wfn.org | Statement from Middle East Council of Churches

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@wfn.org>]

Letter to the Church in America

Dear friends, our brothers and sisters in Christ in the United States,

           The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father's love and mercy, 
and solace of the Holy Spirit, the       Comforter, surround and bear you 
up on this morning after the day of tragedy.

           The world -- we all -- stopped, horrified. The massive scale of 
the violence particularly in New York but  also in Washington has been 
beyond belief. Imagination cannot picture what may be its repercussions as 
anger yields to cries for vengeance. Almost instantly the images flooded 
out over the TV networks, horrific descriptions over our radios. Where we 
were first touched was in our human soul. We were caught up in the agony of 
individuals amplified manyfold. And words are not enough to describe this 
even though that is all that we have at the moment.

           I wish to express to our friends in the United States our 
profound condolences for the loss of loved ones.          In gathering 
after gathering in America, Christians will lift up their hearts in prayer. 
We assure you that we too are gathering, and our prayers join yours. We ask 
for healing beyond understanding, we pray for courage beyond our outrage 
and fear. We ask for the grace, the steadfast poise of faith, to stand with 
integrity and minister in an ever more dangerous world.

           We are devastated by the bestiality that can infect ordinary 
human beings and transform them into mass           murderers and deranged 
suicides. Evil raised its head. Its taunting must be resisted. Evil does 
not overcome evil; it augments it. Christ taught us that. The 
democratization of terror and violence on a massive scale points to a 
profound distortion in the human spirit of our times. And as those who bear 
the Gospel of Peace, it is this distortion we must overcome. With you we 
mourn the innocent dead; we bewail our own loss of innocence, our loss of 
confidence, our loss of a sense of security. And we do so out of a Middle 
East that has known more than its fair share of death, disillusionment and 
fear over all-too-many decades. But with you too we are determined that 
death shall have no dominion. Your hope and our hope will not be crushed.

           In the name of all the member churches of the Middle East 
Council of Churches, in the name of our           presidents and staff, I 
stretch out to you our love and compassion in Christ's name and for his 
sake. We break one bread and are one Body. Holding to that reality with a 
firm grip, you will rise above this  tragic moment and, with you, we too 
will rise. Let us together seek the healing of the nations, and overcome 
this and all evil with good.

In Christ's name and in his peace that passes understanding,

               Rev. Dr. Riad Jarjour
               General Secretary
               The Middle East Council of Churches