By Nathan Hosler, director of the Office of Peacebuilding and Policy

“Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom. . . . A harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace” (James 13-14, 18, ESV).

“Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness” (James 3:18, NIV).

On Monday, September 21, Washington City Church of the Brethren and the Office of Peacebuilding and Policy co-hosted a service to mark and reflect on International Day of Peace—or Peace Day. With the recommendation of Rev. LaDonna Nkosi, director of Intercultural Ministries, we invited two speakers from the Race Education Team from Central Church of Brethren in Roanoke, Va. They are both retired—one a lawyer and one a pastor—and are beginning to invest in learning and teaching about the historic and ongoing racism and injustice in this country.  They have waded into a difficult topic and task, investing their time and selves.

At Peace Day we also invited Tori Bateman to speak. She invested two years in Brethren Volunteer Service with the Office of Peacebuilding and Policy and now works with the Quakers in DC. She reflected on how our financial investments demonstrate our values and priorities, noting that, in contrast, over 50 percent of the discretionary spending of the Federal government goes to matters of war-making.

Alongside my work with the Office of Peacebuilding and Policy, I am also a pastor at Washington City Church of the Brethren, which is five blocks from the Capitol building. While it had decades of ministry with paid pastoral staff, we decided it would be best to shift to a plural non-salaried pastoral team model in 2014.

Over years of ministry and discernment, the topic of art has surfaced. Art as an exploration of God’s good creation. Art as a form of social justice. The church as a site of creating and featuring art. Along the way, we took out the pews from our chapel, and turned it into a music studio as well as a venue for occasional art nights.

A little over a year ago, Jenn Hosler—a community psychologist, one of our pastors, and my spouse—made a very rare visit to Facebook and learned something interesting. Jessie Houff, someone Jenn knew of but didn’t really know, posted that she had just graduated with a Master’s of Fine Arts degree in Community Arts in Baltimore, Md. Her final show had several Brethren-related themes woven through it. Jenn felt the movement of the Spirit to reach out. It turns out that Jessie—a former Brethren Volunteer Service volunteer—really wanted to work with a church and had almost gone to seminary. We weren’t quite ready to move forward and she had a commitment for the year. We spent the next year in discernment and building a relationship.

On Peace Day, Jessie officially started as our Community Arts Minister and became our only paid (part-time) minister. This is a bit risky for all of us, but we felt a clear movement of the Spirit. It is an investment in the peace of our community. It is a proclamation, we believe, of the reconciling work of Jesus and a witness to the call to justice, wholeness, and community.

As ministers at Washington City Church of the Brethren, we mirror the focus of denominational staff to continue the work of Jesus. As we go into our days may we discern the movement of the Spirit, and may we invest ourselves and our resources for the glory of God and for our neighbors’ good. For “peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.”

The Office of Peacebuilding and Policy is a Core Ministry of the Church of the Brethren. Learn more about its work at www.brethren.org/peacebuilding or support it today at www.brethren.org/giveOPP. 

(Read this issue of eBrethren.)