Good Friday Offering Destined for Jerusalem and the Middle East
Episcopal News Service. January 19, 1989 [89008]
NEW YORK (DPS, Jan. 19) -- Presiding Bishop Edmond L. Browning has asked that all Episcopalians, as part of their observance of Lent, give special notice to their sisters and brothers in the Holy Land, in witness to the extraordinary courage and faith of Anglicans in that troubled region of the world. The Episcopal Church's Good Friday Offering will be sent -- as it was in 1988 -- to the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East.
In 1988, the Episcopal Church of the United States was able to send, through the Church's traditional Good Friday Offering, $178,000 to Jerusalem and the Middle East, an increase of $40,000 over the previous years' efforts. The money was shared by the Dioceses of Jerusalem, Egypt, Iran, and Cyprus and the Gulf, which together comprise a province of the Anglican Communion.
The Presiding Bishop, in his Good Friday letter to the parishes, says, of the Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East, "The witness of our partner Anglican Church, of necessity, takes many different forms. Sometimes it can be made openly, in ministries of preaching, teaching, healing. Sometimes it must be nurtured carefully, shielded as one might shield the flame of a candle in a frightening storm. Whatever the size or visibility of the witness, though, the churches depend on us -- on our prayers, our solidarity with them, and our financial assistance."
The Presiding Bishop's Good Friday letter was accompanied by an order form for the 1989 Offering materials, whose theme is "Witness." In addition to a new poster, with bulletin shell and offering envelopes, the materials also include an educational bulletin insert and a video called You Shall Be My Witnesses.
Meanwhile, Judith Gillespie, Executive for World Mission, has written to all bishops, urging them to encourage parish study programs focused on the Middle East during Lent. An Annotated Bibliography, with suggested topics for study, has been produced at the Episcopal Church Center, along with a Recommended Speakers Directory. Both of these documents have been mailed to each diocesan office, but they are also available through the World Mission Information Office, Episcopal Church Center, 815 Second Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10017.
The Rt. Rev. Samir Kafity, Bishop of Jerusalem and President Bishop of the Province, has already expressed his thanks for the 1989 Good Friday Offering, which he considers essential to the ministry of his Church in the Middle East: "It is indeed a wonderful expression of the concern felt by our brothers and sisters for our situation in the Province. Their kindness and love is so much appreciated and truly a reflection of our Lord's love in action among us."
Kafity also offered these thoughts on the theme of "Witness":
Good Friday goes on. Good Friday means Christian witness. The first Good Friday was God's witness to all humanity. Love never fails. Love suffers but love never fails. Love is not a word nor a concept. It is action....People want to see our faith....A visible faith....A faith in action....
It can be seen in the midst of the intifada. You can see faith in the woman at St. Luke's Hospital in Nablus on the West Bank, giving birth to her sixth baby boy and calling him "Peace," while at her home, the Bet El Ma Refugee Camp, tear-gas grenades and plastic bullets are being fired in clashes with demonstrators. You can see faith in the 12-year-old boy shot in the abdomen, admitted to the Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza, making the sign of peace and saying "no" to aggression....You can see faith in the teachers who, when their schools are closed, go from house to house in their efforts to carry on with the instruction of their students.
These actions witness to healing, reconciliation, justice, and peace. These actions are a witness, a testimony, that can be seen by the naked eye. These actions are the testimonies of the people of God, who are the object of the prayers and Good Friday offerings of the faithful of the Episcopal Church in the United States.
Bishop Samir Kafity
Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem