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Season of Peace

 


About the 2024 Season of Peace

September 8th – October 6th

Welcome to the 2024 Season of Peace. This year’s reflections highlight the lives of Presbyterians who have worked to advance peace and justice.

Path of Peace Daily Reflections

Every fall, the Presbyterian Church’s Peacemaking Program extends an invitation to join with people of faith from around the country and the world for A Season of Peace, a month-long pilgrimage designed to deepen the pursuit of peace for congregations, small groups, families, and individuals. This season is a time of growth, encouragement, challenge, inspiration, and education which invites you to consider your own relationship to peacemaking and justice.

In the culminating chapters of the Epistle to the Hebrews, the author rachets up the exhortations and reminders. “We are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses” (12.1) they write. This heavenly band shines forth “the peaceful fruit of righteousness,” (12.11) and by their example, they extend both encouragement and a challenge: “lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet.” (12.12-13) This year’s Path of Peace takes up this call in a distinct way. Each day, we offer a vignette of a Presbyterian who contributed to the civic and spiritual well-being of our church and world and made a significant impact on the common good here or abroad. Some battled injustice, others broke down barriers and dividing walls. Many advocated for marginalized communities and made room for them within the church. Each offers us an example of how peace can be pursued in tangible ways.

Our focus on particular individuals also invites one disclaimer. The Season of Peace is not unlimited. We weren’t able to include every Presbyterian worthy of note. The list is not exhaustive, ranked, nor perfectly representative of all the Presbyterians whose examples shine forth for our consideration and emulation. The priesthood of all believers and the kingdom of heaven are, after all, notoriously resistant to our ordinary habits of ranking and classification. But these vignettes are representative of the many saints who have come before us whose lives can encourage and edify us. This fall in particular is a tense and tender time in our church, country, and world. Our hope is that these reflections will spur personal spiritual and moral growth while also serving as a sorely needed balm and a breath of fresh air. May they provide a counter-narrative of good news, true hope, and stirring inspiration that moves us all to work together along the path of peace for the well-being of all of God’s beloved creation.

You have the option of subscribing to these reflections for daily delivery into your inbox or downloading and printing the written portion of the reflections as a devotional resource.

“These reflections are also available for download in Spanish and Korean.”

This year’s reflections were written and edited by Andrew J. Peterson.

Subscribe to daily reflections that will be delivered directly to your inbox.

We hope that you will be encouraged, inspired and challenged during this season of peace to continue and expand your work for peace in a world that needs all it can get.

Peace Fair 

The Peace Fair is a hands-on, multisensory, intergenerational event that offers peace and justice learning activities.

Peace Cards

Peace Cards are straightforward and easy to use. Each card offers a question for reflection, an action to be taken and a prayer to be spoken. The cards can be used in a variety of settings and occasions – as a daily or seasonal practice with family members, as a sharing activity for small and large groups, as a table activity at church events, or for conversation while on a trip. There are six areas for peacemaking represented on the cards. Look for the following icons on the cards:

Personal (Yellow icon)
Family (Blue icon)
Church (Red icon)
Community (Orange icon)
Environment (Green icon)
World (Purple icon)

We are all called to be peacemakers: reflecting more deeply on peace, doing things to promote peace, and praying for peace in all parts of life. Let these cards lead you to new perspectives and practices for making peace.

Children’s Curriculum

Lessons from the Table is a five-session curriculum that focus on the communion table.  It can be used with a broadly-graded children’s group in a variety of contexts.

Adult Bible Study

The Things that Make for Peace is a five-week adult study focusing on the inner and outer paths to peace as foundational to faithful discipleship. Each session has a “dig deeper” section for study throughout the week.

Adult Book Study

Risking Peace is a five or six session companion to the book Five Risks Presbyterians Must Take for Peace by Christian Iosso, published in 2017 by Westminster John Knox Press. The guide helps participants explore reflect upon and apply the five peacemaking affirmations approved by the 222nd General Assembly in 2016.

Children’s Coloring Poster

Season of Peace Children's Activity Poster - ColorThis reproducible original artwork is based on Ephesians 2: 14-17 and features the text “Peace to those who are near and those who are far away.”  The wings of the dove have the word “peace” in 5 languages – Hebrew, Arabic, Spanish, Korean and English.  Designed for the 2017 Season of Peace by the folks at Illustrated Ministry, the artwork can be downloadable in a variety of sizes – 8.5×11, 11×17, 24×36 and 36×48 (in color or black/white).    It can be used as individual coloring sheets or enlarged to poster-size for a group coloring project through the weeks of the Season of Peace.  You can have a local printer print the file onto poster or foam core board.  Then put it up in a community room, narthex or fellowship hall, supply plenty of great coloring pens and invite folks to add color to the poster each week during the Season of Peace. 

