Tuesday, December 23, 2008

ELCA Middle East Network Newsletter, December 2008

The Middle East Network Newsletter from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is now available on the "Peace Not Walls" web page - http://www.elca.org/Our-Faith-In-Action/Justice/Peace-Not-Walls/Resources/Newsletter.aspx

Here are a few highlights:

ELCA E-Advocacy NetworkMiddle East/International Action Alert

Middle East Network Newsletter
Middle East Peace News
12-18-08
Advent 2008

2009 Conference of Bishops Academy in the Holy Land:
Fifty-nine bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and five bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC) will visit the Middle East January 6-13, 2009. This trip will be a major way in which the ELCA lives out its commitment to accompany our brothers and sisters in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL) as outlined in our Churchwide Strategy for Engagement in Israel and Palestine - [http://www.elcjhl.org/]. Please keep the bishops and their fellow travelers in your prayers. To follow the trip through first-hand accounts, check the ELCA home page - http://www.elca.org/ - for a link to the trip blog in early January.

NILI calls for vigorous engagement for Middle East peace by Obama Administration:
Declaring that they won't give in to cynicism or despair and that they are "people of hope," 31 U.S. Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders, including the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), called for members of their communities to pray for peace in Jerusalem. They also urged U.S. political leaders to advance a two-state solution "with vigor both now and in the early months of the new (Obama) Administration." See the latest statement of the National Interreligious Leadership Initiative for Peace in the Middle East [http://www.nili-mideastpeace.org/downloads/2008_11_NILIStatement.pdf].

Christian Grassroots Advocacy and Solidarity: Leadership for Serious Engagement,” a panel discussion at this year’s Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation Conference, included a presentation by the Rev. Robert Smith, ELCA Global Mission Director for Europe and the Middle East for the ELCA. For conference highlights, go to www.hcef.org

There is a lot more news in the newsletter. Please check it out: http://www.elca.org/Our-Faith-In-Action/Justice/Peace-Not-Walls/Resources/Newsletter.aspx
To signup to receive ELCA newsletters via email, go to the bottom of that page, lower left, and enter your contact information.

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