I am Adrainne Gray.
I am the communications coordinator for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land.
I'm responsible for all English-speaking
communications that come out of the
Palestinian Lutheran Church.
So I am the connector between the Palestinian Lutheran Church and the English-speaking
church and all of the partners and
supporters of the Palestinian Lutheran Church here in the Holy Land.
Particularly helping people to become
aware of the situation that Palestinians,
not just Lutherans or Christians, but
all Palestinians here have to live with
every day.
The office of deacon in the Lutheran Church means one who is set aside for Word - preaching - and service - missions.
Most times when we think of a
call to service we think of nurses,
teachers, social workers, and indeed even
here in the Holy Land our hospitals and
our schools which were here before our
churches were run by deaconesses from Germany,
and so indeed there is that
historical and traditional call, but to
be called to service also includes what
I like to say word with a "small w" so we
have Word that means preaching and our
Bible but it's also the service of
informing and being that bridge from one
community to the next.
So I am Adrainne Gray's husband and I came to Jerusalem as an accompanying spouse.
She is the communications coordinator with the ELCJHL and I am working as the visual half of that
doing photos and videos of the
church and the life of the church and
schools here. And most recently I have
become the communications and external
relations officer for the Lutheran World
Federation in Jerusalem.
One of the things that I'm probably photographing here that people may not know is just
that there are Lutherans in the Holy
Land. There are Palestinian Arab
Lutherans that have been here. As a
Lutheran in the United States, before we
came here, I didn't even think about that.
This particular situation points to human injustices, listening and hearing their story.
It's the human thing to do. It's our gospel call.
