Bishop’s Office Message for December 2005

Dear Partners in Ministry,

As the Advent season approaches, we prepare to welcome once again the Prince of Peace born in a stable in Bethlehem. When Jesus was born, the people of God were under oppression. The Holy Land was under the thumb of a Roman emporer, and ruled by a puppet king, Herod. Peace was far from the minds of the people, and with the slaughter of the innocents within a couple of years of Jesus' birth, the whole birth narrative has an aura of tragedy that illustrates just how desperate the world was for God's

intervention.

Now in 2005, Bethlehem continues to be the focal point of a world consumed by violence. The Christians in Bethlehem are mostly Palestinian Arabs, and the recent wall erected by Israel has cut them off from family and farm land. The Lutheran Bishop, Munib Younan, has asked for prayers for Christians as they are continually caught in the middle of the ongoing conflict. He encourages people who come to visit to remember the "living stones" in the Christians who have lived here since Jesus' time, as well as the stones of archeology in the places made holy by Jesus' presence. This Advent, let us pray for peace in Bethlehem and throughout the Holy Land, and this Christmas, let us rejoice in the birth of the Prince of Peace by being ambassadors for His peace in our broken world.

+Stephen P. Kristenson, Bishop

Synod of Alberta and the Territories

Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada

10014 - 81 Ave.

Edmonton, AB T6E 1W8

Phone 780-439-2636 Fax 780-433-6623

Email: SKristenson@elcic.ca

http://www.albertasynod.ca