wfn.org | US National Council Delivers Pastoral Letter in Jerusalem

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:  Jim Solheim, press officer
Notre Dame Center
Jerusalem
Tel: (973-2)627-9111

Episcopal News Service 
New York City, NY USA
Tel: 800-334-7626

Website: www.loga.org or www.loga.org/delegationhome.htm

Carol Fouke
NCCC News and Information
475 Riverside Drive, New York, NY USA
Tel: 212.870.2252
Email: carolf@ncccusa.org

JERUSALEM, December 9, 2000-- Following is the text of a Pastoral Letter 
addressed to the Christian Communities in Jerusalem and the Holy Land.  It 
was written on December 5 and delivered here today by members of the 
ecumenical delegation currently traveling in the Middle East as a witness to 
peace and reconciliation.

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA

December 5, 2000.

A Pastoral Letter to the Churches of Christ in Jerusalem and the Holy Land

Your Beatitudes, Your Eminences, Your Graces, reverend fathers in God, and 
all the beloved Christian community in Jerusalem

Grace and peace to you in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ!

On behalf of the churches of God gathered by the Holy Spirit in the National 
Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, in this time of earthly trial 
we greet you with love and in a firm faith that God, creator of all things in 
heaven and on earth, is with you in the Holy City that was the place of our 
Lord's glorious triumph over death, sin and the evil.  For this we offer 
praise and thanks.

^From afar in earthly distance, but nearby in our minds and hearts, we have 
witnessed with deep distress, sorrow and concern the resurgence of violence 
in the Holy Land.  We have heard the witness of our brothers and sisters in 
Bethlehem, Beit Jala and Beit Sahour, in Ramallah and Gaza, of the 
destruction that has been wrought, of the thousands of injured  and hundreds 
of killed, of the population denied access to food, health care, employment, 
emergency services and freedom of movement.  Even more, we have heard and 
seen the increase in rage and hate, which destroy the soul as weapon do the 
body.

Therefore, the General Assembly of the National Council of the Churches of 
Christ in the USA offers its prayerful support to the Christian churches in 
Jerusalem and the Holy Land, that their continued presence in the land of 
Christ's birth, earthly ministry, death and resurrection may be strengthened, 
and that they may endure this time its long pain and struggle.  Recognizing 
that only justice will bring peace, it affirms the establishment of a 
Palestinian state alongside Israel, and its call for the preservation of the 
city of Jerusalem as a open, shared city where free access to the Holy Places 
and freedom of worship are assured for people of all faiths.

Our churches have been called upon to support through prayer Christians, 
Muslims and Jews and all those who are working for true justice and peace, 
and to convey to U.S. policy makers their concern for peace with justice and 
reconciliation in the region.

We have heard that, due to the fighting and violence, to the hindrance on 
travel, and to the tragic suffering and death of so many, events and 
ceremonies in Bethlehem celebrating the birth of our Lord two thousand years 
ago are being canceled.  The lights of Bethlehem will be darkened.  This news 
saddens us, darkening the brightness of our joy at Christ's Nativity.  We are 
given hope, however, by the words of the Scripture, "those who sat in 
darkness have seen a great light".  That light is Christ, whose light shines 
in our hearts, and illumines all so that we may in the paths of righteousness 
and peace.

May Christ Who deigned to be born in a stable in Bethlehem two thousand years 
ago, be born again in this year in the hearts of all who worship Him there 
and in Jerusalem and throughout the world.

Robert W. Edgar                              
General Secretary                             

John L. McCullough
Executive Direct, CWSW