The Episcopal Church of New Hampshire comprises 46 congregations from Colebrook to Nashua, Claremont to Portsmouth. We are discovering God's mission in the world and listening to what God calls us to challenge and confront anew. We do this work in churches, communities, forests, on mountaintops, and on the sea.

A Message from Bishop Rob on the Continued Devastation in the Holy Land

My dear friends in the Risen Jesus Christ, 

There are no words that can carry the full weight and the entire story of the relentless and ever-intensifying devastation of the Middle East. The complete failure of loving imagination to see a path to a just and enduring peace has resulted, and will continue to cause, a level of suffering that is impossible to comprehend.

This said, I believe in the power of prayer—to expand our hearts and to connect us with the compassion of God, in whose heart no pain is more deeply felt. Prayer can change us, our actions, and consequently world history. Christians do not mimic the sad and pathetic figure of Pontius Pilate, who, overwhelmed with the Truth that stood before him, simply washed his hands and allowed the Prince of Peace to be crucified.

On this eve of Pentecost, when we celebrate the Holy Spirit’s power to renew and refresh the face of the earth, I share with you this recent update from the American Friends of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem. The Episcopal Church in the Holy Land is an essential presence of reconciliation, love, and hope in this despairing part of the world.  I have long admired its ministry and continually pray for their bishop, the Most Reverend Hosam Naoum.

Please pray for and consider giving to your fellow church in support of its courageous witness in the name of Jesus who “stretched out his arms of love on the hard wood of the cross so that all may come within the reach of his saving embrace” (Book of Common Prayer, page 101).

— The Rt. Rev. A. Robert Hirschfeld