Swords into Plowshares

Our biggest seminar . . .

. . . at least since October 2010 . . . took place on April 11, 2011.

On the side of the bus, we read that it was from Passaic, New Jersey. The Rev. Vicky Ney, pastor of Springfield Presbyterian Church, had called a few minute earlier to say they were getting close to the United Nations. We sprang into action.

Ricky entered the United Nations to purchase the tickets for their tour. Ryan and I stationed ourselves on the sidewalk outside the building to wait. "This must be our group," we said when we saw the bus.

There were thirty-five in the group, mostly Presbyterians - several of their friends from the Jewis community joined them.

We escorted them through security and into the United Nations. The group was divided into three smaller groups for the tour. After the tour, the group came to the Church Center for the United Nations where they had lunch.

The Rev. Dr. Don Shriver, president emeritus of Union Theological Seminary, joined the group. He made a presentation on the role of forgiveness in public life. Dr. Shriver reminded the group that Romans 3:23 is empirically verifiable: "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

As individuals and as communities we sin. Because we sin, forgiveness is essential to allowing us to move forward - in our personal relationships and in our common life.

Recognizing the need to avoid cheap grace, Dr. Shriver said that what is needed is not "to forgive and to forget" but "to remember and to forgive." The process of forgiveness involves remembering and repenting of evil and misdeeds. True forgiveness - forgiveness which allows us to move forward - can only follow remembrance and repentance. True forgiveness often will involve repair and restoration and reparation for the wrong that has been inflicted.

Drawing on the work of his books An Ethic for Enemies and Honest Patriots, Dr. Shriver cited efforts by Germany to come to terms with evil of the Holocaust and efforts by South Africa to come to terms with the evil of apartheid as examples of countries engaged in the forgiveness process. In Germany and in South Africa, this takes place through monuments and  museums, conversations and public events, and in text books.

Dr. Shriver noted that the school curriculum in Germany explores the Holocaust on three occasions. He also recounted a conversation with a student who observed that even after that, there remained much to recall and explore and process.

As he had done with the seminar from the Boston University School of Theology, Dr. Shriver reminded the particpants the need of the United States to remember -- particularly in relation to the exploitation and violation of people of color.

Many of the participants had lived through the Second World War - at least as children - and were moved by Dr. Shriver's presentation. All of us went home with much to ponder.

At the end, Dr. Shriver presented a commercial: he will be featured in a new PBS film on forgiveness. Check your local listings for Forgiveness: A Time to Love and a Time to Hate.

View some additional photos of the seminar.

Contact the Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations to schedule a seminar.

Your gifts make possible the Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations.

The Principles and Practices of Forgiveness

How does repentance lead to forgiveness and reconciliation and the future in public life?

How do we learn to love a country enough that we remember its misdeeds?

What can other countries learn from the South African experience of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission?

Students and faculty from a class at the Boston University School of Theology held a seminar on April 1 at the Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations where these and related questions were considered.

Their day began with a tour of the United Nations. They then crossed the street to the Church Center for the United Nations and the seminar.

Deputy Permanent Representative D. Mashabane of the Permanent Mission of South Africa to the United Nations spoke about South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). He noted that the TRC represented a third way between the option of forgetting the past and the option of a Nuremburg type trial. While not perfect, it presented an opportunity for remembrance, repentance and reconciliation.

Key to the TRC process was President Nelson Mandela. President Mandela articulated a vision of a free, multi-racial South Africa when he was imprisoned. He emerged from imrpisonment still committed to that vision. Archbishop Desmond Tutu, chair of the TRC was another key player in the process.

After his presentation, Deputy Permanent Representative Mashabane engaged in an extended period of discussion with the participants. The group was international in makeup with participants from Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe, Cote d'Ivoire, Kenya, Jamaica, South Korea, and the United States. They had an interest in the historical experience of the TRC as well as the possibilities of the model for their particular situations.

The Rev. Dr. Don Shriver, president emeritus of Union Theological Seminary then joined the group. Dr. Shriver addressed the theology of forgiveness in the public life. His book, An Ethic for Enemies, is one of the earliest works to consider this topic.

Repentance plays a key role in forgiveness. The first step in repentance is remembrance. Dr. Shriver's book, Honest Patriots, looks at the importance of remembering - even remembering a country's misdeeds. In such remembering lies the way forward.

He cited Germany and South Africa as two countries that have remembered their misdeeds well. This takes place through monuments and  museums, conversations and public events, and in text books. He recognized the need of the United States to remember -- particularly in relation to the exploitation and violation of people of color. The conversation explored the need for repair and reparation to follow remembering as the journey is made to reconciliation. Again the participants engaged in a significant discussion, pondering how to appply these ideas in their own particular contexts.

Thanks to Deputy Permanent Representative Mashabane, the Rev. Dr. Don Shriver, and the participants in the Boston University School of Theology class for a profound seminar.

Contact the Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations to schedule a seminar.

Your gifts make possible the Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations.

 

 

 

State of Food and Agriculture: 2010

This week, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) released its 2010-2011 State of Food and Agriculture Report.  I had the opportunity to attend the release of this report in New York at the United Nations, hosted by His Excellency Ambassador Abulkalam Abdul Momen, the Permanent Representative of Bangladesh who is Vice President of the United Nations Economic and Social Council.  Amb. Momem with representatives from FAO, United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and UN Women explored the latest and most comprehensive report Women in Agriculture: Closing the gender gap for development. 

