Dear Sisters, Brothers, and Siblings in the Lord, I greet you in the name of our loving, liberating, and life-giving Savior, Jesus Christ. Last May, I had the privilege of meeting the Rev. Canon Faiz Basheer Jerjes and his colleague, Sinan Hanna, of St. George’s Anglican Episcopal Church in Baghdad—the only Anglican church in Iraq.
After a moving conversation, Fr. Faiz asked one thing of our church: “Please don’t forget us.”
I assured him that we would not forget— and I need your help to honor that pledge, not only to him, but to the whole Anglican Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East, which we have supported through the Good Friday Offering for over a century, through conflict, pandemic, and humanitarian disasters. The Episcopal Church will not forget them. We will not forget our siblings in Christ who cannot worship God freely. We will not forget those caught in the crossfire between warring factions in the land where our Lord walked. We will not forget that every human child of God—Palestinian, Israeli, Iraqi, Cypriot, Lebanese, everyone—deserves safety and security. As we mark our Lord’s passion and death on Good Friday, we remember those whom he loves facing injustice and oppression today, and remember the urgency of love—true, sacrificial love.
On Good Friday, March 29, I invite you to remember the Anglican Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East through a gift to the Good Friday Offering. By supporting life-giving ministries in the province, including St. George’s, Baghdad; the eye clinic in Ras Morbat, Yemen; the Al Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza; and numerous other institutions identified by their dioceses, you are ensuring that our siblings in Christ are not forgotten.
On the evening of Good Friday, we especially look forward to inviting the whole church to a concert of sacred music recorded at Christ and St. Luke’s Church, Norfolk, in the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia. You will find more details about this event, instructions on how to make a gift to the Good Friday Offering, and additional resources at iam.ec/goodfridayoffering.
This is my last Good Friday letter to you as your presiding bishop, and I want to both express my gratitude for your gifts in years past and encourage you to give again to support God’s beloved in this area of the world. This is what love asks of us. Any questions about the offering may be directed to Archdeacon Paul Feheley, Middle East partnership officer. He can be reached at (800) 334-7626 x6222 or via email at pfeheley@episcopalchurch.org.
May God bless you and keep you always. I remain
Your brother in Christ,
The Most Rev. Michael B. Curry
Presiding Bishop and Primate
The Episcopal Church