Tag Archives: Peace

General

A Word on Peace and Advocacy

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I shared this reflection this morning as a part of the peacemaking reports at Annual Conference, and thought it would be appropriate to share it here, too.

Sisters and brothers, it is truly a honor and a privilege to have the opportunity to address you this morning. There has been an awful lot of referencing of past Annual Conference statements throughout the course of our time together – a practice I would very much like to affirm, and add my voice to. I want you to hear these words from our 1977 Statement, “Justice and Nonviolence”:

“We cannot retreat from the world. We are to move from where we are to where God’s power and purpose have begun to define new possibilities and new necessities. We must become aware of the rampant injustice and subtle hidden violence in today’s world, examine our own involvement, and identify non-violently with the oppressed and suffering.

We must develop a theology of living here and now in the spirit of the kingdom. We look toward a future that will be more peaceful, just, and respectful of God’s creation. We who are of the body of Christ, an incarnation of God’s reconciling and redeeming love in the world; are called to be a channel of God’s loving justice. Wherever brokenness among people exists, we are called to participate in God’s work of healing; wherever people suffer from oppression, we are to work for God’s act of liberation; and wherever people are deprived of basic human needs and opportunities we are called to God’s work of humanization. We are called to live the life of God’s agape in the world because Christ is our Lord.”

I start with these words because in my mind, they are the foundation of the work that comes out of the Peace Witness Ministry office in Washington, DC. Sisters and brothers, we have heard, particularly yesterday, of the witness that we as the Church of the Brethren bring to the ecumenical community on issues relating to peace – in the affirmation of our witness by the World Council of Churches in calling violence contrary to the will of God, in the National Council of Churches seeking our guidance on the issuance of a statement on the war in Afghanistan, and in Sister Ruth’s report in our deep input in the Decade to Overcome Violence.

But I also start with these words because they represent the challenge that the ecumenical community’s witness brings before us – a new challenge for us in how we approach the gospel of peace – a push and a challenge to not only witness against war and violence, but to better preach what we are for.Are we willing to hear not only the acceptance of our message of peace by the ecumenical community, but the challenge they bring to us in the midst of their acceptance? Are we ready to more actively seek a just peace – even when it might make us a bit uncomfortable? When it might challenge the standards and the reality that we have gotten used to?

We are indeed a historic peace church, and a living peace church. One that has effectively, and continually, provided a witness against war – both in general and in the specific. Often, this has taken the form of a witness of conscientious objection – standing before our fellow citizens and publically saying, no. We will not fight. It is not the way of Christ or the will of God. It has been a powerful witness to the world – especially as we have engaged in alternative forms of service, a practice that continues today.

But what I believe our 1977 statement, and the witness of the ecumenical community is pushing us toward is to reconsider what it means to be a conscientious objector to war and violence, publically, in our world today. What does it really mean to be a living, breathing, just peace church? I think we see this in the 4 areas that the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation addressed.  Peace in the community, peace with the earth, peace with the marketplace, and peace among the peoples. This is also why our presence in Washington, DC, is called Peace Witness Ministry.

Because, sisters and brothers, when we speak on issues pertaining to justice, we are being conscientious objectors to the violence in our world today, and doing the work of peace. When we engage in the federal budget conversation currently going on, as we did recently in a letter that read, in part, “The unprecedented and dangerous cuts to discretionary domestic programs and poverty-focused foreign assistance will jeopardize the lives and well-being of millions now and into the future. These deep and unwise spending cuts are a betrayal of our call to love our neighbor. Our faith points our nation to “a more excellent way” (1 Cor. 12:31) that bears one another’s burdens, acknowledges our interdependence, and compels sacrifice and love for our neighbors in need. We therefore urge you to reject proposed cuts that would undermine domestic and international efforts to help those who are struggling to overcome poverty”, we are conscientiously speaking words of peace in the community and the marketplace.

