Swords into Plowshares

Justice and Peace Links—Words Matter

Check out the current issue of Links:

Words can hurt, words can heal, and words shape our realities, coloring the ways we experience the world. They are the tools we use to interpret our experiences, to relate to one another, and to build a relationship with God.  Learn more about Words Matter, an ecumenical project to reinvigorate deeper conversations about the power of our words.

Links is the electronic newsletter of Presbyterian Women’s Justice and Peace Committee. Each issue explores a topic of justice and peace and offers suggestions for how to be involved and advocate on the topic.

Big Tent Registration Extended

The registration deadline for the Peacemaking Pre-conference Gun Violence, Gospel Values:   Mobilizing in Response to God’s Call and Conference Growing Christ’s Peace at the Big Tent is extended to JUNE 15.  Peacemaking registration scholarships funds are still available on a first come, first serve basis through June 15.  Scholarship applicants need to register for the Big Tent while awaiting scholarship approval.  No registration funds will be required, simply select the scholarship option.   Although registration for the children and youth programs is closed, a few spaces are available; parents/guardians can contact the G. A. Meeting Service.   Please register online, or download a registration form to complete and return. Contact the G.A. Meeting Service by email or at (800) 728-7228, 2417 if you have difficulties registering.

The cut–off date for reservations in the Big Tent hotels is JUNE 3.  Rooms may continue to be available after this date, but to ensure access to the conference rates ($99/night at the JW Marriott, $97/night at the Marriott Downtown), reserve lodgings as soon as possible online or by calling (800) 266-9432 and specifying “Presbyterian Church Big Tent” as you speak with a reservations agent.

June 5: Celebrate World Environment Day

From our partner, the Presbyterian Office of Environmental Ministries:

World Environment Day (WED) is celebrated on June 5.  If your church didn’t have the chance to celebrate Earth Day Sunday this year, or if you’d like to take another Sunday to focus on God’s creation, this is another natural opportunity.  

The United Nations Environment Programme sponsors WED, and the theme for 2011 is “Forests: Nature at Your Service.”  Find materials to help plan a WED event.  Find resources from the National Council of Churches Eco-Justice Program to incorporate care for creation in your church service on June 5.  Choose from many resources, including this year’s Earth Day resource, or others focused on land and wilderness stewardship, closer to the theme for WED.

My colleagues in the Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations let me know about an opportunity to win a trip to India to celebrate World Environment Day from the United Nations Environment Programme.  To enter, write a blog about "nature's forest services" between May 3 and May 10.  See rules for the contest and how to enter on the United Nations Environment Programme’s website.  

via presbyterian.typepad.com

The United Nations Environment Programme sponsors WED, and the theme for 2011 is “Forests: Nature at Your Service.”  Find materials to help plan a WED event.  Find resources from the National Council of Churches Eco-Justice Program to incorporate care for creation in your church service on June 5.  Choose from many resources, including this year’s Earth Day resource, or others focused on land and wilderness stewardship, closer to the theme for WED.

My colleagues in the Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations let me know about an opportunity to win a trip to India to celebrate World Environment Day from the United Nations Environment Programme.  To enter, write a blog about "nature's forest services" between May 3 and May 10.  See rules for the contest and how to enter on the United Nations Environment Programme’s website.  

Register for Peacemaking Conference and Pre-Conference at the Big Tent

Register NOW for the Peacemaking Conference

and Pre-Conference at Big Tent

June 30-July 2, 2011 in Indianapolis, IN

The Big Tent ― the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s biennial celebration of ministry and mission ― will be pitched in Indianapolis June 30-July 2.  Register Now!

The Big Tent provides an opportunity to experience the exciting ministries of the PC(USA) at the same time and in the same location as we Grow Christ’s Church Deep and Wide. As a Big Tent partner conference, the Peacemaking Conference is nested in the schedule of events  and invites participants to join in Growing Christ’s Peace.  Peacemaking is a journey that grows over time and flourishes in community. The conference will focus on planting seeds for peacemaking as essential to servanthood, discipleship, diversity and evangelism. Through inspired worship, poignant presentations, sharing “best practices” and conversations on peacemaking issues including public witness, Sudan, the environment, trafficking, supporting military and their families, the United Nations and Israel/Palestine  to conversations with church leaders.

