Message from Bishop Stephen Bouman,
Vice President of LDRNY

As you’re all very aware, New York’s again under a time of anxiety in the midst of the heightened terror alert status. The Stock Exchange and the Citigroup Center, home of Saint Peter’s, are among the identified places of special risk. I want you to join me in praying for the people of Saint Peter’s. They’re working with Lutheran Disaster Response of New York to be a ministry of comfort and preparedness for their many neighbors around the Citigroup Center. Their programs are continuing. I also urge you to join me in praying for all of our members and the many neighbors who commute every day to Manhattan; those who live near these places of risk, and who share concern about loved ones in these areas.

In a time of necessary heightened security, I believe there is also a time to remember that our ultimate security is already ours in our baptism. God has called each of us beloved and we are eternally secure in the arms of our graceful Savior. That is a message the world needs to hear with renewed vigor.

My prayers are with you in each of your ministries as you convey a gospel of hope in a fearful time. When it was evening on that day…Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”

Finally, in the midst of our prayers for peace and for the safety and wellbeing of people in harm’s way around the world, I ask your particular prayers for our brothers and sisters in Christ who were affected by the bombing of Christian churches in Baghdad and Mosul. In your prayers please remember that the president and many members of Salam Arabic Lutheran Church have their roots in the Christian churches of Iraq.

I have been praying often the text of a hymn that Luther wrote in the time of war:

Grant peace, we pray, in mercy, Lord;
Peace in our time, oh, send us!
For there is none on earth by you,
None other to defend us.
You only, Lord, can fight for us.