When we address issues relating to crises in Creation – such as the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, as we did in a letter that read in part, “Communities of faith will continue to work to fulfill the commitment we made following Katrina: to stand with others for the common good, to engage in acts of philanthropic justice and loving kindness, and to embody the belief that we share a responsibility for ensuring we leave our nation and our world better for our children. We urge you to follow through on your commitment to the Gulf Coast by doing all you can to guarantee that the oil spill response effort is comprehensive, effective, and just, meeting the needs of those suffering today while laying a foundation for long-term restoration and renewal”, we are speaking words of peace to the entirety of Creation.

When we speak out on issues relating to the Middle East, as we did in both a visit to the White House, and a letter to the Obama Administration that read, “Like Jesus’ parable about the persistent widow who kept on demanding justice over and again until justice was received (Luke 18:1-8), we hope that you will keep insisting over and again that all parties keep up the hard work of reconciliation until a just and lasting peace is achieved”, we are speaking words of peace among the peoples.

However, this is not just a challenge for our broad, public statements as a denomination to members of Congress or the Administration. Both myself and Brother Stan have taken meetings with Members of Congress and the Administration, and signed letters on behalf of the Church of the Brethren. However, those words, meetings, and letters bear only as much weight as our collective body is willing to put behind it. To be frank, no member of Congress cares what I have to say when I step into their office unless you are also willing to contact them. Sisters and brothers, this is the challenge that is before us as we consider what it means to be a body that actively seeks to publically live peace in our world today. Are we willing to take stands together against violence as it is perpetuated around us?

Are we willing to speak out against the systems of economic violence that keep so many embroiled in a reality of hunger and poverty – even when it may challenge the relative comfort in which so many of us live? Are we willing to speak out against the systems of environmental violence that are wreaking havoc on God’s people and God’s Creation around the world – even if it might mean life might be a bit less convenient for all of us? I pray that we are. It is why the largest part of what Peace Witness Ministries is is not about doing ministry on your behalf – but by entering into the ministry of peace witness with you. It is why an action alert is sent out every week – encouraging you to speak to your government the vision of peace that God has for this world. It is why fact sheets, worship resources, and, well, myself (I do love to get out of DC) are being made available to make considering a new way of being a conscientious objector is integral to the life of you as a Christian and your church. And it is why opportunities to come to DC and provide personal witness are consistently being promoted.

I want to close with more words from the 1977 paper:

“Our understanding of the mind of Christ demands of us vigorous non-violent involvement and identification with the poor and the oppressed, all the while acknowledging our limitation and confessing our complicity in the evils addressed. We also recognize that these problems (evils) are massive, complex, and ambiguous and that we lack perfect knowledge. We believe, however, that Christian discipleship demands decision and action to help achieve greater justice and peace in our time.

We must face the risks and vigorously implement the love of God in our political, economic, and social relations. The consequences of our decisions and actions may be as costly as when Jesus was accused of political subversion and was executed. We need faith, moral courage, and love as revealed in Jesus Christ and lived out in the faith community.

Our own faith community cannot escape its responsibility to act for justice, liberation, and peace. It is imperative for us as a church to pursue further biblical and theological reflection and study about the meaning of God’s justice for concrete action in our homes, churches, communities, and nation. Brethren ought to assume leadership in their communities to bring concerned persons together from other churches and secular agencies for study, action, and reflection around these concerns. District boards and executives should lift up the vision and develop projects for both district and local programs. Placement of leadership should be influenced by criteria related to the commitment of candidates to justice, liberation, and peace. In order to help generate wider support for needed change in systems we should use all available communications media to expose problems, raise awareness, and suggest transforming action.”

It is my hope, and my prayer, that you will join the Peace Witness Ministry Office in this work, and with each step of conscience we take together, that we may bring God’s vision for this world into slightly better focus. Thank you, sisters and brothers.

General

The Church and Climate Change

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There are a lot of things happening at Annual Conference this year – a lot of important conversations for our church to be having. From human sexuality, to the war in Afghanistan, to the issue of climate change – there is a lot of important business on the slate this year.

Last night I had the opportunity to co-lead a workshop with David Radcliff of New Community Project on the Query on Climate Change that will be an item of business on the floor this afternoon. It was thrilling to have a standing room only crowd in the room, and a good and robust conversation around the variety of issues surrounding climate change – is it real? what can we do? who has financial vested interests in seeing it affirmed or denied?what is actually going on?

