05.11.2008
Global Lutheran Communion Congratulates New US President-Elect
LWF Leaders: Election Emblematic of Americans' Desire to Overcome DivisionGENEVA, 5 November 2008 (LWI) - Bishop Mark S. Hanson, president of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko, LWF general secretary, have congratulated Senator Barack Obama on his election as the 44th President of the United States of America.
Speaking of an "historic moment" for the country, Hanson and Noko, in a letter to the President-elect, commend Obama's passionate commitment to overcoming racial, political, social and economic divisions in the USA. Obama's election is a sign that US Americans share this desire to overcome discrimination, they note, an "affirmation-if not yet the fulfillment-of the struggles and aspirations of generations of the excluded and the marginalized."
Obama's victory in the November 4 election-in which he won nearly 70 more electoral college votes than the 270 needed to secure the presidency-has significance not just for the USA but for the entire global human family, the LWF leaders state. The time is ripe for the construction of a society in which "people are judged truly for who they are", they claim, and the fruit of Obama's efforts in America may bring hope to many throughout the world.
Hanson and Noko also emphasize commonalities in the challenges facing the new President-elect and those encountered by the Lutheran global communion in promoting human dignity and justice around the world. They believe the ideals inspiring LWF's service to the poor and oppressed are ideals and responsibilities that the LWF shares with the senator.
Hanson and Noko expressed the hope that the future US president will be able to fulfill the heavy responsibilities he will be assuming, and have assured the new leader that the LWF will accompany him with prayers for wisdom, courage and fortitude to meet the unprecedented constellation of challenges at hand. (322 words)
The full text of President Hanson and General Secretary Noko's letter follows:
Senator Barack Obama
President-elect
United States of America
5 November 2008
Dear Senator Obama,
We write to congratulate you on your election as the 44th President of the United States of America. We do so on behalf of the Lutheran World Federation's 140 member churches - in the United States of America and 78 other countries around the world - representing a global church family of over 68.3 million people.
In your campaign you have spoken passionately and with evident conviction of change, of hope, and of responsibility. You have invoked the vision of an America that transcends the divisions of race, political affiliation, and social and economic status. That is indeed a salutary vision.
Your election is itself emblematic of the desire of Americans to overcome discrimination based on color and origin. It is the affirmation - if not yet the fulfillment - of the struggles and aspirations of generations of the excluded and marginalized. It is an historic moment for your country.
As President, confronting the unprecedented constellation of challenges that you must face, you will require much more than a human being's normal measure of wisdom, courage and fortitude. We in the Lutheran World Federation accompany you with our prayers that you might be strengthened for the tasks you have set yourself in the promises you have made to the American people, and in the hopes you have inspired.
In the unfolding of your agenda for overcoming divisions in the United States of America, we believe that you will find a world that is ready - and waiting - for the USA to join in the common task of building a global human family in which people are judged truly for who they are. The fruit of your efforts in the USA will feed the hopes of many others around the world.
In your victory speech, you spoke of a new dawn for American leadership in the world, and affirmed that the USA's strength for leadership derives not from military might or economic influence, but from the power of ideals.
As a global communion of churches, we see our mission as the promotion of human dignity and inclusion, the restoration of hope, and the struggle for justice for all around the world. We confront the opposite of these qualities in far too many contexts - as experienced by our member churches and through our programs for humanitarian relief and development. We believe that the ideals and responsibilities that inspire our service to the poor and oppressed are ideals and responsibilities that we share with you.
We pray that what we do in the time we are given will fulfill the responsibilities we have accepted and advance the realization of our shared ideals, for the benefit of all people.
Yours respectfully,
Bishop Mark S. Hanson
LWF President
Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko
LWF General Secretary
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