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Rev. N. J. L'Heureux, Jr., Publisher & Editor
Rev. Pedro Bravo-Guzman, Editor-in-Chief
An Ecumenical Report of Local and Global News
in God's Household
Published by the Queens Federation of Churches
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December 20, 2004, JERUSALEM/GENEVA - Palestinian Lutheran Bishop Dr Munib A. Younan has called on the global Lutheran communion and its partners to support an initiative of the Roman Catholic bishops in the Middle East and Africa to observe Wednesday, December 22 as a day of fasting and prayer for Israel and Palestine. In statement signed by 22 bishops attending the October 11-16 Conference of Bishops of the Region of North Africa and the Conference of Latin Bishops in the Arab Regions in Rome, the Roman Catholic leaders called on Christians worldwide to do more to show commitment for peace in the Holy Land. Against the backdrop of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Younan, head of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan (ELCJ) and vice-president of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) for the Asia region, reiterates the Catholic bishops conviction that the churches can do still more. "If all the churches of the world recognize their duty toward the Holy Land, and if they all join together in common and concerted action to sensitize their governments, their people and the international community, their intervention will become a decisive factor in the attainment of justice, peace and reconciliation in the Holy Land," he asserts. Baptist National Ministries Announces Prophetic Justice Institute December 20, 2004, VALLEY FORGE, Pa. - National Ministries will establish the J. Alfred Smith Sr. Prophetic Justice Institute for the empowerment of prophetic justice advocates, in honor of Dr. J. Alfred Smith Sr., senior pastor of Allen Temple Baptist Church, Oakland, Calif. Dr. Aidsand F. Wright-Riggins III, National Ministries' executive director, announced the institute's establishment at a Dec. 16 breakfast gathering in American Baptist Churches USA Mission Center in Valley Forge, Pa. "Dr. Smith's ministry has been embracing the world for 50 years, both as a prophet and teacher," Wright-Riggins said. "National Ministries is establishing the institute to thank him for the influence he has had on so many lives, including my own." The institute will teach "what it takes, what it means to become a prophet in the name of Jesus Christ. We want to be sure that happens in American Baptist Churches USA in the spirit of our brother and friend Dr. Smith." Archbishop of Canterbury's Christmas Sermon: December 25, 2004, LAMBETH PALACE - The birth of Christ is a profound challenge to our self-obsession and self-comfort, the Archbishop of Canterbury has warned in his Christmas sermon. In his traditional Christmas morning address delivered in Canterbury Cathedral, the Most Rev. Dr. Rowan Williams described the stable with the new-born Christ as "the engine room of universe." A Christmas Message from Metropolitan Community Churches December 2004 – I am sure it is no accident in God's design that the three holiest days in Christendom represent the cycle of our physical lives... our spiritual lives... the fulfillment of our hearts' dreams... and the work of our ministry. Christmas... the season of new birth. December 21, 2004, HANOVER, Germany/GENEVA - In the context of ecumenical dialogue between the Protestant and Roman Catholic churches and the signing of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (JDDJ), the bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Schaumburg-Lippe, Juergen Johannesdotter (Bueckeburg), Germany says baptism must be seen as the real sacrament of unity. In an article in VELKD-Informationen (newsletter of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany - VELKD), Johannesdotter says baptism had not been an issue in the ecumenical dialogue for a long time. On the Eucharist, he points out that the dispute between the churches was nowhere more visible and tangible than over the Eucharist, which was seen as the sacrament of unity for all intent and purpose. Baptism, on the other hand, was recognized both in the Protestant and the Roman Catholic Church * despite all the other differences in sacramental doctrine. In