Trinity Lutheran Church prays for peace in Israel, Gaza, and Palestine and for the peace and safety of all of our Jewish and Muslim neighbors here in Worcester and around the world.
Video from the New England Synod, ELCA Global Mission Team – November 8, 2023
Statement from the New England Synod, ELCA Global Mission Team – October 26, 2023
Dear friends in Christ in the ELCA,
The New England Synod has had deep and significant relationships as companion synods to the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land. As we have watched and heard with horror the atrocities
committed on October 7 by Hamas in Israel and Palestine and the overwhelming response by the state of Israel
in Gaza, we have also listened intently to our sisters and brothers of the ELCJHL. As we seek to respond to this
conflagration as people of faith and as American citizens, we would like to lift up and support their voices of
horror, fear, and anger.
The ELCJHL has responded to the violence of Saturday, October 7, 2023 (click HERE for the statement). They continue, as they have always done, to call for a peaceful response. The ELCJHL also condemns the cycle of violence that precipitated these events, the ongoing cycle of the violence of Occupation.
While our attention has been focused on Gaza, violence continues in the West Bank as Palestinians, Christians
and Muslims have faced retaliation from Israeli settlers. There is great fear that this war will spread. Only two
days before the massacre in Israel, the ELCJHL issued a statement on October 5, 2023 stating that “religious
attacks” against Christians in the Holy Land by “Israeli extremists” were on the rise.
As members of our companion synods, we are committed to accompany our sisters and brothers of the ELCJHL
and their Palestinian neighbors in calling for a cessation to the hostilities, condemning any and all violence
against civilians, especially the collective punishment of whole communities, and calling for an end to the
violence of Occupation.
It is important for us to remember that the ELCJHL as a Palestinian Church provides educational opportunities
and medical services through its schools, vocational training programs, and hospitals that serve all Palestinians –
Muslims and Christians.
We are also committed to advocacy. We support the following calls to action:
● Find updated resources and statements from the ELCA HERE.
● Call your lawmakers today through the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 and urge them to take
action to de-escalate the conflict and uphold unrestricted humanitarian aid to Gaza.
● Support Lutheran Disaster Response. HERE
● Support students at the ELCJHL schools who are challenged to meet monthly tuition payments. See the
website and donation platform at OpportunityPalestine.org.
● Respond to the ELCA Advocacy Alert, calling on Congress to support “a cease-fire, the safe release of
hostages, an end to the Gaza blockade, safe spaces for Gazan noncombatants, and no further
militarization of the conflict in Israel/Palestine.
As individuals and as a community of faith, we are also invited by our companion churches to pray for peace,
with justice.
In the name of the Prince of Peace,
New England Synod Global Mission committee