In the midst of all of these, the one that hit home the most for me was the question – is this something the church should even be addressing? Shouldn’t we leave this to the environmentalists and scientists?

This is why, for me, talking about climate change from a faith perspective, from a position of my faith, is as much of a no-brainer as it is. Because at its root, the human struggle with climate change isn’t actually about the science – it is a reflection of our faith. Of how we live as transformed people in this world. It is, at its root, a matter of our souls. Whether or not the science is exactly right, we are living in a way that isn’t sustainable and in relationship with the rest of God’s Creation – what climate change does is put on display for us the impacts of how we have been living. And it is up to us, as the church, to lead a moral and soul searching shift in our manner of living.

And, as was noted last night, the Church of the Brethren has a message to share here. Of simple living and community. Of another way of living – with each other and with the rest of Creation around us. To some extent, we turn to the scientists and environmentalists using their God given gifts to tell us what is going on, and in what ways we can make a difference. But it is a matter of our faith and our souls that we decide to change the way we live – and live as beings created in the image of God, who declared the entirety of this Creation good.

Office of Peacebuilding and Policy

Why Annual Conference Matters

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This went out in the last newsletter from Peace Witness – Called to Witness – but I thought I would post it here, too. It feels to me like a good reminder of why Annual Conference is such an important time for us as Brethren. Who are we, when we gather together? What message do we have for each other, and for the world?

You are getting this newsletter a mere 3 days before Annual Conference 2011 kicks off. Its a time of community, fellowship, worship, and action with one another as a whole communion of Brethren. If you can’t make it, there are so many ways to follow along. Keep track of things on Twitter, with the hashtag #CoBAC2011. Track Newsline updates. Or check out the Brethren blog, where I will be posting an update or 2. There will be workshops from this office on climate change, what is happening in DC, and selective conscientious objection– not to mention many, many more from Global Mission Partnerships. Come visit us at a workshop, or at the booth.

But what, might you ask, does Annual Conference really have to do with the content of this newsletter, and the advocacy work we do to witness for peace in Washington and around the world? Only everything!

Hopefully you have noticed by now that every action alert you get from this email list has at the bottom Church of the Brethren policy that applies to that particular call to action. Friends, the actions we take together – whether they be directed at Congress, the White House, local and state governments, or society has a whole – are based on what we say together at Annual Conference. This is where priorities are set for what we can work together on as Christians in the Brethren tradition.

So, what does this really mean? It means if you want to see an action alert about something that you haven’t seen yet, you have the power to make that happen! Just work on a resolution to send to Annual Conference. Of course, it is a bit more complicated than that (you need the support of your church,
district, ect.), but it is also just that simple. The issues you hear about from Peace Witness Ministries are the ones we have said together that we want to hear about and work on. It is part of our Christian witness and mission with one another as Brethren.

So, what is going to happen next week? It is hard to say. New business includes a query on global climate change from the Pacific Southwest District, from
which could grow calls to action personally, congregationally, as well as opportunities to speak to those in government. From the Ministry and Mission Board could come a resolution on the war in Afghanistan – from which there will certainly be opportunities for action. But the point really is, from these weeks we spend together each year comes the foundation of all the work that we do for the rest of the year. Annual Conference matters. And I hope to see you, or at least hear from you, while I am in Grand Rapids!

Youth Peace Travel Team

Camp Woodland Altars

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When I think “altar,” I think a table of stones, or table at the front of a church building holding flowers (and sometimes communion). I think offering plates, lilies, white drip-less candles, and flowing colored cloth: something to help your attention stay fixed on God.

Besides the marker indicating that the land on which we stood had great natural significance as a “crypto explosive area,” (an area in which an unexplained geological explosion occurred), I couldn’t see an altar. But I had a feeling it was there somewhere.

Woodland Altars has youth camp at the beginning of summer and as it happened, it was the beginning of our summer together as well. We had our apprehensions about presenting our message just as the youth had apprehensions about what we were going to say. We were all new. One particular day, the team led a session for the youth camp of about 18 participants. I remember being quite nervous about our session as it was “untested.” It’s quite hard to gauge how people will react or how much time each activity will take. Then there is the ultimate question: “Will our message actually make sense?”