baptism, the gift of the unity of the churches was already a reality, he stresses. December 21, 2004, STRASBOURG, France/GENEVA - A joint assembly of the synod of the Reformed Church of Alsace and Lorraine (ERAL) and of the upper consistory of the Church of the Augsburg Confession of Alsace and Lorraine (ECAAL) voted by a large majority in favor of establishing the Union of Protestant Churches in Alsace and Lorraine (UEPAL). At the November 20-21 joint assembly in Strasbourg, France, ECAAL's upper consistory cast 20 votes in favor of forming the new organization with one abstention. The Reformed synod voted 26 in favor and three against the union with one abstention. The UEPAL is not intended to be a merger, nor the founding of a new church. It will support the churches in their mission of proclaiming the gospel in society "convincingly and audibly," ECAAL stated in a press release. World Council of Churches Agenda - January 2005 Dirigentes Del CLAI Piden Rescatar Sentido De La Navidad 21 diciembre 2004, QUITO, Ecuador - "No vivamos más las apariencias de una Navidad sin Cristo, a fin de vivir bajo el conocimiento de Dios: Emmanuel, Dios con nosotros. Cuando la Navidad se mercantiliza y seculariza, como iglesias estamos llamados a rescatarla y devolverle su verdadero significado de paz y vida para cada uno de nosotros y nosotras. ¡Qué Dios nos bendiga en estas Navidades!" Esto dice el mensaje de Navidad transmitido por la Junta Directiva del Consejo Latinoamericano de Iglesias (CLAI) y que con el título "Eranse unas fiestas llamada Navidad," suscribieron el obispo Julio César Holguín, presidente de la institución y el reverendo Israel Batista, secretario general. Teología Gay Busca Reconocimiento 23 diciembre 2004, SAO LEOPOLDO, Brasil - Durante siglos la teología fue campo reservado al hombre blanco, europeo y heterosexual. Pero hoy, una teologia gay está en busca de reconocimiento por las personas no heterosexuales y por conseguir ciudadanía religiosa dentro de las iglesias, opina el teólogo brasileño André Musskopf. Siguiendo los pasos de la Teología de la Liberación, la teología gay emergió en Estados Unidos en la década de los 70 del siglo pasado. La revuelta de Stonewall, en Nueva Cork, el 26 de junio de 1969, transformada en Día Mundial del Orgullo Gay, representa un marco referencial en el proceso de expansión de esa teología. Luteranos Dirigen Mensaje a Alcaldes Y Regidores Electos 24 diciembre 2004, PORTO ALEGRE, Brasil - La Iglesia Evangélica Luterana del Brasil (IELB) y la Iglesia Evangélica de Confesión Luterana en el Brasil (IECLB) emitieron un mensaje dirigido a los alcaldes y regidores, electos en octubre último, que tomarán posesión de sus cargos el 1 de enero de 2005. Toda autoridad elegida rinde cuentas a aquel que lo eligió. En el caso de los gobernantes, ellos rinden cuentas al pueblo que los eligió y a Dios que los instituyó, afirma el mensaje suscrito por el presidente de la IELB, Carlos Winterle y por el presidente de la IECLB, Walter Altmann. La Navidad: Un Momento De Encuentro 20 diciembre 2004, CARACAS, Venezuela - Mary y Esmeralda se han reunido muy temprano, a las 7 de la mañana como cada año, estas amigas se reúnen con toda sus familias, para preparar las hallacas, plato típico de la gastronomía navideña en Venezuela. Este plato elaborado con un guiso que contiene carne de res, de pollo y de cerdo, que es colocado sobre una masa preparada con harina de maíz y envuelta en hojas de plátano, es un legado de los indígenas venezolanos. Iglesia Católica Pide Diálogo Para Solucionar Conflicto Ambiental 21 diciembre 2004, LIMA, Peru - En un comunicado titulado "El derecho a la vida y la salud está por encima de cualquier otro derecho," el arzobispo de Huancayo, Pedro Barreto Jimeno, en el centro andino de Perú, pidió el diálogo y la concertación para solucionar un grave conflicto ambiental en la región. El pronunciamiento del dignatario jesuita se debe a que el 6 y 7 de diciembre, la población de la ciudad de La Oroya, un centro minero a 180 kilómetros al este de Lima, bloqueó los caminos y se enfrentó a la policía, con el resultado de dos muertos, reclamando al gobierno ampliación del plazo para que la empresa estadounidense Doe Run cumpla su compromiso de poner en marcha un programa de descontaminación en sus plantas. Clergy's Role in Election Was Overstated, Observers