THE LUTHERAN LINK

1 Issue 37 Spring 2015 T H E L U T H E R A N L I N K Contents: Reflections on a Holy Land Anglican- LUTHERAN Minorities Under Dietrich Bonhoeffer Day ..5 Spotlight on: The Nordic Church Upcoming The LUTHERAN link brings you short articles about ecumenical news, special events, LUTHERAN work in Br i ta i n an d p r ac ti c al information for LUTHERAN churches and congregations. If you have any news or a feature article to submit, p l e a s e w r i t e t o Salvation breaks dividing walls James Laing, General Secretary Easter in Jerusalem is special, but it was not a time of hot cross buns, chocolate eggs Easter bunnies, or even a meditative service in Church. It was Passo-ver, attracting Jews from around the world to gather with and remem-ber Exodus from captiv-ity in Egypt, God s res-cue of the Israelites. We were also reminded of the global nature of Jerusalem s spiritual importance, drawing Ethiopian Orthodox Christians clad head (including lace veils) to toe in white, evangelicals to the Garden Tomb s services dawn until dusk, and oth-er Christians from everywhere and every denomination to their representative mis-sions.

2 As well as uniting diverse peoples, it threw the local situation into stark relief: Pales-tinian Christian families divided who hap-pen to live on different sides of the separation barrier , because the authori-ties restricted access, only allowing ticket-holders to the Old City and the Greek Or-thodox community s special tradition of the holy fire . In a panel debate a few months ago we explored some of the issues facing Christians in the Middle East as well as other minorities, as part of our occasional series of meetings inspired by Luther s tischreden see inside for a write-up and keep an eye out for announcements! Recently CLC brought a group of Luther-ans and others to visit the land of the Holy One, as local Christians say it is Jesus who lived, died, and rose again who is Holy as you can read below, engaging with contemporary Christians as well as deep personal spiritual encounter and prepara-tion for Easter s victorious sacrifice.

3 Jesus prayed in the Garden that they might be one, that the world will know who sent me (John 17:21). Contemporary Israeli-Palestinian politics and social jus-tice aside, some of what is seen in Jerusa-lem at Eastertime is indeed a coming to-gether to remember and relive the most significant event recorded in the gospels. The LUTHERAN Council is also playing its part to bring Christians together, in ser-vice to our communities and in witness to the world. Recent months have seen the ordination of two new pastors in one of our member Churches, the LUTHERAN Church in Great Britain, one of whom is now work-ing in the Gustav Adolf Kirke in Liverpool (which is profiled in this issue of LUTHERAN link ), ministering to Lutherans from a wide variety of back-grounds, as well as engaging with the local ecumenical com-munity. We can also read about the vi-brant life of the Bon-hoeffer Church in Forest Hill in East London with its recent Bonhoeffer Day activities and plans to reach even more into the local community.

4 The life and witness of our Churches is multifaceted, reaching from our LUTHERAN communities into local society, and work-ing with other Churches. The Council has been a long time supporter of the Anglican LUTHERAN Society, so it is good to read their news in this link . In this crucial year for the environment, it is hoped that a global political agreement on climate change will be signed in Paris in December. We are working with other Churches and agencies to organise a ser-vice and mass lobby of parliament on 17 June, prayer events in November, and to support cycling and walking pilgrimages to Paris get involved however you can! It hardly needs mentioning that there is a General Election in a few weeks. Pray for the candidates and voters, and attend hus-tings to ask questions and inform your own vote: there may be local events, and the Quakers and others are running national hustings as we announce in e-newsletters.

5 All of this is important as we approach the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation in 2017, remembering the LWF themes of humanity, salvation and creation not for sale . CLC will be organising some events centrally notably a high profile ecumeni-cal service in Westminster Abbey on 31 October 2017 so please mark your diaries and come to that! as well as exhibitions, seminars and other services around the country. We will support, with financial and human resources, activities that are organised by our members wherever you are, so get creative and let us look forward and outward, together, in the spirit of con-tinual reform and improvement, to live in the light of the Resurrection. Easter Day Dawn on the Mount of Olives Council of LUTHERAN Churches 30 Thanet St, London WC1H 9QH 020 7388 4044 Trustees Revd Torbj rn Holt (Chair) Very Revd Michael Persson Revd Teemu H lli David Lin Rt Revd Martin Lind Revd Michael Mehl Jan-Eric sterlund Revd Mark Steadman Revd Eliza Zikmane PAGE 2 T H E L U T H E R A N L I N K I S S U E 3 7 PAGE 2 T H E L U T H E R A N L I N K I S S U E 3 7 Journal of a Pilgrim: First Days in the Holy Land By Normunds Barons (Latvian Evangelical LUTHERAN Church in Great Britain) The Holy Land is the place where our Lord Jesus Christ lived and ministered.

