|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
||||
|
||||
z |
|||
Recently Evelyn Shellenberger an MCCer who is living and studying in Qom, Iran, wrote a story entitled ‘A Little Child Shall Lead Them'. She told how several young people from her home community of Paoli, IN gave her letters and small gifts to pass on to young people in Iran with the hope that this would be the beginning of friendships across the miles. She concludes the story with these words. ‘These young people's unsolicited responses, concern and attempts to befriend Iranians bring to mind images of the peaceable kingdom in Isaiah: the wolf and the lamb lying together, the leopard lying down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child leading them. I think also of a saying posted on a bulletin board at the Islamic seminary in Qom, where we study. It reads, "When the heart does not see, hearing through the ears is of no use." Might peace and friendship between our nations be possible if we each had the heart of a child? May God give us seeing hearts, like those of children -- hearts that see possibilities of peace and friendship growing out of small acts.' I would add, may we listen to what is happening in our world with ‘hearts that see' and know that we are called to love our neighbor as ourselves. ~ lhn [top] Lombard Mennonite Peace Center is hosting a variety of training events
in the fall. Advanced Clergy Clinic in Family Emotional Process Meets three times each year for three consecutive days: November 4-6, 2002; February 3-5, 2003; May 5-7, 2003. The Advanced Clergy Clinic is designed to enhance the ability of participants to function as self-differentiated leaders within their own ministry setting. It will provide a safe forum for processing challenging situations in one's ministry, while also facilitating reflection on a way of thinking about the human condition which has implications for all aspects of life. God's Own Peace": Systems Theory and Spirituality October 2, 2002: This workshop suggests some implications of faith perspectives for family systems theory. It takes seriously recent research into how the brain changes as people engage in meditative prayer. And it introduces participants to simple, classically grounded approaches to meditation. Healthy Congregations October 18-19, 2002 Warren, MI; November 8-9, 2002 Downers Grove, IL This workshop uses the insights of family systems theory to help church leaders become more effective stewards of tier congregations. The workshop was developed by Dr. Peter Steinke and is based on the work of Dr. Edwin Friedman, author of Generation to Generation: Family Process in Church and Synagogue. For more information and a registration brochure on the above workshops,
please contact: Lombard Mennonite Peace Center Many of you are involved, and know of others, in planning Sunday School, Bible School and other events where groups and individuals are looking for projects they can support with their financial gifts. The MCC Web site now has the MCC Giving Projects booklet for 2002-2003 online. The money raised by these projects creates joy and excitement in places around the world including in Ukraine where a recipient of emergency medical funds expressed thanks this way: "You have come to our aid, true to the command to Christians to show love to their neighbors." Check out www.mcc.org/respond/projects to find a list of the project categories including food, water, home, health, job, peace and education. [top] Colombia: We recently received an update and action alert from MCCer Janna Bowman in Colombia related to the U.S. 2003 Foreign Aid Request. We´d like to complement that with a notice on the emergency supplemental bill, which is a $28 billion package chiefly focused on financing the "war on terrorism," included some pieces related to Colombia. The bill, which was approved by Congress in late July, says that any money sent in previous years, or as part of the bill itself, intended for counter-narcotics purposes in Colombia can now be used for much broader "security" concerns as part of the war on terrorism. In effect, this opens the door for much wider involvement in Colombia`s civil war, as the United States will be providing funding for the Colombian military`s fight against guerrilla groups. During the House debate on the bill, an amendment to prevent this change from happening failed by a vote of 225-192. The bill also provides a down payment of $6 million to assist the Colombian military in protecting an oil pipeline in the Department of Arauca. This means that the doors leading to an expanded mission in Colombia as well as use of taxpayer dollars for protection of corporate interests have already been opened. Your voice in opposition to this legislation is crucial! Thanks in advance for your letters, phone calls, hill visits and creative forms of expressing non-conformity with destructive U.S. policies towards Colombia. And thanks to Rachelle Schlabach in the Washington DC Mennonite Central Committee Washington office for supplying this update. Also from Justapaz; We come to you with a crucial and important opportunity to support our sisters and brothers in Colombia, where the four-decade civil war has intensified. Mennonites and other Christian non-violent seekers of peace in this violence- torn country continue to testify to God's way of peace, and for their stance they face real and immediate danger. They are requesting quick and vital assistance from North American sisters and brothers. Both the government and the illegal armed groups are pressuring civilians to take sides and participate in the conflict. As the conflict intensifies, Colombian Mennonites and others have felt called to make a public declaration