Come early to the Big Tent and attend an action oriented Peacemaking Pre-Conference   Gun Violence, Gospel Values:  Mobilizing in Response to God’s Call.  Co-sponsored by the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program, Presbyterian Peace Fellowship, and Heeding God’s Call.

Peacemaking Scholarship Application deadline for the Peacemaking Conference has been extended to Monday, May 16.   Scholarship applicants should register for the Peacemaking Conference and choose the “Scholarship” option for registration payment while you wait for scholarship confirmation.

For more information, please contact Nancy Eng MacNeill or Dayna Oliver at 800-728-7228 ext. 8700.

Your gift to Peacemaking Intergenerational Conference Scholarship assists in reducing overall costs for all participants and provides additional scholarship assistance for individuals and especially families.

Setting a budget consistent with our faith

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Office of Public Witness is concerned about the impact of the House approved Ryan budget on persons living in poverty across the globe, including the U.S. Although many congressional arguments are framed as partisan politics and spending cuts, this really is a significant class war (with persons on both sides of the aisle supporting similar views) emerging that threatens to debilitate many persons in local communities. State and local governments will be significantly impacted with dire poverty and the challenges that follow if some of the proposed legislation is passed by both the House and Senate. However, the greatest impact will be felt in local communities. It is important that you not be silent in these times. 
 
Constituents are important to political leaders! Your participation in the political process is important. Let your Senators and Representatives hear from you.

Visit the Presbyterian Church Office of Public Witness Facebook page or watch the video posted on YouTube titled Setting a Budget Consistent With Our Faith.

A trip down memory lane

There were gulls in the background - or so they told me. I could only see a building.

This evening brought my second Skype presentation on behalf of the Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations.

The Agape House Campus Ministry at the University of Illinois in Chicago invited me to join them for a conversation on The Theology and Praxis of Doing Good. The conversation specifically explored how we live our faith in the public sphere.

I had the opportunity to share what the Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations does: equipping Presbyterians for global discipleship and advocating for peace and justice in the name of Jesus in the United Nations community guided by policies of the General Assembly.

I talked about my faith journey and my call to minstry. I shared that it is crucial to remember and proclaim and live that Christians engage in ministry in the public sphere out of our faith in Jesus Christ.

The group talked about opportunities for living their faith. They identified a number of ideas:

• watching the interactions between people to ensure that people are treating one another with dignity and respect
• participating in campus groups that work for social justice
• advocating for state legislation
• supporting the Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America and similar organizations
• taking part in events such as the CROP Walk

The conversation provided me the opportunity to reflect on how and why I have engaged in ministry in the public sphere - and to do so in a familiar place - I had been a field education student in campus ministry based at Agape House when I was a student. It was great to return - at least in a virtual sense.

Hopefully this fall or early winter, Agape House will bring a group to New York for a seminar. There may well be gulls over the East River.

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

Blessed are the peacemakers

How does the Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations equip and inspire Presbyterians to make peace following Jesus? The Presbyterian Women of Monmouth Presbytery explored that question when then met on April 16 at the Presbyterian Church at Shrewsbury for their Spring Gathering.

Their morning began with the lighting of the Christ candle and smaller candles representing the churches. A responsive reading of Matthew 5:1-12, the Beatitudes, followed.

The Rev. David Cotton provided a spirited introduction to the Beatitudes. The 2011-2012 Horizons Bible Study focuses on the Beatitudes.

The Birthday Offering was then celebrated. This year's offering supports Across in Sudan, Menaul School in New Mexico, and Anderson Interfaith Ministries in South Carolina.

I then had the honor of speaking - of addressing the question of the Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations and peacemaking.

