wfn.org | Prayer, Work Needed for Middle East Peace, Says Presiding Bishop

[News News <NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

June 12, 2003

PRAYER, WORK NEEDED FOR MIDDLE EAST PEACE, SAYS PRESIDING BISHOP
03-123-JB

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- On the heels of his first trip to the Middle
East, the presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
(ELCA) said he hopes the violence that left at least 27 people dead in
Jerusalem and Gaza June 11 will not derail commitments to peace in the
region.
     The Rev. Mark S. Hanson led an eight-member delegation to Israel
and the West Bank region May 21-28.  The purpose of the trip was to
demonstrate support for the 2,000-member Evangelical Lutheran Church in
Jordan (and Palestine) (ELCJ), which includes six congregations.
     During the visit the ELCA delegation met with Lutheran and
ecumenical church and lay leaders, participated in worship, visited
refugee camps, spoke with Muslim leaders and spoke directly with high-
level officials with the State of Israel, the Palestinian National
Authority and the  U.S. government.  The group also visited Lutheran
congregations, holy sites, schools and other institutions. The ELCA
delegation traveled to various places in Jerusalem and in the West Bank.
     In all of the meetings there was considerable discussion about
continuing violence in the region, and what Israelis and Palestinians
could do together to resolve conflict.
     A deadly June 11 suicide bus bombing targeting Israelis, combined
with Israeli military retaliation against leaders of the extremist group
Hamas, which claimed responsibility for the blast, left many questions
about the current peace process for the Middle East.
     "We denounce the forces of violence and grieve with those who
mourn the loss of loved ones," Hanson said June 11.  "We are also filled
with a deep resolve to pray fervently and to work unceasingly for a just
peace in the Middle East."
     "We heard Israelis, Palestinians, representatives of the U.S.
government and others express an absolute commitment to a lasting peace
in the Middle East," he said of the Middle East visit.	He added that he
hoped a just peace will not "be another casualty of the tragic events we
have witnessed."
     In light of the latest violence, Hanson said he prays that all
involved can show "restraint" against further acts of violence.
     Reflecting on the visit itself, Hanson said he hopes that his
visit to the Middle East "becomes an invitation for the church to come
and be present as well," and he said he will ask ELCA members to
continue to pray for peace and support U.S.-backed peace efforts in the
Middle East.
     It was difficult to get a good perspective of a complex mix of
religion and politics in such a short visit, Hanson said, but he added
it was important "to hear a breadth of voices."
     "In each case our message was the same: We come as people praying
for peace, as people committed to the way of nonviolence, as people
longing for a just two-state solution that includes the end of
violence," he said.  In addition, Hanson suggested Israel must end the
occupation of and its practice of establishing settlements in
Palestinian territories, and terror attacks against Israelis must stop,
Hanson said.
     Among those who traveled with Hanson to the Middle East were the
Rev. Stephen P. Bouman, bishop of the ELCA Metropolitan New York Synod,
and the Rev. Floyd M. Schoenhals, bishop of the ELCA Arkansas-Oklahoma
Synod, Tulsa, Okla.
     "We needed to let them (ELCJ members) know that their sisters and
brothers in the ELCA are with them on this long and arduous road to
peace," said Schoenhals in a message to the Arkansas-Oklahoma Synod
about the visit. "They needed us to be with them so that they will know
they are not forgotten in the long and lonely hours of occupation,
curfews, closures, military checkpoints and great suffering."
     "It is clear that acceptance by both sides of the "road map" to
peace has brought new energy to the hopes of all," Bouman said in a
written message. "It has also become painfully obvious that both sides
do not really know the other.  Perceptions are hardened.  Sometimes the
mutual misperceptions are staggering."
     Bouman also wrote that the idea of the "right of return" for
Palestinian refugees to their land and homes in the State of Israel is
"an absolute non-starter with even the most moderate Israeli leaders."
The scale of human suffering and the trauma of the culture of violence
is immense, he said.  "Israelis speak of suicide bomb sites, Palestinian
children show bullet holes in the walls of their school," Bouman said.
     During the visit Hanson was a guest speaker at two graduation
ceremonies at Lutheran schools in the West Bank.  He said he often tells
members that the Lutheran schools in the West Bank are a sign of hope,
despite difficult conditions and occasional occupation by Israeli
troops.
     "With great perseverance, the Palestinian Lutheran Schools have
continued to offer a safe environment -- a learning environment where
Christian and Muslim children together ... are deeply committed to
nonviolence," Hanson said.