As it came time for me to present ‘Story Time with Mark’ and read an example of Brethren faith as service in action, I wondered whether to sit, stand, dance, pace, or simply fidget while reading. Quickly, I decided to sit in hopes of making it seem more like story time. Of course, I was then a little “off my game” in terms of focus. I read the story like I was part of the Congressional Budget Committee. Nerves. Uneasiness. Hesitation. I was feeling all of these things. As the week passed, so did these feelings, and I began to find altars.

They weren’t stone tables. They weren’t the two foot high hills around camp where several colonies of ants lived together in harmony. The altars weren’t even made of wood. They were found underneath tarps where the fire ring and picnic tables were. They were found on wooden platforms where the hogans were constructed. They were found in kind words, an “apple-mango-tango” dance named after Unit One’s dish soap, a banner displaying the Lord’s Prayer carried by Unit Two, and the bonds formed by each camper as they grew together as the body of Christ. These were the places where their gifts of friendship, singing, cooking, and learning were offered and laid before God: on the altar, in the woods.

-Mark

Youth Peace Travel Team

National Junior High Conference

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Piece by Piece: Finding Our Place within God’s Story

Traveling as a team always brings fun challenges into the mix when it comes to luggage.  Hands down, our greatest challenge to date came on our journey to National Junior High Conference.  Piece by piece we packed, unpacked, and repacked an oh-so-snug trunk until all latches were squeezed shut and we made our way to Elizabethtown.

As a team we dove into National Junior High Conference ready to share pieces of our own leadership.  Whether it was workshop leading, writing skits, creating art for worship, rapping on stage, performing drama or even calling in Brethren Boy, we were excited to offer all we could in a few action-packed days.  More than our own offerings, we enjoyed talking about Jesus’ call to peacemaking with Church of the Brethren young people.  The passion held for peace is inspiring not simply for us, but for the growing community of people building a better world.

We left National Junior High Conference energized for the hope we bring to one another knowing we each hold an integral place in God’s story.   Just as we piece together our luggage week by week, so too must we seek and pursue our own peace in the world.
– Kay

Youth Peace Travel Team

Meet the 2011 Youth Peace Travel Team!

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On Monday, we entered the lodge at Camp Inspiration Hills near Burbank, Ohio that would be our home for a week and it smelled like Pine-Sol. By Friday morning of our orientation, it didn’t smell like Pine-Sol anymore because we made it our home. We lived, ate, worked, slept, and prayed there. It become our base camp for deeply exploring the gospel of peace proclaimed by our Savior. We sank into couches while mentors poured the Good News into our eager souls. We soaked it all in with the fascination of children. The fortunate thing here is that we are children. We are children of God. Something akin to child-like energy spreads from person to person like a spark kindling fires of inspiration. Our piney lodge is where this “summer of sparks” starts. And, it must never end, for our job is to continuously pursue the Kingdom of God on earth by spreading the fragrance of Jesus wherever we journey.

Peace be with you, from the 2011 Youth Peace Travel Team: Kay Guyer, Tyler Goss, Sarah Neher, and Mark Dowdy! Spread it!

-MD

Office of Peacebuilding and Policy

A Challenge for Us

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Last night, we had a 2nd gathering of the Historic Peace Churches here in Kingston – to talk about what we had heard, what we were taking back, and what our next steps were as people following the Prince of Peace.

There was lots of affirmation for our acceptance and large presence within this ecumenical gathering. In fact, I don’t think a day passed without a member of the Historic Peace Churches on the plenary stage – bringing our voice of pacifism and active nonviolence. It was a powerful thing to witness and see.  It was also named that we are a voice that has often been on the side of the ecumenical movement – speaking to it, but not often being heard. It has certainly felt good to be heard.

However, it is more than that for us now. For this ecumenical gathering marks not only an acceptance of the message the peace churches have been preaching, but a new challenge for us in how we approach the gospel of peace – a push and a challenge to not only witness against war and violence, but to better preach what we are for.

