Dear Congregational Members
And Friends of  Martin-Luther-Church!

At the end of January, I was able to attend a moving event on the topic “Steps through Holy Land”. A pilgrim group of Canadian Pastors reported on their experiences in Israel and Palestine, and the music group Inshallah from the Lutherlan Waterloo Seminary inspired with their songs. I remember especially the verse which we all sang: "Yarabba ssalami" – a call of Palestine Christians during their church services: “God of peace, let peace rain down on our land” A cry out of great suffering.

A year ago, I myself could be in Israel with a group of Bavarian Pastors, also a few days in Jerusalem. When I think back what the most impressive place was for me during this trip, I see the Mount of Olives before my eyes. The wide mountain with the countless white stone graves. The garden of Gethsemane with the age old olive trees. They give a strong impression of the place, where Jesus has spent the last hours with his disciples. In the Gospel of Matthew we read: “And he took with him Peter and James and John, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then Jesus said to them: “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here and watch with me. And going a little farther, he fell on his face and prayed, My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt.”   (Mt. 26, 37-39).

From the Mount of Olives one looks across to the Temple Mount, where the golden glittering Muslim Rock Dome above the austere Jewish West Wall  makes it apparent how great the struggle and fight over this land is.  In January, images of the torn-down Ghaza-Wall went around the world. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who streamed into freedom, in search of  food and of medicines in Egypt. And matching those images, at the event of Inshallah, the lamentation formed the centre: “The segregation wall stands in the way of peace!”

I think back to my trip to Israel. I still see before my eyes the countless bullet holes in the Dormitio Church, dating from 1948, at the time, when the Arabic neighbours attacked the newly founded Israel, and the Jordanians burnt down the centuries old Jewish quarter. The Jews, who had escaped the catastrophe, saw themselves threatened by a terrible new one. I still see before me the antiballistic missile defence, directly beside a children’s play ground - a museum item, part of a memorial for the fallen, but also always a sign of the fright of Israeli children, fearing bombardments by Kassem-rockets. I can understand that the security wall was built; it makes it possible for the Israelis (and all those who come as tourists or pilgrims nowadays), to move around in the land in security, to some extent, after many years of permanent fear of terror.

However, I also remember how shocked I was in view of the enormous Israeli settlements directly besides Bethlehem: the neighbouring hill entirely full of large compact high-rises, everything strongly secured by the military. My impression also is, that Israel has intended for a long time to restrict the Palestinians and to crowd them out. Therefore, I, too, regard the demand as urgent at this point in time, that Israel stops the settlement politics and reverses it, so that a viable Palestinian state has a chance after all.

“My soul is very sorrowful, even to death.“  This word of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane lets us sense how much Jesus suffers under the misery of this world. His path leads Jesus to the cross, he becomes a sacrifice of hate and hostility, which devastate this world; he feels the destructive power of sin on his own body, to the last consequence of an excruciating death. But in exactly this way he overcomes death and the suffering of the world. The resurrected, who bears the stigma of the cross on his body, says: ‘Because I live, you shall live also!” This word from John 14 shall accompany us as the watchword through this year of 2008. Jerusalem, the place of a fierce battle between the religions, is, through Jesu cross and resurrection, also the place of the greatest hope for our world.

When we trust in Jesus, then we are granted reconciliation with God and with people. The mission of the Church is, therefore, to proclaim this reconciliation, to support justice and peace in the conflicts of this world. To be messengers of reconciliation, for admonition and hope in this feuding and tormented world! With Ash Wednesday, Lent begins. To let the suffering Jesus open our eyes for the suffering of the world, that is part of our path through Lent.

Wishing you God’s blessing and guidance,

Your Pastor Alexander Mielke

We could enjoy a wonderful Christmas play of the Sunday School. The circumstances of the performance were dramatic at first, for just during the night before the 3. Advent, a snowstorm began to rage over Toronto. The children and their families took the road to Martin Luther Church courageously, but only a few congregational members came. So the performance was repeated on the 4. Advent, and the play, which the children themselves had thought up, (two children are being locked up in a shopping mall, and find the way to the manger with toy animals and Santa Claus) was given enthusiastic applause. A heartfelt Thank You to Monika Schmidt and her team, who have prepared everything with much love and effort. She was especially glad that the Christmas project was successful, and that many donations came in, so that through WorldVision for the sum of $1,200, in a developing country a stable can be filled with animals, which is a great help for a needy family and an entire village. Many thanks to all who have supported this project!t

For the day care centre in Sao Paulo, which the Martin Luther Church has supported for years, $1,512.92 could be made available. A heartfelt Thank You to Gunter Gall, who keeps in contact faithfully and conscientiously.

   

 

On December 9th, we could experience a very nice Advent Concert, presented by the Edelweiß-Choir und Schola Cantorum. Commented with knowledgeable and humerous introductions by the choir leader Manfred Petz, numerous songs rang out, mainly from the Austrian and southern German regions. Gunther Kunzelmann, founding member of the "DeutschesTheater Toronto", caused the listeners to reflect through concise and moving texts about the Christmas message. All who attended were invited to a sing along of well-known songs as "Macht hoch die Tür" or "O Heiland, reiss die Himmel auf", which sounded particularly nice with the piano accompaniment. A heartfelt Thank You for this successful Advent evening!    

 

Singing , Santa, Food and Families

Martin Luther Church Daycare would like to thank the Ladies of Martin Luther Church who have again made the holidays a little easier for some of our families with a generous gift bag. All children also went home with a gift. Thanks to friends of Deana Tapley,gifts for school-age children were donated. We are all looking forward to a Happy,Safe and Peaceful New Year.

