INTERNATIONAL NEWS www.canadianlutheran.ca
Urgent prayer request for Ethiopia
ETHIOPIA - Rev. Asefa Aredo, Lutheran Church–Canada (LCC) Missionary at Large to the Lutheran Oromo community in Winnipeg, has issued a letter to LCC through President Timothy Teuscher, urging prayer for Ethiopia amid significant unrest. His letter follows: Greetings to you in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, I am writing you this letter after much prayer. President Teuscher, we are currently living in a global health crisis because of COVID-19. Fear, anger, loneliness, and frustration has built up and taken hold of many people’s hearts, minds, and souls. Currently, as you may or may not know, in Ethiopia there has been civil
unrest and an enormous amount of conflict taking over the country. With bad governance, there are hundreds of people being killed and many going hungry, missing, and forced to leave their homes. I am extremely concerned, as this situation has escalated to chaos. It is out of control. There is a fear that civil war will break out as well. Meanwhile cases of COVID-19 are rising, taking the lives of the innocent. As a missionary at large, I am blessed to have brothers and sisters in Christ at Lutheran Church–Canada. I am asking just as you have before to please send out an urgent call to prayer for Ethiopia across our churches in Canada. Prayer is the most powerful tool we have. If you have any questions or concerns please let me know.
A call to prayer for COVID-struck India INDIA - The International Lutheran Council (ILC) is encouraging Christians around the world to continue to remember India in prayer as the country struggles with a deadly wave of COVID-19. Infections peaked in May, with new cases of the disease exceeding more than 400,000 per day. By April, India officially became the second country to pass the 20 million mark of confirmed cases overall. As of early June, India had the third most fatalities as a result of COVID-19 with more than 340,000 official deaths, although there are suggestions the true number could be much higher. The most recent wave proved particularly deadly, with hospitals turning people away due to a lack of supplies to
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THE CANADIAN LUTHERAN May/June 2021
care for the infected—notably, oxygen and hospital beds. Media reported people dying outside hospital doors, unable to gain admittance, as well as funeral homes and crematoriums overwhelmed with bodies. Among those suffering in the midst of the crisis are members of the India Evangelical Lutheran Church (IELC). “We are losing our dear ones every day,” wrote IELC President Y. Suvisesha Muthu in early May. “Our members, young and old, are dying almost daily. Many have tested positive and are waiting to get treatment.” Two of the church’s pastors had died early in the third wave, as did a retired pastor. Others were left sick. Several
“They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” Isaiah 2:4 Rev. Asefa Aredo In response, President Teuscher has issued the following, with the request that the people of Lutheran Church–Canada lift up the people of Ethiopia in prayer during this time of dire need: Gracious and merciful God and Father, although Your Son, Jesus Christ, came to bring us Your heavenly peace, violence and conflict still rage among Your children on earth. We bring before Your throne of grace and mercy the needs of the people in Ethiopia where there is increasing civil unrest in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic that is raging out of control. Put an end to the bloodshed and this catastrophe. Grant relief to the injured and the homeless. Mercifully embrace the frightened in Your love. Empower the weak with Your strength. Restrain the wicked by Your might. Preserve those who confess Your holy name that their faith may not falter. And comfort by Your Spirit the many people who have immigrated to Canada from Ethiopia whose loved ones are in danger; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
faculty members of the IELC’s Concordia Theological Seminary, Nagercoil required medical care for COVID-19, with the seminary’s principal needing critical care. “The situation is very grave,” noted Rev. Dr. Timothy Quill, General Secretary of the International Lutheran Council. “We call on Lutherans worldwide to lift up India in prayer, that God would provide relief from the current crisis. In particular, pray that God would continue to bless the work of medical providers in the country, that He would provide assistance from within and without the country in the provision of needed medical supplies, and that He would bless the rollout of India’s vaccination program. May God have mercy on a suffering people.” ILC News