of faith, a witness to their government, armed groups, and other citizens. On Saturday, September 21 -- the UN International Day of Peace and Nonviolence - the church will declare: "We will not fight. We will not side with any of the armed groups. Neither, however, will we stop caring for the victims or seeking a nonviolent alternative to war through confronting the death-dealing powers and dialoguing with those responsible for the bloodshed." The Colombian Mennonite Church, which is spearheading the effort, is requesting our prayers, letters to our government officials, public witness, and monetary donations so they can carry out this public relations campaign. They need $10,000 U.S. by September 11, and we have confidence that Mennonites in North America want to support their work. The Colombian Mennonite Church, like most churches in Colombia, operates on a very precarious economy. In many congregations, 50-80% of the members are unemployed, and the congregations regularly collect groceries to put mutual aid into practice. For this reason, the Colombian churches are inviting North American churches to participate in this declaration in two ways: 1) by helping to raise the money for publicizing their nonviolent stand in major newspapers in Colombia and 2) by divulging it, reading it, and acting on it your local congregations and communities. You may draw from the above for a bulletin announcement and copy the
prayer on the web site for use during your worship service: http://peace.mennolink.org/resources/colombiaprayer.pdf
and for supporting materials you may: TIMELINESS: Friends, both these requests need quick action. I know how difficult this is for our communication systems and busy congregational schedules, but I know even better how important peace work is to the core of who we are as Mennonites. I believe our congregations will want to take part in these vital activities. Please make the information available quickly. May God bless you as you incorporate this work into your already busy day. Let us know if and how you are able to participate! Janna Bowman for Justapaz Iraq: The MCC Web site is featuring photos from Iraq during August. At this time when there is much conversation about Iraq, this gallery is another way of sharing experiences with constituents and others interested in the people of Iraq. The gallery also contains a link to take people to the MCC Iraq section of the Web site. www.mcc.org/gallery/02_08/ As we approach the anniversary of September 11 and the talk of possible military action in Iraq continues, we challenge individuals and congregations to find a voice that calls for respect for all people and alternatives to the violence of war. If your community is planning an event let others know so that we can join together in calling for active peacemaking in our world. Jubilee Mobilization to Cancel the Debt,
Now! Teach-ins, rallies and vigils are planned from September 25- September
30, 2002. Panels and workshops about issues and action will be combined
with a film festival that will culminate in a grand event on Friday night.
Come and share your passion and knowledge. This event is sponsored by
Jubilee, 50 Years is Enough Network, Center for Economic Justice and Essential
Action. Please join us! Updated information and A DOWNLOADABLE FLYER is available now at www.jubileeusa.org/ or call 202-783-0129. Why come to Washington? There are 1.5 million reasons to come to Washington in September. This year 1.5 million children will be returning to school in Tanzania. This is a direct result of savings from debt relief and activism to abolish World Bank imposed school fees. Just think what kind of world we could create with full and immediate debt cancellation! Yet the current debt relief plan is failing to resolve the debt crisis. Only 6 countries have finished the World Bank and IMF designed initiative since it started in 1996. More than twenty countries are held up due to harmful IMF conditions. Over half of the countries in line for relief will continue to pay more on debt than health for their citizens even after the program! We are calling all people of faith and conscience to join us for an interfaith service and candlelight vigil to bear witness to the Jubilee vision of liberation and justice. This event will be entirely nonviolent and safe for all ages. We will pray together, sing together, hear from international speakers and act for an end to the unjust and illegitimate debt enslaving entire nations. It is time to lift our voices and let the world know that people of faith and conscience are still engaged and are not satisfied! Jubilee critically needs all kinds of volunteers to help promote the events, organize transportation, make phone calls and plan logistics. Unfortunately, some key tasks will be left undone without volunteers. Please call us for more information and to learn how to get involved: Mara at 202-783-0129, mara@j2000usa.org or Jonas at 202-783-0214,coord@j2000usa.org Middle East: From Alain Epp Weaver we received the following on August 21, 2002. This week international humanitarian organizations in the ocupied territories issued a statement in response to studies showing alarming levels of malnutrition in the occupied territories. This statement, signed by MCC, noted that we are looking not at a "natural disaster" here but at an all- too-human creation of a regime of curfews, closures, restrictions on movement, and subsequently high unemployment. The statement reads as follows: "As international humanitarian organizations with relief and development programs across the West Bank and Gaza, we are deeply concerned by the high levels of malnutrition and anemia documented in the recent CARE and Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics surveys. These surveys confirm what we have witnessed through our work in Palestinian communities- the steadily declining ability of Palestinian families to access and afford goods to meet their basic human needs, leading to an alarming decline in nutritional status." "We must emphasize that the cause of this crisis is not a general food shortage. As these surveys document, shortages of high protein foods (meat, fish and dairy) exist as a result of border closures to Gaza, and road closures, checkpoints, curfews and military conflict in the West Bank. Further, where food is available locally, it is inaccessible to the population because of a lack of money or because of closures and curfews which make it impossible for people with money to get to the market. In other words, the cause is strictly a result of political decisions." "The Geneva Conventions, to which Israel is a signatory, require that people under military occupation must have their basic human needs met by the occupying power. With the alarming malnutrition and anemia levels now extant in the West Bank and Gaza, it is clear that this is not the case." "We call on Israel to end the curfews and closures which entail collective punishment, illegal under the Geneva Conventions, and which have led to this humanitarian emergency. We call on Israel to give humanitarian agencies safe passage to the populations at risk. We urge the international community to address this situation, including through the use of diplomatic, legal and political action." The following from Gush Shalom is the text of one of many Israeli COs. The commitment of this teenager is impressive and offers a challenge to each of us. This message was published in two Israeli newspapers in Israel. I AM NO OCCUPIER, FULL STOP. by Uri Ya'acobi In another two days I am not going to enlist. I will go the Soldiers House, and will board the bus together with all other conscription candidates and after we get off the bus at the Induction Center in Tel Hashomer, I will, unlike the others, refuse to enlist, and I will almost certainly be sent to prison. In the prison I will meet two of the fellow signatories of "the letter of the highschool pupils" Yoni Yechezkel and Dror Boimel . Those two were imprisoned during the last week because of their own refusal to enlist. They, just like me, and as it turns out: like a lot of other Israelis, understand that this war which the state of Israel is conducting, in the territories that it occupied in '67, is not a war of the sons of the light against the sons of darkness (exactly like many more of the wars which took place in the course of history). When one hears via foreign media of Israeli tanks rampaging in the streets of Palestinian cities (for some reason it's hardly ever on the news of the Israeli media), then we don't hear the whole truth. The sad truth is that what the Israeli army does in the territories is not limited to tanks rampaging in the streets and the destruction of the civilian infrastructure. The military actions are also not limited to delaying ambulances and pregnant women at roadblocks or just insensitivity towards Palestinian citizens. Our soldiers find themselves in difficult situations, and part of them do it by mistake, but they do kill children and old people who certainly are in no way connected to any act of terrorism. They destroy houses of whole families - and perpetrate other acts for which "terrorism" is the most fitting definition. All these are unforgivable acts in which I and my friends refuse to participate. These things are against justice. And no reason in the world, certainly not the wish to colonise another piece of land, turns them into justified acts from the moral point of view, just as terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians are not right, nor morally justified. I don't know whether the Palestinian leadership wants peace, I don't know whether the Palestinians want to remain for ever poor and discriminated against (although it is difficult to believe that they would). I do know one thing: that the Palestinians don't want us to be their occupiers. I know that they don't want to live in a war situation and to see the continuous bloodshed. I know it is not them who force us to occupy them; it's not them who turn us into occupiers. We do that quite nicely all by ourselves, without their help. I am not proud of my people. I am not proud of my country, I am not proud of the acts being done in the name of my security. I am also not proud that I will go to prison because of my refusal to serve in the occupation army (and I am also not at all happy about the opportunity given me to suffer for my principles). Proud I am that I listen to the voice of my conscience, and I will be glad when there will be more people listening to theirs, and not to what says the commander. [top]
We started with Isaiah, so lets end with Isaiah.
Chapter 2:2-5 In the last days the mountain of the LORD's temple will
be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the
hills, and all nations will stream to it. Many peoples will come and say,
"Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of
the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his
paths." The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from
Jerusalem. He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes
for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their
spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation,
nor will they train for war anymore. ‘Let us walk' is an invitation to live out this vision in the present. May we walk in the light of the Lord. Anita Barahona Oliver and Lois Hess Nafziger
|
|||
 |
© 2003 Mennonite Central Committee |