ELCA NEWS SERVICE

November 15, 2004

ELCA Council Hears Presiding Bishop Ask 'What Does It Mean?'
04-211-JB

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The death of Yasser Arafat, the recent
U.S. presidential campaign and election, and multicultural
challenges facing the church prompted the presiding bishop of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) to ask, "what does
all this mean?" in his report Nov. 11 to the ELCA Church Council.
     The Church Council is the ELCA's board of directors and
serves as the legislative authority of the church between
churchwide assemblies.  The council met here Nov. 11-15.
Assemblies are held every other year; the next is Aug. 8-14,
2005, in Orlando, Fla.
     The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, speaking on the day of Arafat's
funeral in Cairo, Egypt, and burial in Ramallah, West Bank, said
he spoke earlier in the week to the Rev. Munib A. Younan, bishop
of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan (and Palestine).
Younan was to be at Arafat's funeral in Cairo and hoped to get
into Ramallah for the burial, Hanson said.
     Hanson said Younan asked him to remind the ELCA that the
Palestinian people are more mature than is reported in the media
and some people believe. Younan also asked Hanson to challenge
President George W. Bush "to be a peace broker and to work for a
two-state solution" in the Middle East, Hanson said.
     On the U.S. presidential election, Hanson questioned
observations of election analysts that Bush was elected on the
basis of "personal moral values and fear of terrorism."
     "Fear hardens lives, and fears close borders," Hanson said.
"Faith opens our eyes.  Fear causes us to flee the world; faith
gives us the courage to go out into the world.  Faith causes us
to see the world through the eyes of the cross."
     Hanson returned to themes he pressed during the campaign.
He asked what it meant that a president was elected who
supposedly speaks to moral values, yet neither Bush nor Sen. John
F. Kerry could address "moral issues" such as poverty, HIV/AIDS,
lack of clean water in the world, genocide in Sudan and "horrific
acts" in Fallujah.
     "What does it mean for those of us who care about those
things and are dismissed as not caring about moral values?"
Hanson asked.  He also asked what it means when a president
"claims a mandate" by winning an election 52 percent to 48
percent.
     On the church, Hanson noted that about 97 percent of the
ELCA membership is White, far short of the multicultural church
envisioned when the ELCA came into being in 1988.  This summer,
he said he attended a multicultural gathering in Orlando, Fla.,
organized by the ELCA Commission for Multicultural Ministries,
and other gatherings.  At those meetings, Hanson said he gained a
clearer understanding of the questions being asked by Lutheran
people of color.
     The 2005 Churchwide Assembly will consider adoption of
ministry strategies for African Descent, and Arab and Middle
Eastern communities.  "Let [these] shape how we are as a church
in an increasingly pluralistic society," Hanson said.
     Religious groups that focus on what he termed
"fundamentalism" and "Pentecostalism," are getting more
attention, Hanson said, adding he was "not willing to say that in
that religious landscape we have nothing to say as Lutheran
Christians."  The ELCA can "become an evangelizing church in a
Lutheran 'key,'" he said.
     Hanson, who is also president of the Lutheran World
Federation, Geneva, Switzerland, said through the ELCA and LWF he
was "witnessing a reclaiming of Lutheran identity."
     "I really do believe that our members want to be part of a
church that matters and makes a difference in the world," the
presiding bishop said.  Some examples he cited of how the church
can make a difference were in worship and evangelism.
     "We are always in the process of becoming such a church,"
Hanson concluded.  "I share my gratitude with you of being
privileged to lead such a church."

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask]
http://www.elca.org/news