Are we willing to hear not only the acceptance of our message of peace by the ecumenical community, but the challenge they bring to us in the midst of their acceptance? Are we ready to more actively seek a just peace – even when it might make us a bit uncomfortable? When it might challenge the standards and the reality that we have gotten used to?

I certainly hope so. It is the way of peace. It is the work of following Jesus. It is the embodiment of another way of living.

Office of Peacebuilding and Policy

Unity for Peace Sake

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This is a phrase I will be taking home from this place. I have heard it a couple of times, and then got into a couple of good conversations around it yesterday, as we considered the concept of peace among the peoples, and how that plays out in our global community of nations.

For so long, the ecumenical movement has been about making manifest the unity we find in Christ. We have been about unity for, well, unity’s sake. But the question was raised here, what exactly are we seeking to live out our given unity for? And the reminder that we have been given is that it is so that the world will know.

We are called to be one in Christ, to seek our given unity as a Christian community, to offer a different example of life to the world, a different model of community and living with one another. We are called to seek unity for peace’s sake. That we can show to the world what it means like to live “God’s Security Strategy”. That is what is truly at the heart of the ecumenical movement. To be a body seeking to live out our unity so that we are a witness to the world of the vision God has.

And this gets made manifest in a number of different ways that we heard here yesterday. It is made manifest in the church serving as an early warning mechanism in places where violence is beginning – being connected to the community in ways the government just isn’t. It is made manifest through delegations of church leaders speaking to our governments, and laying out the alternative vision of security that we find in Christ.

But it is also in being willing to ask tough questions, like the one I am going to leave you with here. What does relying on the ability to kill millions of others for our security do to our souls?

Lets seek to live out our unity for the sake of peace in our world.

Office of Peacebuilding and Policy

Household of God

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Our theme for today is Peace Among the Peoples, and we once again started with bible study and worship.  For bible study, we focused on Ephesians 2:11-22. Below are some excerpts:

“For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace  […] so then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God […] in him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; into whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.”

Bible study this morning offered the church an interesting challenge – why do we always carry ministry to those on the margins of society – when often it is those who have, who are deeply  imbedded in our society the most, who need the voice of the gospel the most.  As we think the church as an example of the alternative community –  a beacon of the world God desires  and united in our common citizenship in the household of God – how do we witness in the different places in which we find ourselves?

In the United States, and for the Church of the Brethren, this strikes me as meaning that the mission fields are not in the global south, or with those communities are struggling (mission field in the sense of conversion – doing service in partnership with them is still vital), but rather with those around us who are so deeply embedded in a society that keeps people hungry and in poverty, which perpetuates the structures of economic colonialism, and which has so much while so many have so little. Brothers and sisters – how do we witness to them? To our neighbors? It is harder to do this work when the mission field, the people needing conversion, might be those who live right next door, instead of an “other” halfway around the world.

Office of Peacebuilding and Policy

Peace in the Marketplace

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“While refugees go homless
and die before they live,
while children have no future –
our apathy forgive!
Where hope fades to drperession,
despair erodes the soul,
restore in us a passion
to make the broken whole.”

– From Great God of Earth and Heaven

Those words were part of a hymn we sang during closing prayers yesterday – marking the end of a day that may see the most difficult conversations for US participants – peace in the marketplace. To hear stories of what our economic vitality has brought to the rest of the world – environmental degradation, exploitation of workers, and colonialist economics … it is hard to hear that the way in which we live, the products which we choose to buy, the stocks our pension funds invest in – pretty much everything which economically sustains our lives – wreaks havoc on the rest of the world.

If we are to be a church that seeks peace, we must address the way in which we interact with the world in the marketplace. And not just our governments – it is about the individual decisions we all make. It might be a little more expensive, it might take a little more time and research, but we can make good decisions in the consumer marketplace that support fair wages and treatment of workers around the world, that support not exploiting resources, and more. And when we start to speak through our decisions, the government will start to take notice.

We prayed these words last night:

“This evening we remember before God the people of the world who hunger and thirst for justice and peace, for bread and dignity. And we hold up before God the peacemakers who build harmony and right relationships after the pattern of The One who has made peace by the blood of His cross, even Jesus our Liberator and Redeemer.”

May we be those peacemakers.