A trip to the Land we call Holy

Making a Difference

‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’(Matt 25:37-40)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ

I am writing to you with a heavy heart, asking you all to continue praying and financially contributing to support our brothers and sisters in Haiti who are in deep need of our help. Many people have lost everything they had due to the earthquake. Children have been orphaned and families torn apart. Many survivors have lost their homes and all their possessions. People from all over the world are making a difference in providing clean water, food, medical supplies, and tents for shelter, and in your giving, you are a part of that help. To donate, I encourage you to visit our website, www.faithinbrookfield.com, or www.elca.org/haitiearthquake, or call 800-638-3522.

In Jesus’ Name

Pastor Gabi

My Birthday

I just celebrated my 32nd birthday and I was overwhelmed by the wishes, cards and phone calls that I got from people. One of the cards said, “We hope that your 32nd birthday is a special one. May the day serve to remind you of the blessing you are to all those that surround you…” The truth is that the person who sent me the card, even though they called me a blessing, actually is a blessing to me.

I always get energized when I see people fired up about doing God’s mission. I am truly blessed to know some of these amazing people who are giving and sharing their time and talent to make sure that the world knows about God’s love and forgiveness. Maybe my job as a pastor is to inspire people, but the people in my congregation often inspire me as a pastor and help me to be a better leader. God works in very mysterious ways. Thanks be to God.

Pastor Gabi

Pastor Gabi

Hi! My name is Gabi Aelabouni, and I am the pastor at Faith Lutheran Church in Brookfield. I am really excited to begin blogging on the Faith Lutheran website. In my blog entries, I hope to share with you more about who I am: my thoughts, beliefs, and what’s going on in this community of faith. Faith Lutheran Church is a very welcoming congregation, open to all; and in that spirit, I invite members, guests and visitors to visit our site www.faithinbrookfield.com to get to know us a little bit better by keeping up with our blogs. I’d like to use this first entry to tell you a little bit about myself. I was born and raised a Christian in the Galilee region of Israel, where Jesus grew up and did a lot of his ministry. My life was not quite as miraculous as Jesus! But I do believe God has been active in my life through the work of the Holy Spirit. In 2001, after graduating college, I moved to the U.S. to start seminary at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. This was the first step in my journey to becoming an ordained Lutheran pastor. I graduated in 2005 and was ordained in the same year. I have been serving as pastor at Faith Lutheran Church in Brookfield since 2005. I have also served Lutheran congregations in Michigan (on internship) and in the Edgewater neighborhood of Chicago. In 2006 I married my wife, Meghan, and last fall we were blessed with the birth of a beautiful child. Some things you may not know about me are: I worked as a lifeguard through high school and college; I love to play the dumbek, a Middle Eastern drum; I speak Arabic and Hebrew in addition to English; and I love movies, travel, and cooking. I am looking forward to continuing to share with you in this blog, and I invite you to share your comments and questions!

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