Lutherans called to express “robust moderation” in order to resist extremism and offer hope LWF President Bishop Younan to the 2015 Council: “We need to experience that hope which draws away my self-love.”
Geneva, 18.06.2015.
The address of LWF President Younan at the 2015 Council meeting
“Proclaim the Christian hope that leaves no one empty,” urged the President of the Lutheran World Federation, Bishop Dr. Munib A. Younan, the Lutheran leaders in his opening address at this year’s LWF Council meeting.
Speaking today in Geneva, the Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL) called on the Lutheran communion worldwide to engage in “robust moderation” in order to stand against rising extremism.
The Council, which met from June 18 to 22, is the governing body of the LWF between assemblies.
In his address, turning to this year’s theme “Hope Does Not Disappoint”, Younan noted that, although Christians are called to cultivate and strengthen hope, this can be a difficult task in our times, faced with the rising violence committed in the name of religion. Nevertheless, he said, hope neither disappoints nor separates Christians from the world.
“It does not disappoint us. Nor does it disappoint our neighbor. We leave no one empty. The commitment of our global communion to realize a holistic mission and prophetic diakonia means that we seek the opportunity for all communities to flourish,” he emphasized.
The LWF President said that the world today is experiencing the unrest created by various extremist groups that accept and justify human suffering in order to achieve illusory goals and totalitarianism. He urged Lutherans to provide a strong defense of religious and political moderation in order to vigorously challenge such an approach.
The wisdom and clarity of Lutheran doctrine
“Our responsibility is to confront the false proclamations of eschatological hope with the wisdom and clarity of Lutheran doctrine and biblical interpretation. The history of the Reformation provides us with the tools to engage in such an urgent project,” Younan noted.
Lutherans must also affirm themselves as a communion in which one cares for one’s neighbors, shares food, recognizes gifts, native lands are preserved, and everyone has the right to worship God in their own way, said the ELCJHL Bishop. “In this vision we experience that hope which draws away my self-love and my focus solely on my own needs. This hope is my foundation in the whole communion’s vision of the world. It makes me part of a greater whole, where I feel at ease when faced with difference and diversity,” he emphasized.
In order to realize this vision, the LWF President urged Lutherans to work on understanding the causes of extremism.
Belonging to the Lutheran communion makes a person both a global citizen and an interdependent Christian, Younan emphasized. “My identity as an Arab Palestinian Lutheran Christian is directly connected with the spirituality of Africa, with Asia’s high regard for mystery, with the legacy of the European Enlightenment, with America’s creativity and ingenuity, with Latin America’s liberation. Each of these directions in the communion has helped me become richer in knowledge, so that I can say that the word ‘Lutheran’ today is no longer an individual designation.”
The President’s address will be discussed in plenary and in the Council committees.
This year’s meeting has more than 100 participants. Among them are Council members and advisors representing the LWF member churches from all over the world, other officials and invited ecumenical guests.
Photo: LWF/Helen Putsman
Translated from English by ELCLAbroad pastor Ieva Puriņa
Proofreader Mag. Theol. Milda Klampe
Source: Lutheran World Federation