Hundreds attended the Enthronement of His Beattitude Theophilos III as the new Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem on Tuesday, Nov. 22. The Church went ahead with the ceremony despite the fact that Israel has not yet recognized the appointment, a necessary step in the process for him to have standing in Israel. The last Patriarch, … [Read more…]
Bishop Younan and Archiemadrite Mtanios Haddad of the Greek Melkite Church in Jerusalem led a delegation to Nablus to participate in the 25th Anniversary Mass for Father Yusef Saad. The church was overflowing with worshippers who attended the mass, held one year after they had celebrated the 25th anniversary of the church with a blessing … [Read more…]
Ten women from the ELCJHL attended the “Women in Leadership” Conference of the Fellowship of Middle East Evangelical Churches (FMEEC) in late October in Amman, Jordan. More than fifty women attended from different evangelical traditions such as Lutheran, Presbyterian and Evangelical Armenian, from Egypt, Syria, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon and Kuwait. A psychologist and a representative … [Read more…]
In late October, Bishop Younan joined almost 200 Muslim, Christian and Jewish faith leaders gathered in Amman for the one year anniversary of the release of the Amman Message by King Abdullah last year. The Amman Message is an initiative to raise the moderate voices of Islam who interpret the Koran as teaching co-existence, peace … [Read more…]
This year we were blessed to celebrate the Jewish High Holidays at the same time as the Holy Month of Ramadan. Both Ramadan and Yom Kippur call for repentance and fasting, and Sukkot invites pondering the wanderings in this life, as it commemorates the Hebrews wandering homeless in the wilderness of Sinai after their deliverance … [Read more…]
The closing day of the weeklong LWF Council Annual Meeting began with a prayer service at the wall, praying for an end to divisions, walls, violence and occupation. It ended with the Council adopting a statement calling for the end of the Israeli occupation and the establishment of a two-state solution with a shared Jerusalem. … [Read more…]
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met an LWF delegation led by President Bishop Mark S. Hanson; General Secretary Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko; and Vice-President for the Asia region, Bishop Dr Munib A. Younan in the PA offices in Gaza City September 3. He praised the LWF for its continued efforts to work for peace, justice and … [Read more…]
The same leaders met with Israeli President Moshe Katsav to discuss the future of Middle East peace, conditions of the Palestinian people and the status of the AVH tax case. Katsav spoke of the importance and the trauma of the Gaza disengagement for his people, and said that because of this a “historic opportunity” is … [Read more…]
This same group of leaders traveled to Jordan the weekend before the Annual Council Meeting began. They discussed the role of faith communities in promoting a culture of non-violence, respect for all religions and peaceful co-existence with Jordanian government officials in Amman. At a meeting with Jordanian Prime Minister Adnan Badran, delegation leaders Hanson, Noko … [Read more…]
15 people, including 7 young adults from the USA and 3 from Sweden, are visiting the ELCJHL for over 2 weeks. The Southeast Michigan Synod of the ELCA, a companion synod of the ELCJHL, has been planning the trip for over a year. They wanted their young people and others from ELCJHL partners to meet … [Read more…]