Intergenerational Peace FairThe Peace Fair is an inter-generational event that may be held during A Season of Peace, as part of World Communion Sunday, or at another time during the year.  Eating together is an important component of the event, so be sure to plan for a meal.

Season of Peace logoGraphic logo for the Season of Peace for use on websites, newsletters or bulletins.

September 11 Remembrance

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. – Luke 4:18–19

Jesus calls us to be peacemakers.

We see this every day as we experience our world’s need for Christ’s reconciling love, peace, and justice. We feel this as we long to know God’s peace in our hearts and relationships. The promise of Jesus “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God” (Matthew 5:9) is both a comfort and a challenge. It reminds us that the path of peace is something we both follow and forge.

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus reads the Isaiah passage that would frame his en-fleshed life. It is here that he grounds his calling in the work of peace. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18–19).

In his identification with this ancient passage, Jesus declares what he sees his mission to be. This is peacemaking: preaching good news; proclaiming freedom and healing to those imprisoned; releasing those in oppression, proclaiming the time is now. It is both inspiring and daunting to recognize that each of us has been given that very same Holy Spirit, our own call entwined with Christ’s mission to be bearers of peace and justice. We know the world needs us to follow Christ as peacemakers so that we can all live and thrive in an unjust and conflict-ridden world. It is not an easy calling, but we embark on this pilgrimage together and with the presence and guidance of Jesus.

Distractions are everywhere, threatening to pull us to the margins of living an authentic peace-filled Christian life. Important issues, breaking news, and our ragged pursuit of a more meaningful spiritual life all distract us. We are reminded of this every time we power up our computers, turn on the television, or struggle to handle conflicts in our families and communities in a way that will not alienate them or us. And we certainly experience it as we negotiate our own inner worlds of chaos and longing.

The journey of peace is a pilgrimage of our whole selves: spirit and body; heart, feet, and mind. The pursuit of God’s peace is both an inner and outer journey where the well-being of one is held in the well-being of all. In order for us to walk farther along this road of peace-full living, we can and should engage both inner and outer aspects of faithful spiritual living. Doing so allows us to become more authentic and effective bearers of peace in our world.

Because of these reasons, we invite you into A Season of Peace that will engage your imagination and offer opportunities for you to live more fully into your calling as a peacemaker. It is for the curious and the jaded, the beginner and the experienced peace seeker. Spend an intentional “season” with Jesus, the peacemaker, and see if this might become your way of being authentically Christian in the world.

For over 30 years, the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) have been committed to pursuing a peaceful and just world. Peace seekers and advocates, those who work and pray for reconciliation and justice, have found their home in the Presbyterian peacemaking community.

In 1980, the 192nd General Assembly adopted Peacemaking: The Believers’ Calling, a document that has guided Presbyterian peace efforts. It is no less critical today. The document declares, among other things, that “the church is obedient to Christ when it nurtures and equips God’s people as peacemakers.”

Download the guide

The Peace Fair is a hands-on, multisensory, intergenerational event that will offer peace and justice learning activities. The Peace Fair may be held as a kickoff to A Season of Peace, as a focus for World Communion Sunday, or at another time during the year. Congregations might consider joining with neighboring congregations for this event as a way to build community and to embody the work of peacemaking. Participants will receive a Peace Passport which will guide them through art, media, music, food, and other activities to explore peace as a community. Learning and activity stations will be created for multiple types of learning:

  • World Café Bible study
  • Antibullying pledge: “We are One”
  • Canned food tower build
  • Prayer center
  • Craft table
  • Drama center
  • Computer/social media station
  • Cooperative games
  • Guest speaker

Resources

2022 Path of Peace Reflections

The Path of Peace Daily Reflections are written each year to be used during A Season of Peace, the 4-5 weeks leading up to World Communion Sunday, or anytime during… Read more »

Path of Peace Daily Reflections

The Path of Peace Daily Reflections are written each year to be used during A Season of Peace, the 4-5 weeks leading up to World Communion Sunday,  or anytime during… Read more »
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