America
"Your vision to gather around Jesus to celebrate his resurrection supports our program: to make the person of Jesus known and to help each person connect with Him".
At a meal Martin sat alongside Kirsteen Kim, a professor at Fuller theological Seminary. Specializing in missiology, she was the previous chair of the WCC Commission for Mission and Evangelization. The presentation of the vision of JC2033 plunged her into a deep reflection!
At the “Mountain Lodge”, we met Pastor Kathryn Lohre, Director of Ecumenical and Interreligious Relations of the US Evangelical Lutheran Church, and President of the National Council of Christian Churches in the USA.
Kathryn Lohre
Martin mentioned the "crazy project" he is working towards. She answered: "Is it for the Gospel ... the folly of the Gospel, that of the Cross?" "Yes," he said, "but rather the craziness of the resurrection!" The next day she spoke on the theme "kissing the cross for the love of our neighbors" where she invited the assembly to take the defense of any discriminated person.
The Arusha Conference also allowed us to have a first exchange with Casely Essamuah, new secretary of the Global Christian Forum and with the Swiss theologian Jean-Daniel Plüss, member of the committee. We promised to stay in touch because the goals of the FCM are close to those of JC2033: to gather around Christ, with all the diversity of the churches, to testify of Him. At the end of October we were invited to participate in a meeting of this Forum, in Lyon.
With Casely Essamuah amd Jean-Daniel Plüss, World Christian Forum
During the parish visit to the Lutheran Church, Martin had the pleasure of speaking with Carlos Ham, director of the Evangelical Seminary in Matanzas, Cuba. Knowing him when he was working at the World Council of Churches, as director of the Department of Evangelism, he was able to give him an update on the progress of the project. Here is what he said about it:
"The very essence of our faith is totally imbued with the resurrection of Christ, and this fullness will be even more abundant when it is commemorated through 'Jesus Celebration 2033' among the disciples of all nations and Christian denominations. I wish you many blessings at this historic event!"
This Tanzanian week was intense. Martin Hoegger is grateful for the openness of the people he met. They are also the result of many prayers!
Who can gather in joy the praise and dance, such a vast diversity, from Greenland to the Pacific Islands, all races and cultures? To live such a meeting was for him already a foretaste of what could be the celebration of the 2000 years of the resurrection of Christ. "And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men to me" (John 12:32).
March 2018, by Martin Hoegger
