around Reformation Sunday.

Each year, member churches in one of the LWF's seven regions are asked
to prepare this celebration for the whole Lutheran communion together
with Council members from the same region. The Africa region has made
the 1999 LWF Sunday preparations. The occasion may be celebrated as a
separate event or in connection with other ecumenical services.

The first such Sunday was celebrated in 1997, during the LWF Assembly in
Hong Kong. The thematic progression, adopted for the celebration of the
LWF Sunday each year, follows the themes of the 1997 LWF Assembly Study
Book.

Writing to the member churches, the general secretary points out that as
the LWF Sunday celebrations are marked this year, voices from the
African continent "remind us that we need to think about life, life that
is so easily taken for granted." In his letter, he calls the attention
of the member churches to those factors which deny millions of people in
Africa and in other countries of the South, of the basic necessities of
life. At the same time, he underscores that the African continent, with
its fast growing churches, "reminds us of the faith and hope at the
center of our Christian life."

Noko underscores that although one speaks so often about globalization
today, the world is divided in many aspects. However, he adds,
"communion reminds us of our unity in our faith in Jesus Christ," in
spite of the cultural, economic and other differences.

On the ecumenical role of the Lutheran communion, the general secretary
notes that several worldwide dialogues and commitments have been
undertaken in relation to other churches. Thus, the LWF Sunday would be
an opportunity for thanksgiving to God for His Spirit which has
continued to guide these dialogues.

"What we receive in our communion reminds us of Christ's promise of
abundant life in him," as stated in John 10:10 (b), "...I came that they
may have life, and have it abundantly," the LWF general secretary adds.

(The LWF is a global communion of 128 member churches in 70 countries
representing 58 million of the world's 61.5 million Lutherans. Its
highest decision making body is the Assembly, held every six or seven
years. Between Assemblies, the LWF is governed by a 49-member Council
which meets annually, and its Executive Committee.)

[Lutheran World Information is the information service of the Lutheran
World Federation (LWF). Unless specifically noted, material presented
does not represent positions or opinions of the LWF or of its various
units. Where the dateline of an article contains the notation (lwi), the
material may be freely reproduced with acknowledgment.]

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