wfn.org | Lutherans Worship at Church of the Holy Sepulchre for First Time, Visit AVH

[<NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

Title: Lutherans Worship at Church of the Holy Sepulchre for First Time, Visit AVH
ELCA NEWS SERVICE

>January 12, 2009  

Lutherans Worship at Church of the Holy Sepulchre for First Time, Visit AVH
09-011-JB

JERUSALEM (ELCA) -- For the first time North American
Lutheran bishops, spouses and staff worshipped Jan. 9 at the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a historic religious site built on
the place of Jesus' crucifixion and burial.

The Franciscans permitted the Lutherans to use the
Franciscan Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament, said the Rev. Munib
A. Younan, bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and Holy
Land (ELCJHL).  The Rev. Fergus Clarke welcomed the Lutherans on
behalf of the Franciscans.

Forty-four bishops representing the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America (ELCA) and Evangelical Lutheran Church in
Canada (ELCIC) are participating in a series of meetings Jan. 6-
13 with religious, political and community leaders in Israel and
the West Bank, and visiting religious sites. Their visit also
focuses on support and encouragement for the ELCJHL.

Following worship, the group traveled to East Jerusalem,
visited Augusta Victoria Hospital (AVH), a medical facility of
the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) on the Mount of Olives, and
learned about the LWF's Middle East programs.

The LWF is a global communion of Lutheran churches. Based in
Geneva the LWF has 140 member churches in 79 countries
representing 68.3 million Christians. The ELCA, ELCIC and ELCJHL
are members of the LWF.

AVH has been serving the needs of Palestinian refugees since
1948, said the Rev. Mark B. Brown, an ELCA pastor and the LWF's
regional representative.

In recent years the hospital has focused on specialty care
services such as kidney dialysis, ear-nose-and-throat care, acute
care, diabetes care and cancer treatments, including radiation
oncology and cancer surgery, said Dr. Tawfiq Nasser, AVH's chief
executive officer.  The hospital also provides services at
community health clinics, he said.

Nasser said the services of the hospital are designed to
meet the needs of the community and not to duplicate the services
of other hospitals. "All of these strategies together made us
move from a very high-risk institution ... to becoming a growth
institution because we are focusing on services that the
community really needs," he said.

In addition, Brown said, the LWF programs here provide
vocational training for more than 300 students a year at training
centers here and in Ramallah.

The LWF is planning at least two construction projects in
the near future, Brown said.  In response to a lack of
recreational facilities for Palestinians, the LWF plans to
develop a sports and community center on the Mount of Olives
property, he said.  In 2010 the LWF, the ELCJHL and the Kaiserin
Auguste Victoria Foundation of the Evangelical Church in Germany
plan to start construction of a housing project on the property.
Plans calls for 84 units, reserved for Palestinian Christians,
Brown said.

The housing project is an attempt to respond to the
dwindling number of Palestinian Christians in Jerusalem, down
from more than 31,000 in 1946 to less than 15,000 in 2000, Brown
said. The housing project also attempts to preserve the concept
of a "shared Jerusalem" for Christians, Jews and Muslims, he
said.

"The lack of affordable housing has caused Christians to
leave East Jerusalem and move to the West Bank or somewhere
else," Brown said.

Following their visit to AVH, some Lutheran bishops attended
traditional Shabbat services and meals at two synagogues in
Jerusalem.  The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop, the
Rev. Susan C. Johnson, ELCIC national bishop and Younan made a
courtesy visit to Theofilos III, the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of
Jerusalem.

>---

Information about the 2009 Bishops' Academy is at
http://blogs.ELCA.org/09cobacademy/ on the ELCA Web site.

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