December 23, 2003

GENEVA - Pursuing justice and reconciliation with people of other faiths is an urgent missionary task for the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and its member churches in the coming year, asserts LWF General Secretary Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko in his new year greeting.

Noko notes that participants in the LWF Tenth Assembly meeting in Winnipeg, Canada, last July, "gave thanks to God that our communion is blessed - not burdened - with diversity." They committed themselves and urged the LWF member churches to "receive one another's differences as gifts," and to "respond to situations of injustice in other parts of the communion." The Assembly, he says, underscored that "we are not a Lutheran communion by ourselves, but are fully integrated in the worldwide communion of the universal church and the whole human family."

Dialogue with people of other faiths, says Noko, is an essential form of ministry in a religiously diverse world, especially in the current context of increasing religious extremism. He reminds churches that they must themselves be transformed to become God's instruments of transformation in multi-faith contexts.

The full text of the New Year Greeting from the LWF general secretary follows:

New Year Greeting from the LWF General Secretary Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko

Dear friends,

As we enter the New Year 2004 our thoughts are filled with many concerns. Some of these concerns are personal - for ourselves and for our families and relatives. Through our closest network we know how interdependent we are as human beings.

Other concerns relate to our countries and the world we live in. The lack of peace today is a growing preoccupation. In addition to the armed conflicts and other forms of violence that continue, and increase, it seems that there is a deepening and widespread sense of unease, alienation and personal insecurity - also for many who previously felt secure and comfortable.

Our concerns being many, we are still encouraged by the message of the Bible not to lose heart. On the occasion of the birth of John the Baptizer, his father Zechariah prophesied:

By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. (Luke 1:78-79).

May these words, and the faith that God has inspired in us, guide us and give us hope in the year that we have now entered into.

"For the Healing of the World," the theme of the LWF Tenth Assembly, which met in July 2003 in Winnipeg, Canada, reflects the core of our faith. It recognizes a need for healing that is felt as sharply now as at any time in human history. The Message adopted by the Assembly speaks to this need in many different ways. It reminds us that our hope in the midst of sin and suffering is that God heals us. It witnesses to the fact that the justifying gift of God - the gift of Jesus Christ - transforms us in faith, and gives hope and healing for the whole world.

In our continuing exploration of what it really means to be a communion of churches, there are powerful resources for healing. The participants in the Tenth Assembly gave thanks to God that our communion is blessed - not burdened - with diversity. They committed themselves and called on the LWF member churches to "receive one another's differences as gifts," and to "respond to situations of injustice in other parts of the communion." They acknowledged that living in communion entails mutual accountability for the effects that our actions have, or can have, on others. The Assembly also made it clear that we are not a Lutheran communion by ourselves, but are fully integrated in the worldwide communio of the universal church and the whole human family.

We are called to participate in God's mission - a mission that is even wider than the bounds of the church itself. Churches must themselves be transformed, therefore, in order to become God's instruments of transformation in multi-faith contexts. Dialogue with people of other faiths is an essential form of ministry in a religiously diverse world - especially in these times of increasing religious extremism.

As the Assembly noted, in today's world, religions are too often used by political forces to divide people and to fuel conflict. It is therefore an urgent missionary task in the New Year that we pursue justice and reconciliation with people of other faiths. This task must be given high priority in our international work, and in the life of our churches. But it must also be given high priority in our own lives, as we relate to neighbors and people around us.

For peace to be built, parallel efforts must be made at different levels - internationally, regionally and locally. The task involves all of us. It is God's will to "guide our feet into the way of peace."

May all we do and engage in this year have the purpose of peace building in it, in one way or another. May we learn to reach out to others in new ways. May we learn to understand each other better. May we learn to appreciate differences. And - more than anything else - may we learn to love one another, as God has loved us.

Let us in God's grace pray and work for a good New Year 2004.

Lutheran World Information