Lutherans Are Part of "Ecumenical Convoy" in the Middle East

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Lutherans took part in an "ecumenical convoy" April 25 that brought food, medical supplies and support to residents of Jenin, a town in the West Bank.
Six thousand people are left homeless as a result of a "fierce 10-day battle earlier this month" between Israelis and Palestinians in Jenin, reported Jonathan C. Frerichs, communication director for Lutheran World Relief (LWR), Baltimore, the overseas relief and development agency of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.
"About 15 bodies have been recovered from the battlefield so far. Local residents said about 1,500 people are still unaccounted for as of [April 25], either under the rubble or among the thousands held in Israeli detention," Frerichs said.
The convoy, made up of four trucks and 17 cars, delivered "1,500 food parcels, blankets, quilts, health kits, layettes for babies, school kits and medical supplies," said Frerichs. The convoy was the fourth to "besiege Palestinian centers in the two weeks since intense violence abated," he said.
Beginning in Jerusalem, some 150 international pastors, priests, bishops and church aid workers escorted the convoy through military checkpoints and then lined up with local volunteers to unload tons of ration boxes, Frerichs said.
"The church aid teams visited residents in Jenin, a once- crowded refugee neighborhood that is now reminiscent of the scene at 'Ground Zero' in New York City," he said. "People gather on rubble that was once their home. Individuals pick through broken concrete for personal belongings. Ringing the devastation, families in living rooms stare out through walls torn off by military bulldozers. An old woman sitting on the ruins of her home was crying," Frerichs said.
The absence of organized recovery work "was striking evidence of the limited public services functioning in Palestinian areas after months of conflict and of the international impasse over how to determine what happened in Jenin," he said.
The convoy was organized by six church organizations in Jerusalem, including the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran tradition. Founded in 1947, the LWF now has 133 member churches in 73 countries representing 60.2 million of the world's nearly 64 million Lutherans.
The LWF, based in Geneva, Switzerland, is a member of ACT -- a worldwide network of churches and related agencies meeting human need through coordinated emergency response. The ACT Coordinating Office is based with the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the LWF. The ELCA is a member of the LWF and WCC.
Frerichs is in the Middle East working as an information officer for ACT.

NATIONAL COUNCIL OF CHURCHES DELEGATION VISITS JENIN
Fourteen church leaders from the United States traveled with humanitarian aid shipments to Jenin and to Bethlehem on April 26. The U.S. delegation is sponsored by the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. (NCC). It traveled to the region at the invitation and request of the Middle East Council of Churches. The group had previously visited with political and religious leaders in Turkey, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan before arriving in Jerusalem on April 23. The ELCA is a member of the NCC.
As members of the delegation walked throughout the Old City in Jerusalem, some described how the streets were "normally buzzing with tourists and commerce," according to an April 24 news release issued from the NCC.
The Rev. Mark B. Brown, a member of the delegation, said, "This, too, is the destruction of the Palestinian people. You can destroy people and societal infrastructure with tanks and missiles and heavy weapons and bulldozers. You can destroy those same people and that same infrastructure by wrecking the people's economy. Merchants and restaurant owners are going days, even weeks, without selling one item or one meal."
Brown is assistant director for international public policy advocacy ministry, Lutheran Office for Governmental Affairs (LOGA), Washington, D.C. LOGA is the federal public policy advocacy office of the ELCA.
The delegation's schedule included meetings with Christian, Muslim and Jewish religious leaders and a visit to Augusta Victoria Hospital, operated by the LWF. The hospital, located near the Mount of Olives, Jerusalem, is open to all people but most of its patients are Palestinians.
The delegation's "peace and pastoral mission" began April 16. Its members returned to the United States on April 27.

ELCA NEW ENGLAND SYNOD DELEGATION VISITS THE MIDDLE EAST
A three-member delegation from the ELCA New England Synod is visiting with members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan (and Palestine) (ELCJ) April 24-May 6.
"The purpose of the trip is to be in solidarity with our brothers and sisters of the ELCJ during a particularly difficult time, and to honor our companion synod relationship with the ELCJ. Many people have been cancelling their trips. One of the results is that people in that country, particularly Palestinian Christians, feel forgotten," said the Rev. Hans R. Arnesen, assistant to the bishop, ELCA New England Synod, and member of the delegation.
The synod's central office is located in Worcester, Mass. The ELCJ has six congregations five located in Israel and Palestine, clustered around Jerusalem and Bethlehem, and one in Amman, the capital of Jordan. - - -
Daily accounts of the ELCA New England Synod delegation's visit to the Middle East is maintained at http://www.nesynod.org on the Internet.

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