December 15, 2010

CHICAGO – A synod bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) will present a short meditation on the Gospel of Luke in a joint prayer service Dec. 18 that will include worshipers assembled in Washington, D.C., and in Bethlehem, the town where Jesus was born.

The Rev. Richard H. Graham, bishop of the ELCA Metropolitan Washington, D.C., Synod, will be among the Lutheran leaders in the fourth annual prayer service which will connect the worshipers via webcast. In the United States 300 to 400 people will gather in the nave of the Washington National Cathedral, while participants in Bethlehem will assemble at Christmas Lutheran Church.

In Washington Graham will be joined by the Rt. Rev. John Bryson Chane, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington; the Very Rev. Samuel T. Lloyd III, dean of the Cathedral; and the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church.

In Bethlehem worship leaders include the Rev. Mitri Raheb, pastor of Christmas Lutheran Church; the Rev. Munib A. Younan, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land, Jerusalem, and president of the Lutheran World Federation, Geneva; and the Rt. Rev. Suheil Dawani, bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Jerusalem.

The simulcast service, in Arabic and English, will alternate prayers, readings and hymns, according to the National Cathedral's website. The service will be available at http://www.nationalcathedral.org/ beginning at 10 a.m. EST.

Graham said his meditation will focus on the Christmas story and a portion of Luke 2:7, to be read in Arabic before he preaches. The verse refers to the birth of Jesus, and says that Mary "laid him in a manger because there was no place them (Mary and Joseph) in the inn."

"I'm going to say something about ‘no place in the inn,'" Graham said. "The sense of being crowded out is something the Christian people in Palestine understand very well, and some in the U.S. understand that very well, too."

Dawani will also offer a brief meditation, Graham said.

Many of the U.S. participants expected at the prayer service are people living in the Washington area with family ties in the Middle East, Graham said. Through their efforts, the joint prayer service was initiated several years ago, he said. Traditionally it has been held in the National Cathedral's Bethlehem Chapel, but this year it was moved to the nave, Graham said.

"Here in Washington there's a very large Palestinian Christian community, he said. "This is a very important gathering for the whole community."

Graham added that there is a "very close" relationship between Lutherans and Episcopalians in the Washington area.

Staff of the Washington National Cathedral designed the service and produced the bulletin, which was sent to Bethlehem last month for translation into Arabic, the Episcopal News Service reported. It also reported that audiovisual staffs in both locations have been working to ensure the Web connection is successful so that the two congregations will be able to see and hear each other during the prayer service.

ELCA News Service