6 He was born in Bethlehem, in Ju-dea. He grew up in Nazareth, in Galilee, with his parents Joseph and Mary. The last moments of his life Jesus spent in Jerusalem. Galilee, a region situated on the West side of the Sea of Galilee is where we spent the first two days of our pilgrimage, and is also where Jesus started his ministering when he was about 30 years old . It s im-portant to keep in mind that in those days it was a prov-ince of Roman Empire, but today the Holy Land is split between Israel and Palestine. Wanting to see with my own eyes and walk in the footsteps of Jesus, when the Council of LUTHERAN Churches advertised the pilgrimage, this was one of the easiest decision I had to make. Tuesday, 24th February In the early hours, after a five-hour flight, our group of seventeen pilgrims touched down in Tel-Aviv Airport. Af-ter an unusual and unexpected questioning about my an-cestors I was granted a visa to enter the country, where Bishara, our guide for the next week, was waiting for us inside the termi-nal.

7 Here between the green hills, palm trees and olives, we drove to the city of Nazareth where we first found the Church of St. Joseph. There in the base-ment we still see the remains of Joseph s carpentry shop. I paused for a moment to admire the stairs where Jesus perhaps once used to walk. Nearby we also find the Synagogue Church. According to tradi-tion, this is where Jesus preached from the book of Isaiah (Luke 4:16-30). Today Nazareth is a predominantly Arab city, of whom a considerable 30% are Christians. In the afternoon we have an opportunity to meet Elias Chacour who was the Archbishop of Akko, Haifa, Naza-reth and All Galilee of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church from 2006 to 2014. The archbishop emeritus is noted for his efforts to promote reconciliation between Arabs and Israelis. He describes himself as a "Palestinian-Arab-Christian-Israeli." We had an opportunity to purchase some of his books and that way support the work of Mar Elias School founded by the archbishop.

8 Inside each book he handwrote the words God does not kill . In the evening, tired but full of experiences we return to the lush Scots Hotel in Tiberias, situated by the Sea of Galilee. This concludes our first day in the Holy Land. Wednesday, 25th February We continue our pilgrimage through Galilee. The day starts with a boat trip across the Sea of Galilee. The wooden boat was made as a replica from Jesus days. The warm spring sun shines upon us and I try to imagine what it was like two thousand years ago when Jesus walked across these waters (Mathew 14:22-33). I also read the pas-sage where Jesus calms the storm (Mathew 8:23-27), but today the sea was completely still. Once on the shore we make our way to the Mount of Beat-itudes. This is the place where Jesus delivered his Ser-mon on the Mount to the large crowd (Mathew 5-7). Today on top of the hill stands the Church of the Beatitudes.

9 Our two Norwegian pastors, Tobj rn and Jens, delivered a short but memorable sermon. We continue our journey to Capernaum, the place that is so often mentioned in the Bible. In this city Jesus called his first disciples to follow him; he also worshiped and taught in the synagogue and performed many miracles. In the afternoon we continue to Tabgha. The place is known for Jesus miraculous multiplication of loaves and fish to feed the five thousand men (Mark 6:30-44). This place is also remembered for Jesus third appearance to his disciples after his Resurrection. Here I draw some water from the Sea of Galilee to bring back to the UK. Later in the afternoon on the way back to Tiberias, we stop at the place called Magdala, which was a major first-century port. It was only recently that archaeologists dis-covered under a thick layer of mud the ancient port and a city grid of Magdala, with paved streets, water canals, a marketplace, villas and mosaics.

10 It is also thought that this is the city were Mary Magdalene was born, as sug-gested by her name. Last year a new church was built on this site, with an altar in the shape of a first-century boat. Behind the altar is a large window with a view towards the Sea of Galilee. There is much more to see than Galilee, and this part of the pilgrimage is only the beginning. Tomorrow we make our way to Judea where we will visit the fortress of Masa-da and swim in the Dead Sea. [This is the first in a series, which we will publish in fu-ture editions of the LUTHERAN link and online Ed.] Dancing on the Galilee boat Church of St. Joseph PAGE 3 T H E L U T H E R A N L I N K I S S U E 3 7 What is the Anglican- LUTHERAN Society? By Canon Dick Lewis, Secretary It was 1984. Two friends were talking about the churches they attended. One was a member of the Church of Eng-land. The other was a LUTHERAN .