ELCA News Blog
July 29, 2006
Lutheran, Episcopalian global workers pray for peace in the Middle East
by Melissa Ramirez Cooper, ELCA News Service
Unable to return home to Lebanon from the United States since July 16, Barakat Rahme, development officer, Contact and Resource Center (CRC), Beirut, said he is "worried about everything," particularly his family members "who are displaced (from their homes) somewhere in the mountains" of Lebanon. Rahme addressed an evening general session July 28 with more than 1,300 participants of the 2006 Global Mission Event of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). He shared some of his fears and thoughts about the Middle East conflict and escalating military action that has now expanded into Lebanon. Co-sponsored by the Episcopal Church and endorsed by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, the GME brings together participants of all ages from across the United States and around the world July 27- 30 to the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.
Along with some high-school-age Lutherans from his home congregation in Lebanon, Rahme attended the ELCA Youth Gathering in San Antonio earlier this month and has not been able to return home. In Lebanon "Christian neighborhoods are also being attacked not only Hezbollah," Rahme told GME participants. "Many people (in Lebanon) are trying to witness that Christians and Muslims can live together," he said. While angry about the political situation in the Middle East, Rahme told participants not to be angry. "I want you to learn more and more about the situation there," he said. Standing alongside Rahme, the Rev. Said Ailabouni, program director for Europe and Middle East, ELCA Global Mission, told participants that ELCA International Disaster Response sent an initial $15,000 to support the work of the CRC, an institution designed to enhance the future of people with disabilities. Rahme said a woman from the CRC made 500 tote bags in 25 days that participants received when they registered for the GME. He said the woman no longer has a house or sewing machine due to the military attacks in Lebanon.
Members of the Al Raja Folkloric Dance Troupe also shared their hopes and dreams with participants. Al Raja is an 18-member artistic dance group of Palestinian Christian and Muslim students from the Evangelical Lutheran School of Hope in Ramallah, a school of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL). The high-school-age students are on a six-week tour of the United States as a "living expression" of the relationship between the ELCJHL and ELCA. A male member of the dance troupe told GME participants, "We are dancing for hope, dancing for peace. Please pray every day, every moment for peace" in the Middle East. Participants left the evening session in silence and walked outside of the building toward "prayer stations" to pray for peace.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org http://www.elca.org/news ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog