Australia: Prayers, Support from the Global Lutheran Communion

Tragic Loss of Lives and Livelihoods in Unprecedented Bush fires

The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) assures the Lutheran Church of Australia (LCA) of the prayers and accompaniment of the global communion following the tragic loss of lives and livelihoods in recent bush fires across the southeastern state of Victoria.

In a letter addressed to LCA President Rev. Michael P. Semmler, LWF General Secretary Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko points out that the scale of the current fires and the tragic toll of lives has shocked the country as a whole and drawn the sympathy of the world.

Devastation in Flood and Fire: In seconds, families and friends are gone. Lives are changed never to be the same again. Let us all cry to the Lord for each other.

More than 180 people are known to have died, and the figures could rise, according to Noko's letter. Reports citing local authorities put the number of those injured over the past week at around 500, and some 1,000 homes destroyed. "The fact that some of the fires may have been deliberately lit only compounds the tragedy," notes the general secretary.

"The tears of every Australian are our tears also, and your nation's trauma a trauma for the whole international community," writes Noko. The letter has been shared with all LWF member churches, asking their prayers that the LCA "might be strengthened for the ministry of comforting the bereaved and counseling the traumatized, and for the accompaniment of families and communities as they reconstruct homes and lives from the ashes."

Noko commends Australians for their unity in compassion, solidarity and mutual support in these difficult times, and encourages the LCA to continue to "be a church for others" in the midst of the current disaster. The LCA is an associate member church of the LWF, which it joined in 1994.