Today is Lutheran World Federation Sunday.

Lutheran World Federation – A Communion of Churches.  I love that – A Communion of Churches.  They have added that to the name.

The Lutheran World Federation is 60 years old.  It was established in 1947 in Lund, Sweden to help the many in Europe who were homeless and hungry.

Two hundred delegates arrive at the First Assembly with a determination to forgive, to put aside the enmities of war, to dismiss the visions of “the enemy” created during nearly a decade of hostility.  There was a commitment to seize the moment for new ways of living together in Christian community.

You may be more familiar with Lutheran World Relief which is an arm of the Federation.  Our ELCA Hunger Appeal works in partnership the LWR in international development projects.

One of these main projects is clean water.  The World Health Organization states that perhaps the greatest failure of the 20^th century was the failure to prevent children’s deaths caused by unclean water.  One billion people in the world do not have access to clean water.

There is at least one village in Africa where that should not be a problem anymore.  Last Christmas, John and Patricia received a gift of a water pump that is now serving that African village.  You can do that through Lutheran World Relief.

The Federation headquarters is in Geneva, Switzerland.  The highest decision making body is the Assembly which usually meets every six years.  Between Assemblies, the LWF is governed by the Council consisting of the president – currently Rev Mark Hanson, which I am sure you recognize as the Bishop of the ELCA.  He along with the treasurer and 48 members elected at the Assembly make up the Council.

The next Assembly meeting will be in 2010 in Stuttgart, Germany.

The work of the LWF is very diversified.  Humanitarian assistance is still the largest part, but International Affairs and Human Rights are also a big concern as are Ecumenical Relations and Mission Development.

I first became interested in LWF in 1963 when I was working at the Lutheran Student Foundation at UT.  My boss, Rev. Gus Kopka, was going to Europe that summer as an interpreter for the 4^th Assembly meeting of the LWF being held in Helsinki, Finland. 

I was going to Europe that summer also.  My parents, my sister and I had been planning for some time to spend that summer in Europe, mostly Germany, as we have a number of relatives there.  Walter and I had talked of getting married when I returned.

Well, to make a long story short (and believe me it is a long story) Gus and his wife, Nancy, convinced us to get married in May and Walter to travel to Europe with them on their charter flight.

That is what happened.  Walter flew with them to Copenhagen and then took the boat train to Hamburg where he met my ship when it docked.  We picked up the car I had purchased and spent 6 weeks traveling around Europe.  From Stockholm, Walter flew to Helsinki for the weeklong meeting of the Assembly and I went back to Germany.

When I finally arrived home I had a first-hand account of the Assembly.  What the LWF had done, was presently doing and hoped to do in the future.  Walter was sold.  He had had a wonderful experience there and talked about it a great deal.

The LWF is no small organization.  You are all members.  There are over 66 milion of us.  66 million Lutherans do make a difference.

I would like to close with a prayer written by a Bishop for the 2005 Council meeting in Jerusalem.  It is very pertinent for us today.

 

God of Peace, through the cross, you yourself reconciled sinful humans to yourself.  We walk in daily prayerful hope, that the ministry of reconciliation will bring down all dividing walls and that it will build bridges that can unite us in common humanity.  Support us as we strive to raise up a new generation who will seek to see you in other religions and cultures and will urge all to seek common values of respect for all human life.  Inspire us that we together compose a symphony of justice and reconciliation and sing it to the world.

Amen