The first-ever International Peacemaker Virtual Symposium will provide a rare opportunity to hear from 16 outstanding individuals who had transformative experiences while being hosted in the United States by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
Peacemaking is active not passive, doing not waiting.
Let’s let that sink in for a moment: Peacemaking is active, not passive; doing, not waiting.
And this is A Season of Peace when we, the church together, are focused on seeking peace and reconciliation. Together we are building God’s house of peace where all are welcome, where all can find compassion, peace and justice.
Beth Mueller got a note from a man who saw the virtual choir of international peacemakers video she created for the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program and had a question.
“He wanted to know how we got all those people from around the world to sing at the same time on Zoom,” Mueller said, laughing.
In the wake of recent shootings in Gilroy, Calif., in the Texas communities of El Paso and Odessa and in Dayton, Ohio, and with the advent of the Season of Peace, the Compassion, Peace & Justice Ministry programs of the Presbyterian Mission Agency (PMA) are providing congregations and mid-councils a robust package of resources to help congregations put thoughts and prayers about gun violence into obedient action.
In his poem “In the Soul of the Serene Disciple” Trappist monk Thomas Merton flips the reader between two vantage points of a shared condition — one in which “poverty is a success” and one where it is “no achievement.” That poverty could be a success in any way is a difficult premise to accept. When we think of poverty, we think about a crushing system of social and economic deprivation that isolates and destroys lives. That is a reality for too many and a challenge that the church is called to help address. But the discipline of Christian poverty, in which a disciple might willingly give up a life of excess and extravagance in order to better focus on all that God provides, is another thing altogether.
A veteran of more than 3,000 concerts and 12 full-length CDs of mostly original music, songwriter, guitarist, speaker, and writer David LaMotte will present a concert on Wednesday, September 5 at 7:30 p.m. at Springdale Presbyterian Church in Louisville, Kentucky.
Desmond Tutu, the retired Anglican archbishop of Cape Town, says, “Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.”
In a speech celebrating the 1979 peace treaty between Israel and Egypt, former President Jimmy Carter said, “Peace, like war, is waged.” These words were a thoughtful turn-of-phrase and a challenging declaration spoken at an auspicious moment. However, they did not originate with Carter or his speechwriters. They came from the pen of Carter’s fellow Georgian Walker Knight, a Christian journalist, poet and peacemaker. Since Carter uttered these words, they have turned up in various places where peace is promoted. For example, actor George Clooney repeated the phrase in a statement praising the work of United Nations peacekeepers.
Philadelphia Presbytery has hosted International Peacemakers for two consecutive years, and the impact of these visits has been profound. In 2014 the peacemaker was James Ninrew from the Presbyterian Church of South Sudan. Last year the peacemaker was Rami Al Maqdasi from Iraq. These two countries, though continents apart, have both suffered the burdens of war.
