Another effort to assist refugees has been ongoing at St. Luke’s church in Leipzig where friends of First Lutheran Rev. Christopher Ahlman and Deaconess Elizabeth Ahlman serve as missionaries. We have periodically posted updates from the Ahlmans after their visit to Boston last year.
This article was written by Rev. Hugo Gevers, a missionary of The Selbständige Evangelische Lutherische Kirche (SELK). The SELK is a partner church body of The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod. The LCMS supports this project with financial gifts, as well as personnel in the field. Rev. Gevers wrote this article in German for the SELK publication, the Missionsblatt, and translates it for us here.
As part of a city wide initiative in Leipzig “intercultural week”, we opened the doors of St. Luke in Volkmarsdorf on Friday, 26. September. In this time we reflected on the latest news from Syria and Iraq. We wanted to empathize with people who had to flee from their homeland. Our congregation members were able to share with us their own personal experiences of being homeless. They also shared their feelings about difficulties they have here in Germany right now. A short presentation on the theme of refugees in the whole world together with a few anecdotes and a Persian poem from Ahmad Schamelo were part of the program. Ahmad Schamelo says “HOME IS WHERE I AM ACCEPTED.” Most refugees are not able to leave their home countries. However they are not accepted there. Sometimes their lives are not being tolerated and they have to flee to save their lives. However, they cannot go beyond the geographic borders of their own homelands. In this way they remain homeless within the borders of their homeland.