Key messages from this report include:

• Women comprise, on average, 43 percent of the agricultural labour force in developing countries.
• Women in agriculture and rural areas have less access than men to productive resources and opportunities.
• Female farmers produce less than male farmers, but not because they are less-efficient farmers.
• Closing the gender gap in agriculture would generate significant gains for the agriculture sector and for society.
• Production gains of this magnitude could reduce the number of hungry people in the world by 12-17 percent.
• These potential productivity gains are just the first round of social benefits that would come from closing the gender gap.
• Policy interventions can help close the gender gap in agriculture and rural labour markets.

The report comes in a time of volatility in global food prices and global economic development. One panelist suggested that increasing the production level of women farmers to that of their male counterparts would result in a decrease in the number of undernourished people by 100 to 150 million.  The panelists noted that the effects of reducing the gender inequity tie into action steps towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals, such as the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment, and reducing childhood mortality.

The report comes as organizers for the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) begin preparations for next year’s Commission with the focus on rural women. The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), through the Presbyterian Hunger Program provides educational, mission and action programs for Presbyterians passionate about living out God's call to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly. 

Civil Resistance and the Dynamics of Nonviolent Conflict

From the United States Institute of Peace comes an announcement about a new course, Civil Resistance and the Dynamics of Nonviolent Conflict:

October 19, 2010 - December 9, 2010

An in-depth and multi-disciplinary perspective on civilian-based movements and campaigns to defend and obtain basic rights and justice around the world. This course will focus on governance, civil society, grassroots movements, and human rights.

This course is being delivered in partnership with the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict.

This course will run every Tuesday and Thursday from 6 PM to 8 PM from October 19-December 9, 2010.

Can't make it to Washington DC to take part in the course? Check out Resurrection Living: Journeying with the Nonviolent Christ, a journal study resource by the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program.

New resource on nonviolence at 30th Anniversary Celebration

Authors Sarah Henken and Roger Powers took a moment to autograph their book Resurrection Living: Following the Nonviolent Christ, during the 30th Anniversary Celebration of Peacemaking: The Believers' Calling sponsored by the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program during the 219th General Assembly (2010). The book is recently recently published by the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program.

Resurrection Living: Journeying with the Nonviolent Christ is designed as a journal to help individuals explore the theology and ethics of nonviolence and ways to practice it in their daily lives. It invites users to engage in prayerful reflection on Scripture, documents of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), and the writings of theologians and practitioners of nonviolence through the ages. The fifty-two entries may be used individually or in community on a daily or weekly basis. Ideas for using the journal in various settings are included. However the journal is used, at its heart is an invitation to ponder, “What does it mean for me to follow the nonviolent Christ today in the place where I live and around God’s world?”

Order now!

What does it mean to follow the nonviolent Christ?

The Presbyterian Peacemaking Program is pleased to announce the publication of a journal resource on nonviolence.

Resurrection Living: Journeying with the Nonviolent Christ is designed as a journal to help individuals explore the theology and ethics of nonviolence and ways to practice it in their daily lives. It invites users to engage in prayerful reflection on Scripture, documents of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), and the writings of theologians and practitioners of nonviolence through the ages. The fifty-two entries may be used individually or in community on a daily or weekly basis. Ideas for using the journal in various settings are included. However the journal is used, at its heart is an invitation to ponder, “What does it mean for me to follow the nonviolent Christ today in the place where I live and around God’s world?”

Order now!

Pray, act, give for Sudan

Our colleagues at the Sudan Advocacy Action Forum have a new look to their Web page. A great look! Check it out.

While you are there, take time to act for peace in Sudan - calling Congress to hold the U.S. government accountable to demonstrate focus and determination while exploring ways to move peace forward in Sudan.

Say a prayer for the people of Sudan. May they know justice; may they know peace.

The Sudan Advocacy Action Forum was one of the partners involved in creating the study resource for children - Piece Work/Peace Work.

2010 World Day of Prayer

Here is a prayer for the World Day of Prayer that takes place on March 5. The focus this year is Cameroon.

God of our hope, we gather to celebrate your steadfast love and to celebrate new moments that this love provides to us. You who live everywhere bind us together. Free us from our prejudice and bias. Free us from our divisions. Free us from the belief that our theology, our culture, and our way of thinking are better than those of our brothers and sisters from different places. Free us from a world culture of violence and war and instead help us to be agents of peace and reconciliation. We call upon your Holy Spirit to grant us a new and fresh look at your work in our lives and in our midst. We invoke you as we wait for new moments of even more exhilarating blessings and possibilities of love and peace in our lives, new moments for our families, new moments for our world. May your Holy Spirit touch us deeply and makes us able to rejoice, to be thankful, and to laugh out loud. In the name of Jesus, in whom there are no longer strangers but friends. Amen.

The Rev. Claudio Carvalhaes, assistant professor of Worship and Preaching,
Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary

This prayer is found in Justice and Peace Shall Kiss: Praying Through the Year, a resource created by the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program.

The Presbyterian United Nations Office has created a World Day of Prayer bulletin insert.

Living into the Answers

Are you wondering what God's longing is for you?  Are you facing a big decision?  Are you feeling a nudging from God and don't know what it means?  

Register for Living into the Answers -- an on-line course on personal spiritual discernment that takes place in May.

Reserve your spot now.

Dates: May 10-21, 2010 (about one hour per day at a time of your choosing)
Instructors: Judith Todd and Valerie Isenhower
CEU's: 1
Fee: $100
Register
Questions
 
This class is based on Living into the Answers: A Workbook for Personal Spiritual Discernment. It offers exercises, safe on-line discussions with other participants and one-on-one interaction with Judith Todd and Val Isenhower of Water in the Desert Ministries.

Advent devotions

Each day of Advent, the devotion from Proclaiming the Good News of God's Peace will be posted.

Read the devotions here. Or order the book.

The Presbyterian Peacemaking Program staff wishes you a blessed Advent season.