Say December 21, 2004 – It was unpredicted, yet predictable, as political strategists and campaign advisers worked in different ways to get out the vote. Church attendance became a better predictor of vote choice than income, education, union membership, region or gender. But did pulpit directive affect the turnout of "church voters" - and how they voted? Can that explain the outcome of the 2004 elections? Not likely, said James Matthew Wilson, who teaches political science at Southern Methodist University in Dallas and is an expert on church-state issues. Chaplain Survives Mosul Blast, Ministers in Aftermath December 23, 2004 – The Rev. David Sivret, rector of Christ Church, Eastport, Maine, and nearby St. Anne's, Calais, is currently serving as chaplain in Mosul, Iraq, with the Maine Guard's 133rd Engineering Battalion. After the December 21 bomb blast there that killed 22 people, Sivret sent the following note to the people of the Diocese of Maine, adding his thanks for their prayers and for the support congregations have offered to his work with soldiers and the people in nearby Iraqi villages. The note was released by the Diocese of Maine and its communications officer, Heidi Shott. Lutherans Honor Soldiers Through a Variety of Ministries December 17, 2004, CHICAGO - Corporal Nicolas "Nick" Lee Ziolkowski, a sniper for Bravo Company of the First Battalion, U.S. Marines, was "intensely patriotic, leaving for active duty as soon as he graduated from Boys' Latin School of Maryland," said the Rev. Paul Collinson-Streng, Baltimore, a campus pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), at Ziolkowski's funeral on Nov. 24 at Arlington National Cemetery. An enemy sniper shot and killed Ziolkowski on Nov. 16 in Fallujah, Iraq, said Collinson-Streng. Christmas Greetings from Bethlehem Christmas Lutheran Church December 24, 2004 – Christmas Greetings from Bethlehem. We would like to invite you to Bethlehem during this Season by stepping into our Home page http://www.annadwa.org/ that has experienced a new birth and acquired a new look. Please read the latest from the ICB including Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb's Christmas message Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another? and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the Office of the Special Coordinator for the Peace Process in the Middle East (INSCO)'s December 2004 study Cost of Conflict: The Changing Face of Bethlehem. Also, we would like to remind you that our media website http://www.bethlehemmedia.net/ has been updated with the latest messages from the Churches and the latest news from Bethlehem. The Meaning of Lutheran Theology for a New Millennium December 17, 2004, MINNEAPOLIS - Fortress Press is happy to announce the release of The Gift of Grace: The Future of Lutheran Theology edited by Niels Henrik Gregersen, Bo Holm, Ted Peters, and Peter Widman. This landmark volume, the first of two, assesses the prospects and promise of Lutheran theology at the opening of a new millennium. From four continents, the thirty noted and respected contributors not only gauge how such classic themes as grace, the cross, and justification wear today but also look to key issues of ecumenism, social justice, global religious life, and the impact of contemporary science on Christian belief. Reviving the Prophetic Role of the Black Church December 20, 2004, MINNEAPOLIS - A stellar gathering of African American churchpeople and theologians recently convened at the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference to reinvigorate the social-justice agenda of America's Black churches. Proctor, twentieth-century prophet of the Black church, was a scholar, teacher, university president, public servant, Africanist, mentor, family man and preacher. His life and legacy is a model of uncompromised faithfulness, theological integrity, and informed social action. The conference was born with a claim to represent a paradigm shift reflected by acts of reclamation and proclamation-a reclamation of the spirit of liberation imbued in the life of the African American church and African American Christianity and a proclamation of commitment to confront those present forms of gross injustice apparent at the beginning of the twenty-first century.
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