Advent 2019 Week 2: Read Stories From the ELCJHL Schools

12/8/2019

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"For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us." Ephesians 2:14

Help children in Palestine build bridges by contributing to Opportunity Palestine during our #AdventCountdown.

We’ll be telling the stories of the ELCJHL schools—stories of students, teachers, and staff doing God's work in the Holy Land. Follow us for daily Scripture on our Facebook page.

Eighth grade students play a review game in English class. (Selina not pictured)

Supporting Students: Selina in 8^th Grade

Selina Hanouna is an eighth-grade student at the Evangelical Lutheran School of Beit Sahour. She is one of many students at ELS who benefit from the scholarships that the ELCJHL offers to students in financial need. These scholarships provide students with the opportunity to continue in their studies even when their family is in a place of financial hardship. School is a constant in the lives of our students, a safe space where they are valued and appreciated regardless of what may be transpiring in their personal lives.

At Home
Selina’s father works as a janitor, and her mother is deaf and suffers from health problems that put a significant financial burden on the family. Selina is one of five children. Three of her siblings live outside the house in a boarding school, as it is the best way their family can provide for their needs. Selina’s parents intended to pull her out of our school due to lack of tuition money.

At School
Thankfully, ELS Beit Sahour was able to include her in the FELM sponsorship program to help with the cost of her education. She continues to contribute to her class with an impressive work ethic and great intelligence. Selina’s favorite subject is mathematics and she hopes to become a doctor. We are so very lucky to have her among our students. In her spare time, Selina enjoys playing basketball with her friends.

Contribute to OP and help ELCJHL students build bridges!

Students sing hymns at ELS Beit Sahour

An Advent Message & Prayer from Pastor Mitri Raheb

Message: No one understood what building walls means like St. Paul. A former Jewish hard liner, he committed himself to making sure that a wall of separation was built and kept between his community and the Gentiles. However, this same radical person was radically transformed on the road to Damascus. Now he understood the meaning of building bridges as a prerequisite to peace. His great discovery was that if God himself in Christ has broken the walls of hostility between the human and the divine, then there is no place for walls between peoples, tribes, cultures and nations. The Holy Land today is in urgent need of bridges, not walls.

An Advent Prayer: Lord of peace, born in Bethlehem, thank you for building this eternal bridge between us and the Father. Make us bridge builders so that your peace will be celebrated in our lives, in the Holy Land and in the World. Amen.

*With special thanks to St. John’s Lutheran Church of Salisbury, North Carolina and Christmas Lutheran Church of Bethlehem, Palestine for the devotional materials*

Below, watch our latest film about the ELCJHL schools!
Click here to read our fall newsletter!

Featuring high school students speaking in their own voice, the outcomes of the Lutheran Schools in the Holy Land are shared. The 4 schools start with preschool and continue to Grade 12 with co-educational classrooms and curriculum designed to support inquiry, creativity, leadership with inter-faith dialog, and peace resolution.

1 Comment

Berkeley Facesitting link

5/27/2025 10:28:50 pm

It is inspiring how education can provide opportunities for children like Selina.