ELCJHL Anniversary Jubliee

Last Saturday began the festivities of the ELCJHL (Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land) Anniversary celebration. Throughout the weekend, Christians of all denominations gathered to celebrate 3 important anniversaries of the Lutheran church in Jordan and the Holy Land: 170 years of evangelism in Jordan and the Holy Land, 50 years of the ELCJHL synod, and 30 years of Arab bishopric. The festivites began at my school, the Evangelical Lutheran School in Beit Sahour, with a march from the municipality to the school. As with any Palestinian celebration, it would not have been complete without a performance of Scouts. The Scout Troops here typically lead every parade and celebration, with their marching, bagpipes, and drum performances. People lined the streets to witness the celebration, and it was a neat way to include the whole town in the jubilee.
At the school, 5 hours of performances awaited us, as we watched performances by the Beit Sahour and Ramallah Dubkeh (traditional Palestinian dance) groups, choirs from Beit Sahour, Dar el Kalima, and Beit Jala, and a slide show displaying pictures of the church's history. After this celebration, we all moved on to Dar Annadwa, the cultual center in Bethlehem. There was a 3 hour event, in which we were able to witness dialogues between various groups of people. Among these people were a retired headmaster of the Lutheran School in Beit Sahour, the Palestinian minister of tourism, and various pastors of the Lutheran church. One of the ELCJHL pastors talked about the role of the church in Palestine and, much like the role of our churches in the US and all around the world, he views the responsibility of the church as taking care of the spirit of people who are weary. However, unlike our churches at home, the spirits of the people here are being constantly worn down by daily stress of occupation. I cannot imagine how difficult it would be to be a pastor in this place and to constantly be sources of hope and light for the people when their own light and hope may be dwindling. As far as the church programs go, this Pastor outlined three: love, hope, and faith. Now these are a familiar set of words to anyone who has read Corinthians, but he put a different spin on these words. His definition of love included the necessity of being firm and saying no to wrong-doing and his definition of hope included being tired of saying "we can't" and looking towards the resurrection.
This presentation was very interesting and gave me more of an inside look into the role of the church in this land. They ended the presentation by emphasizing that humanity is beautiful, and that the church recognizes it. I liked that there were no qualifiers on "humanity"...no reference to nationality, race, or religion. The church recognizes beauty in all groups of people and that should be an example to the rest of humanity.

Here is a quick video of my school's Dubkeh performance group. These are 9-12th grade students, and they are amazing!