Dear Partners in the Gospel of the
Metropolitan New York Synod:

The whole world is in shock over the tragedy of deadly devastation in South East Asia. Two pastors from India are serving in the territory of our synod as missioners to South Asian countries. Pastor Daniel Peter and his wife Sarah (a candidate approved for ordination) serve the Ashirwad South Asian Ministry in our synod. They are both from India (Madras, which was rocked by the earthquake), and they serve people from many different South Asian countries, including India and Sri Lanka. They tell me that they have been contacting all of their members. They spent Sunday evening in the homes of several Sri Lankan families, praying with them and assisting them in trying to get news from home. Two Sinhalese families were able to get word that their loved ones were able to flee the affected area and made it safely to Colombo but their homes and villages were destroyed.

Pastor Johnson Rethinasamy serves the Atlantic District South Asian ministry of the LCMS. He too has been in contact with India (especially Taiml Nadu) and Sri Lanka. He reportsthat his aunt and uncle’s town, Nagapattinam is the highest affected in India, where the death toll is 2500 people. His aunt and uncle were in a church service on the 26th, two miles from the shore when the water inundated the church. They were able to escape to a nearby high rise apartment building, then to a nearby town. They saw women and children taken away by the waves. Tranquebar, the Lutheran headquarters in the 17th century, and its fishing neighborhood were totally destroyed. Rethinasamy reports that one church building in the district of Kanchipuram in Tamilnadu collapsed mid service kinlling 40 people. The death toll at Veilkanni, a seashore Catholic shrine and tourist attraction has a death toll of almost one thousand, many of them tourists making a Christmas visit.

Sarah Peter: “ We will continue reaching out to the South Asian members and communities here in New York, and help them get news of their loved ones back home. Thank you for your prayers and support.”
Pastor Rethinasamy writes: “As I was watching the Tamil TV network here, hearing the cries of the affected families, and seeing the affected places where I have traveled and walked in most of those regions now look like mountains of human bodies in and around those towns and villages, it is emotionally challenging me with lots of tears. However, the faith we have in Jesus, urges me to look upon Him who silenced the noisy sea in the middle of doubts, fears, chaos and life threatening situations. Immanuel: God with us. Amen!”
Pastor Bennerjee (a friend of our synod from India) writes: “Villages and towns washed away, and innocent kids drowned within seconds by the fury of nature…it breaks our hearts and wonder about the plight of those victims and their families who are left in deep agony and pain. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Let us reach out to the hurting through all possible means and please do pray for the affected families. Christmas time need not be construed as always a time for merry making, but could also be a time of crying and pouring out our heart’s sorrows to our loving Heavenly Father. May our dear Lord become very real to all those suffering today in South Asia and elsewhere in our world, on account of natural disasters, wars, starvation, diseases, hatred, religious fundamentalism, caste fights, ethnic cleansing, unemployment, HIV/AIDS. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.

Remember as well, that many in the South Asian communities here in New York are still reeling from the economic devastation following the September 11 attacks. I can only imagine the long term economic impact in places of extended poverty, where what little economic infrastructure there was has been destroyed.
Please pray fervently and publicly for those whose lives have been torn apart in the places where the disaster occurred. Please pray and reach out to our South Asian neighbors here in the New York metropolis, whose ongoing economic and immigration burdens are now joined by grief, anxiety, and sorrow concerning loved ones back home. And please make a generous contribution

Information on our ELCA International Disaster Response to the South Asia Tsunami can be found at www.elca.org/disaster/sasiatsunami.html .

Donations can be made to
ELCA International Disaster Response,
P.O. Box
# 71764, Chicago, Illlinois 60694-1764.
Note "South Asia Tsunami" on the check memo line.

New York has experienced the overflowing generosity and care of so many. Let us with grateful and compassionate hearts show our spiritual and human solidarity with our South Asian brothers and sisters around the word and around the block.

In the Name of Jesus,
Bishop Stephen P. Bouman

Letter from Dr. Benke,
LDRNY President

Greetings in the Precious Name of Jesus:

This letter is being sent to pastors and leaders of the Atlantic District, LCMS following the disastrous tsunami that has devastated a large portion of the world and left as many as 40,000 dead.

Rev. Dr. E. Johnson Rethinasamy, Mission Planter responsible for South Asian ministries in the metropolitan New York region as well as the entire northeast, has related to me and other leaders his understanding of the dimension of the disaster from a personal and churchly point of view. His missionary heart is to extend to all the people affected the love of God in Word and deed. I want all of us in the Lutheran community here in the Atlantic District to pledge our support in prayer as well as with resources at this time of great trial for millions of people in the South Asian communities and islands.

Here is what I am proposing in conjunction with Dr. Rethinasamy:

1) Daily prayers offered for divine guidance, for salvation, for comfort and renewal for those so deeply devastated

2) Prayer vigil support - Dr. Rethinasamy will be conducting a Prayer Vigil Service on Sunday, January 2, at 5:30 PM as part of his Tamil language outreach at St. John Lutheran, Williston Park (Willis Avenue and Winthrop Street - 516-742-5858). Other such vigils will be planned and held

3) Special Mission Society Offering: Please receive special offerings for the South Asian Disaster Response, designating them as such as they are sent to the Atlantic District. These offerings will be coordinated personally by Dr. Rethinasamy and used through Lutheran World Relief and the South Asian designated human relief agency, Church Auxiliary for Social Action. Dr. Rethinasamy is connected to leaders from the South Asian community here in metropolitan New York in a way that can be productive of reaching the most people with the most help, with emphasis on those churches and parishioners in our partner churches and missions most directly affected.

4) Receive updates from Dr. Rethinsamy via email and special mailings as events continue to transpire for information and action. His emails will be forwarded to all on this list.

May the Lord of mercy and compassion give us the heart and hope in Christ to bring to those who cry out in their time of great need.

With Love in Christ,

Dr. David H. Benke, President
Atlantic District, LCMS
LDRNY PRESIDENT

Information on ourLCMS International Disaster Response to the South Asia Tsunami can be found at www.lcms.org/pages/internal.asp?NavID=7270

LCMS World Relief and Human Care
P.O. Box 66861
St. Louis, MO  63166-9810