It’s one thing to see the devastation of war on your television, but it’s quite another to see it with your own two eyes. So, when ELCIC National Bishop Susan Johnson received a phone call recently from Bishop Sani Ibrahim Azar, the head of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL), asking her to visit Jerusalem, she knew she had to go.
“They needed their spirits lifted up,” she says.
“Every Palestinian knows somebody in Gaza. Everybody I met has been impacted by the devastation in Gaza and had lost someone dear to them because of the fighting. There’s such extreme sorrow, grief and loss,” she says. “They are traumatized by the deaths and injuries and an increasingly unlivable situation. They are extremely anxious that the war will spread into the West Bank. They are clinging to their faith, but many are thinking about moving away and others worry about a sustainable Christian presence.”
The April/May 2024 issue of Canada Lutheran takes a look at the many ongoing conflicts overseas and the Lutheran response to those in areas of trouble. Writer Geoff Kirbyson speaks with ELCIC National Bishop Susan Johnson, Canadian Lutheran World Relief Executive Director Karin Achtelstetter and the Lutheran World Federation’s Caroline Tveoy on some of the devastation facing parts of Ukraine, Gaza and the West Bank.
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