Marilyn Richardson, Supervisor, Martin Luther Church Day Care

  

Pastor Alexander Mielke wrote a book about his six years of living and working with the Maasai in East Africa. The title is "hoehle unterstand zelt", containing 184 pages and 10 B/W photos. The German texts are mainly short reflections upon experiences in every day life. It also includes some essays on e.g. the characteristics of the language Suahili, polygamy in pastoral care, defending of land rights or biographies of Maasai Christians.  It costs $ 10.00, which are to support the Health Centre in Pastor Mielke's former congregation. It is available after the services and in the church office (you also can order it by phone or email).

Here three examples:

UNGELEGENE BELEHRUNG
jakobusbrief 4, 15

bei jeder gelegenheit
- lehren die weißen ratgeber -

sag:
ich will
ich kann
denn ich bin

die afrikaner sagen
bei jeder gelegenheit:
wenn gott will

und lehren mich so:
dass bei jeder gelegenheit
ich bin
ich kann
nur gilt
wenn gott will

NUR POLYGLOTT

die frau die irgendwo in der steppe lebt

spricht ki-kamba
ihre muttersprache
ki-pare
mit den nachbarn über ackerbau und pflanzen
ki-massai
mit den hirten über die innereien der rinder
ki-suahili
die landessprache braucht sie für radio und zeitung
ki-englisch
so heißen fahrrad- und autoteile

jede sprache öffnet eine welt
aber sie weiß noch keine sprache
für ihre ganze welt

UMGEKEHRT

Wenn Erfüllung
in der Rückkehr zum Ursprung
zu finden ist, in dem Sich-Binden
des Vereinzelten hinein in Gottes Unendlichkeit,
dann liegt Urteil und Sinn
über unserer Zeit
nicht darin, wohin
wir gelangt sind, und wie weit -
sondern dass wir heim gesucht sind
wie zu Vater und Mutter ein Kind.
Dann ist das Frühabgeschnittene
nicht ferner dem Vollendeten
als das Langgereifte, Weitentwickelte.
Darum erachte ich das dunkle Dickicht
von Mensch- und Weltenlos
von Anfang an nicht
als hoffnungslos.

 

Ein interessante Stellungnahme zu dem Todesfall einer pakistanischen Schülerin in Mississauga aus der Zeitschrift "Faith Today" January/February 2008 p.37:

Death in a Muslim Family

Now Christmas can come…“, said Merlin, after he had greeted his brother Jan-Lukas at home on 14.12. Fynn was also joyfully excited and first had to take Jan-Lukas very firmly into his arms. For two weeks, we are now again complete as a family. As we wanted to add to our Christmas mail this year a few domestic impressions, you receive, for once, a uniform letter. And what would pictures be without being able to see all the wolves…

But to be honest, it is really not very easy to write the same thing to all of you. Some live in our area, of these, we see some often, others less often; and again, some of you live further away, and then there are still the many contacts in Canada. All are different people with whom we have different connections. Will we be able to mange general greetings in this case? In August we celebrated our Open House with our friends close by here. We spent a few beautiful hours together and enjoyed the reunion and the eager attendance (96 persons came), and together we collected Euro 1,000.00 for ‘World Vision’. The children decided on the following projects: a house customary to the region (Euro 600.00) a harvest starter set (Euro 50.00), a water pump (Euro 160.00),  teaching materials and books for one student (Euro 30.00), a bicycle (Euro 90.00)  and a survival aid kit for a person in need (Euro 75.00). Right, if you reculaculated, you figured out Euro 1,005.00. As the children discussed the individual projects so keenly, they arrived at the joint decision, that the listed projects are the most meaningful. Of course, there are an abundance of other projects worthwhile to be supported, but who knows… perhaps we may have another Open House sometime? However, then without a film team!  As a family, we want to express our heartfelt thanks to all of you for attending our Open House. We have truly enjoyed it very much. In the fall we have already written a general letter to all the Canadians. We will enclose it for those who have not received it. This simplifies the writing of this letter enormously.

The settling in and finding our way around in the old homeland gets better from week to week. As somewhat impatient people, we have very clearly felt that we already knew in theory that one must give oneself enough time. The move from Canada to Germany was, on the whole, for the four of us a much greater step than in the year 2000, when we moved from Germany to Canada. As parents, we are once again enthusiastic about our children. How courageously, bravely, with discipline and self-confidence they mastered the change of place, fills us with respect and pride. Certainly, it is not always easy to be children of Mirjam and Stefan Wolf…Jan-Lukas has wonderfully completed his step into independence. Therefore, we had, as parents, more time and opportunities to take care of Merlin and Fynn. With both of them it becomes ever clearer that they settle down in their everyday life. Though in the beginning, they did not touch their instruments, now we can hear them more and more often. Merlin has begun to play soccer again, Fynn has joined a basketball team. In addition, Fynn has also discovered play-acting and has been given a part as an extra in the play “As once in May’” in the regional theatre. This gives him unspeakable joy, and, of course, we will try to take Jan-Lukas to the play when his little brother stands on the stage. Even though Jan-Lukas has do write an assignment, the three of them use the time to play. They make themselves comfortable and spend time together. It is nice to be a family.                                 

This letter will probably reach you too late to convey Christmas greetings. Still, we hope that you can look back on a peaceful holiday. We wish you all, near and far, a blessed year 2008 and remain with kind regards,                                      

Mirjam, Stefan, Jan-Lukas, Merlin & Fynn Wolf

 

And here good news which we received through Iris Schweiger:

"On January 13, the second child of Pastor Susanne Hofmann was born. His name is Samuel. Everybody is OK, mom, child, husband and baby."