Local and international faith leaders, including a contingent from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) led by the Rev. Jihyun Oh, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly and Executive Director of Presbyterian Life & Witness, turned out to Talitha Kumi German Lutheran School in Beit Jala, West Bank, to celebrate the many years of ministry of Bishop Dr. Sani Ibrahim Azar, who leads the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land.
During a two-hour service of worship and thanksgiving, speaker after speaker rose to praise Azar, who completed his ministry at the school he attended as a youth. Talitha Kumi, which means “Little girl, get up!” is named for what Jesus told Jairus’ daughter according to Mark’s gospel in order to raise her from the dead.
“I started here as a child and I will end — not my life, but my ministry — here in the place where I started,” Azar said. He recalled worshiping alongside his father and a few of his fellow students who had a hard time praying for the forgiveness offered in the Lord’s Prayer.
“He helped me learn to forgive others as God forgives me,” Azar said of his father. Now, “I have to think twice about praying sometimes, because when I pray, God answers.”
He said his hope for the church “is that God is the one with whom we are connected, filling our needs and saving our souls.”
“This is also my school — my home for 12 years,” said Bethlehem Mayor Maher Canawati, who offered remarks and a gift for the retiring bishop. Talitha Kumi has helped “living stones” in the Bethlehem community for many years, Canawati said.
The Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria, Christian Kopp, called Azar a bridge-builder and declared him “an honorary Bavarian for life.”
The Bishop of the New England Synod in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Nathan Pipho, said that shortly after his election as bishop, Pipho’s predecessor scheduled a Zoom meeting for him with Azar. “Of all he did to prepare me, putting Bishop Azar on my list was the top of his list,” Pipho said, thanking God that Azar has been “the hands and feet of Christ.”
“Be with him in retirement as you have so clearly been with him in his ministry,” Pipho prayed.
A retired pastor noted that under Azar’s leadership, Muslim and Christian students “have gotten to know about each other’s faith,” she said.
Yehiel Curry, the presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, gave Azar a Bethlehem star, which “is nothing new here. It represents the light that shone when Jesus was born. It also represents the light in Palestine.”
“From your siblings here, I want you to know there is a pretty good delegation here,” Curry said. “All of us from the ELCA want to say thank you.”
The PC(USA) contingent was in Jordan and Israel-Palestine to meet with partners, renew friendships and learn in partners’ context.
Talitha Kumi School serves children in grades K through 12 growing up near Bethlehem in a challenging economic and political situation.
The school includes a kindergarten, a community college, a boarding school for girls and a large guest house. It’s currently home to 700 students. About 30% of students are Christians and 70% are Muslims. About 100 students attend the Talitha Kumi Community College.
Empowering girls is one of the school’s core aims. Talitha Kumi is a pioneering co-educational school in Palestine, providing a setting where boys and girls have been able to learn side by side for many years. About 90% of the students live in the West Bank and the remaining 10% live in East Jerusalem and other Palestinian enclaves.
For almost 20 years, the school has been training students as mediators. Talitha Kumi follows Palestinian curriculum in elementary school and adds German as a foreign language in second grade. Learn more here.
Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Service (Click here to read original PNS Story)
Let us join in prayer for:
Judy Walton, Vice President, Lending Services, Presbyterian Investment & Loan Program
Laura Wampler, Operations & Rights Associate, Operations, Presbyterian Publishing Corporation
Let us pray:
Good and great God, you meet us in everyday life and call us to extraordinary experiences. Help us to hear your call for our lives and to answer in faith, “Here am I; send me.” We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
