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Chicago (ELCA)-JB — In a wide-ranging report to the Conference of Bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop, spoke of the church's response to Gulf Coast hurricane disasters, outcomes from the churchwide assembly and his recent trip to Jordan, Israel and Palestinian territories, where he chaired the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Council in his role as LWF president.
The Conference of Bishops is an advisory body of the church, consisting of the ELCA's 65 synod bishops, presiding bishop and secretary. It met here Sept. 29-Oct. 3.
Hanson began his report by reflecting on remarks made at a memorial service earlier this year for Saul Bellow, well-known author and winner of the 1976 Nobel Prize for Literature. One person noted that Bellow was "a first-class 'noticer.'"
"I think that's a dimension of leadership to which we're all called: to be first-class noticers," Hanson told the bishops. "[We are] to be first-class noticers of what gospel we are proclaiming these days, and that's not a given; to be first-class noticers of what God is up to in the world and how the Holy Spirit gifts us to be part of that world; [and] to be first-class noticers of the context in which we live."
Referring to the Gulf Coast hurricane disasters, Hanson noted the ELCA's ability to be generous and put resources on the ground to assist people in need. Thousands of people have given more than $11 million to the ELCA for relief and recovery from the storms. The funds are channeled through Lutheran Disaster Response, a ministry of the ELCA and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.
"This is a rich church. It's a generous church that wants to be engaged in God's mission for the sake of the gospel and the life of the world," the presiding bishop said. The disasters gave the ELCA and other churches opportunities to provide a unified response, he said.
"Denominational divisions got washed away with [Hurricane] Katrina and [Hurricane] Rita. We are one body of Christ together," Hanson said.
Commenting on the 2005 Churchwide Assembly in Orlando, Fla., which he chaired, Hanson paid tribute to his colleagues in the churchwide organization who planned for the assembly and communicated its happenings to the world. He thanked staff for the "exceptional job" they did in preparing for the churchwide reorganization which was adopted and is now under way.
"As I have sought to be a first-class noticer these past few weeks, I am overwhelmed with a spirit of gratitude," he said of the assembly.
The 2005 ELCA Churchwide Assembly "raised the bar" of expectations for the church, Hanson said. "I feel it enormously, and my colleagues in the churchwide organization feel it, and we are responding to it. We are not coasting on what happened in Orlando. We're taking it as a road map for where this church wants us to go together," he said.
Among the many actions the assembly took that "raised the bar," Hanson specifically cited actions to approve a Renewing Worship proposal that will lead to the introduction of new worship resources including a new worship book; the adoption of African Descent and Arab and Middle Eastern ethnic ministry strategies; and the church's commitment to a Middle East peace campaign, a component of the church's Middle East strategy.
Hanson traveled to Jordan and Israel and Palestinian territories Aug. 29-Sept. 6, visited with religious and political leaders, and chaired the LWF Council meeting in Jerusalem and Bethlehem. He said the assembly action on the implementation of the Middle East campaign for peace was repeatedly brought up for discussion in many of the meetings he attended during the trip.
Israeli political leaders thanked the presiding bishop and the ELCA for choosing language that calls for the church to advocate for "investing in peace," Hanson said. The assembly urged the church to advocate for "stewarding financial resources — both U.S. tax dollars and private funds — in ways that support the quest for a just peace in the Holy Land."
After the assembly Hanson sent a letter to Jewish and Muslim leaders in the United States explaining the church's action to invite Lutherans into the Middle East peace campaign. He urged his colleagues in the Conference of Bishops to talk with local Jewish and Muslim leaders about the assembly action.
"I think we all face a challenge of articulating both verbally and through behavior this church's commitment to be in conversation with Jewish leaders and members of the Jewish community, and Muslim leaders and members of the Muslim community," Hanson said.
The churchwide organization's redesign provides opportunities and anxiety, he said. On Oct. 1 the churchwide organization began to use new unit names, and searches were under way for leaders of new units. Some work spaces and the building lobby will be reconstructed to meet the needs of the new organizational structure, Hanson said. Churchwide unit program committees are scheduled to meet for the first time in February 2006, he added.