The presentation began by considering what peacemaking is . . . which begins with the God's vision of peace expressed in the Hebrew word shalom . . . a vision of wholeness, well-being, justice, righteousness, and right relationships. Peacemaking is working to bring God's vision into being . . . by accepting the peace God offers in Jesus Christ . . . by working for the well-being of God's children (all people) and the wholeness of God's creation.

The Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations helps Presbyterians engage in peacemaking through our work in two broad areas: equipping Presbyterians to live as global disciples and advocating for peace and justice based on the positions of the General Assembly.

We equip Presbyterians for global discipleship through:

• creating prayers and worship resources for special days and for situations in need of peace and justice around the world
• promoting concrete expressions of discipleship such as the Red Hand campaign, Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF, the Tap Project
• providing seminars to Presbyterian groups
• hosting the Presbyterian delegation to the Commission on the Status of Women
• partnering with Columbia Theological Seminary for a Doctor of Ministry course every other year

We advocate for peace and justice based on the positions of the General Assembly by:

• participating in working groups with faith-based and other nongovernmental organizations
• arranging for mission co-workers and mission partners to meet with representatives of UN programs and member states
• contacting missions of member states
• working with Ecumenical Women to influence the outcome document of the Commission on the Status of Women

As we engage in peacemaking, we are sustained and drawn out of ourselves by the visions of peacemaking fill the pages of scripture, perhaps none more potent than Isaiah's image of swords beaten into plowshares. A number of pieces of art remind visitors to the UN of Isaiah's image. My favorite is the escopetarra - an AK-47 transformed into a guitar by Colombia artist César López.

By God's grace, may we help Presbyterians live into that vision.

Growing Christ's Peace

Register now for the Peacemaking Conference at the Big Tent!

Download a registration form.

Growing Christ's Peace

And a harvest of justice is sown in peace for those who cultivate peace

June 30- July 2, 2011- Indianapolis, Indiana

The Peacemaking Conference invites participants to join in Growing Christ’s Peace at the Big Tent. The Big Tent event provides an opportunity to experience the exciting ministries of the PC(USA) at the same time and in the same location. As a Big Tent partner conference, the Peacemaking Conference is nested in the schedule of events at Big Tent. Peacemaking is a journey that grows over time and flourishes in community. The conference will focus on planting seeds for peacemaking as essential to servanthood, discipleship, diversity and evangelism. Join us in Growing Christ’s Peace in the PC(USA).

What to expect

The conference is designed as worshipful work and will flow as an order of worship. Participants are invited to attend the entire conference or specific sessions. Each session will open with song and prayer. Inspired and poignant presentations will be followed by questions and answers with the speakers. Honoring that peacemaking is a journey; time has been set-aside for participants to share with one another about “best practices” or “what works” in pursuing peace in families, communities, congregations and the world.  At the close of each session, participants will receive a “Peacemaking Planting Packet” with additional resources, information and ways to continue Growing Christ’s Peace when they return home.

Several opportunities

To engage in conversation in a relaxed atmosphere at a Meet and Greet Hospitality with Gradye Parsons, stated clerk of the PC(USA), the Peacemaking Dinner with Cindy Bolbach, moderator of the 219th General Assembly (2010), and a drop in Coffee and Conversations about specific peacemaking concerns in the church, nation and world.

Download and share a flier and additional downloads about the Peacemaking Conference.

What are your concerns for Sudan?

Milcah Lalam of RECONCILE, a mission partner of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), attended the Commission on the Status of Women. Presbyterian Women arranged for her to attend. The Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations coordinated the Presbyterian presence at the Commission. Milcah was interviewed following a presentation at the First Presbyterian Church in the City of New York. Andrew Osborne served as the videographer.

How you can support RECONCILE

Milcah Lalam of RECONCILE, a mission partner of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), attended the Commission on the Status of Women. Presbyterian Women arranged for her to attend. The Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations coordinated the Presbyterian presence at the Commission. Milcah was interviewed following a presentation at the First Presbyterian Church in the City of New York. Andrew Osborne served as the videographer.