07.04.2003
Signs of Death in the World Do Not Represent God's Will, Argentinean Pastor Tells LWF Churches
Latin American and the Caribbean Region Pre-Assembly Starts in El SalvadorSAN SALVADOR, El Salvador/GENEVA, 7 April 2003 (LWI/*ALC) - "We live in a world where the signs of death, such as war, violence, corruption and exclusion are constantly present, but none of these problems represent God's will," said Argentinean pastor Angel F. Furlan, during the opening worship service of a consultation to prepare the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) member churches in Latin America and the Caribbean for the forthcoming LWF Tenth Assembly.
"God is the God of life and limitless love and [God's] will for humanity is life and not suffering," said Furlan, President of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church (IELU), and moderator of the Conference of Bishops and Presidents of the Lutheran Churches in Latin America (COP).
The evils that wrack humanity are not related to God but to human sin, he said. Death, violence, war, the exploitation of the weak, corruption, hunger and misery are not God's will. These evils are expressions of the anti-God, the anti-Christ, the IELU president told participants in the April 6-9 Latin America and Caribbean Pre-Assembly Consultation (PAC) in the Salvadoran capital. The meeting brings together 51 participants including 31 of the 33 assembly delegates from the region who will be attending the 21-31 July 2003 Assembly in Winnipeg, Canada.
Furlan reminded representatives of churches that the "God, on the Cross, has overcome the power of death and comes to those who suffer, who are alone, [and] desperate. Life and resurrection for all humanity comes from the cross," he stressed.
"This is the faith that encourages our struggle," he said. The struggle of Christians will continue in the world and while at times it seems that the powers of death are winning, "we Christians know that evil will not prevail," he noted.
The Argentinean church leader emphasized the churches' calling to follow Jesus Christ and to ask where and with who He is in these times. Jesus is with those who are marginalized, displaced, the poor, those who are excluded by society, he said.
This is the place where the Church of today should be, to "subvert the established disorder. We are called to demonstrate, as the Port Alegre World Social Forum declared, that another world is possible," he said.
The worship service marked the opening of the LWF Latin American and Caribbean PAC in which 13 Latin American and two Caribbean churches are represented. During the service in San Salvador's "La Resurrección" Lutheran church, Bishop Medardo Gomez of the Salvadoran Lutheran Synod (SLS), said it was a great privilege for the SLS to be hosting the pre-assembly. He gave a wooden cross to each participant from abroad, as "a symbol for the healing of our nations and the world."
This will be the final regional pre-assembly before the Tenth Assembly in Winnipeg, Canada, under the theme "For the Healing of the World." In a series of five such meetings that started in January, delegates from Europe, North America, Asia, and Africa, have reflected on the theme from their respective contexts, and focussed on preparations for effective participation at the Assembly.
An international Pre-Assembly Gathering for Women was held 14-17 November 2002 in Montreux, Switzerland. A global youth conference will take place prior to the Assembly in Guelph, near Ontario, Canada. The Assembly is the LWF’s highest decision-making body, meeting normally every six years.
*ALC - The Latin American and Caribbean News Agency
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