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.
A Season of Peace is a four-week pilgrimage designed to deepen the pursuit of peace for congregations, small groups, families, and individuals. Through daily peace reflections, family activities, Bible studies, children’s lesson plans, an inter-generational Peace Fair, and other online resources, you will be invited to enhance and expand your focus on your calling as a peacemaker. Expect encouragement, challenge, inspiration, and education.
These resources were created to culminate in the receiving of the Peace & Global Witness Offering, traditionally taken on World Communion Sunday, the first Sunday in October. However, they are appropriate for any time. The Offering gives us a concrete way to contribute locally and nationally to the work of peace. It is the offering that funds the Peacemaking Program for our denomination, enabling them to bring in International Peacemakers, share conferences, advocate for active nonviolent solutions to conflicts, and provide resources like these for congregations.
Resources are also provided for several events that coincide with the suggested dates of A Season of Peace – the fifteenth anniversary of September 11, 2001; the International Day of Peace on September 21; and the Global Week of Action Against Gun Violence beginning on September 22.
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 a new season with Jesus, the peacemaker, and see if this might become your way of being authentically Christian in the world. We think you will be inspired, enlightened, and encouraged in your own pilgrimage to peace.