'BUILDING BRIDGES' IMPORTANT MINISTRY FOR ELCJ, BISHOP
     Hanson expressed his appreciation for the Rev. Munib A. Younan,
ELCJ bishop, who, with his staff, did most of the organizing for the
Middle East visit.  Hanson and Younan talk often, especially when there
is heightened violence against Israelis and Palestinians.
     "For this brother in Christ, I am most grateful," Hanson said.
     An important emphasis in the ministry of the ELCJ is building
"bridges," Younan said in an interview.  He said Hanson's visit helps
build bridges between "two nations and three religions (Christianity,
Judaism and Islam)."  Having a connection to the ELCA, the second-
largest Lutheran Church in world after the Church of Sweden is
significant, Younan said.
     I know that I am not alone," he said.  "I know that there is an
ELCA -- a Lutheran church that has the same confession, the same belief
in the one Christ, that is helping me to proclaim the gospel freshly in
such a world that is breaking.	As such, we are together in mission. My
mission here is your mission, and your mission is my mission.  We are
one church in Christ."
     Younan, who has endorsed the "Road Map" for Middle East peace
proposed by the United States, European Union, Russia and the United
Nations, said achieving a Palestinian state and an end to the Israeli
occupation of West Bank lands will give great hope to the peace process.
     "When we speak about ending the occupation, we want to liberate
the Palestinians from the occupation, but we want to liberate the
Israelis from the mentality of occupation," he said.  "Once you do that,
you are bridge-building.  The occupation is a sin against God and
against humanity.  It [destroys] the occupier and the occupied.  It's
good to end it for both."
     Palestinians and Israelis must be allowed to "live in dignity," he
said.
     Younan added that he hopes the presiding bishop's visit to the
ELCJ and the Holy Land will help members of the ELCA and ELCJ to pray
for each other and deepen relationships.
     "There is so much we can learn from Bishop Younan and the ELCJ
about what it means to 'strive for justice and peace in all the earth,'"
Schoenhals said.  "As the spiritual leader of the ELCJ, Bishop Younan is
also very much a public leader who perseveres in building relationships
of trust for helpful and hopeful dialogue among both religious and
political leaders."
  At the center of the complex Middle East situation is the ELCJ,
its ministries and Younan, Bouman said.  "They are an incredible bridge
into all these worlds," he said.  "Our public support for them is
critical at this time."

SUPPORT, ADVOCACY FOR PEACE
  At the conclusion of the visit Hanson said he was grateful for
President George W. Bush's leadership to promote the road map for Middle
East peace, and communicated that to the White House.  Hanson said he
thought it was important for Bush to hear "words of encouragement and
gratitude" from a U.S. religious leader.
  "In the name of Jesus and by his Spirit we need to be and become
advocates for peace, justice and reconciliation in the world that God
loves," Schoenhals said. "Both prayer and political advocacy are needed
to bring peace, justice and reconciliation to the Middle East and to
rest of the world."
  People are clinging to the hope provided by the road map to peace,
Bouman said.
  "I pray that it (the road map) will not be another cul de sac," he
said.  "People are on the edge, and the Church is here in the midst of
it.  Please pray for the peace of Jerusalem."
  Others who were part of the ELCA delegation were the Rev. Said R.
Ailabouni, director for Europe and the Middle East, ELCA Division for
Global Mission, Chicago; the Rev. Mark B. Brown , assistant director for
international policy, Lutheran Office for Governmental Affairs,
Washington, D.C.; Ione Hanson, Hanson's wife; Betty Schoenhals,
Schoenhals' wife; and John R. Brooks, director for news and media
production, ELCA Department for Communication, Chicago.
-- -- --
     Photos from the Middle East visit can be found at
http://www.elca.org/co/news/mideast/ on the ELCA Web site.

     Video news stories from the Middle East visit can be found at
http://www.elca.org/co/news/videos/video.index.html
on the ELCA Web site.

     Resources related to the Middle East can be found at
http://www.elca.org/middleeast/ on the ELCA Web site.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html