Lutheran Peace Fellowship

Youth E-News: Sowing Seeds of Peace
"And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace" - James 3:18

August 9, 2007
A Publication of Lutheran Peace Fellowship
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Welcome

What is peace? In a world where violence is everywhere, how do I live nonviolently? When leaders use their faith to go to war, how do I use my faith to promote peace? How do issues of hunger and poverty relate to peacemaking and to my faith?

These are just a few of the questions that have been running through my head over the past year as LPF’s Youth Program Coordinator. When I began this position last August, I thought that I knew a lot about nonviolence and peace. However, I’ve discovered this year that there is always more to learn and new and creative ways to act that I hadn’t even thought of before. As many violent options as there are, there are endless nonviolent options as well.

Tomorrow will be my last day of work at LPF as my year of Lutheran Volunteer Corps comes to an end. I will be moving to San Francisco to work for the Boys & Girls Clubs and plan to eventually attend grad school in public policy. Though I am leaving, I know that I will carry with me all that I have learned this year and will continue to be motivated toward peaceful living by so many of you who pursue peace daily. Thank you all for inspiring me to follow Jesus’ call to shalom, and may you continue to find ways to live lives of peace.

–Allyson Fredericksen

If you have any comments, questions, or further interest in LPF’s youth program, send an e-mail to lpfyouth@gmail.com or lpf@ecunet.org. If you would like to reach me personally after tomorrow, you can email me at allyson.alive@gmail.com.

Issue Highlights:

- News Articles on Peace and Justice – Get the latest on issues of peace and justice around the globe!

- Advocacy Alerts – Vote Out Poverty, the ONE Campaign, Immigration Reform, and Darfur!

- Community News – Work a Day for Peace, Let Justice Roll, and more!

- Spiritual Reflection – Peace Quotes!

News Articles on Peace and Justice

UN Takes Food Aid to Central Africans in Camaroon - The United Nations on Wednesday began distributing food aid to some 26,000 refugees from Central African Republic who have fled to neighboring Cameroon to escape relentless attacks by rebels and bandits. For more on this, visit http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L08258980.htm

UN Urges Sudan to Give Chadians Refugee Status - Sudan should grant refugee status to tens of thousands of mostly Arab Chadians who have fled into Darfur to escape violence in their country, the U.N. refugee agency said on Tuesday. For details, visit http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L07686338.htm

More Violence in East Timor After Gusmao Appointment - Violence broke out in several districts in East Timor on Tuesday, a day after the controversial appointment of a new government. For more info, visit http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/JAK137105.htm

For more news articles on peace and justice, visit www.alertnet.org

Advocacy Alerts

Vote Out Poverty: Martin Luther King Jr. famously warned that a "a nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death." Yet despite King's caution, we are spending hundreds of billions of dollars on a disastrous war in Iraq while 37 million Americans are living in poverty and 3 billion people worldwide live on less than $2 a day. This election season, we can answer Jesus' call to care for the "least of these" by demanding that candidates go on the record with real plans for addressing poverty in the U.S. and around the world. To sign the pledge and Vote Out Poverty, visit www.sojo.net

ONE Campaign: We can be the generation to end world hunger! Too many in the world continue to suffer from poverty, hunger, and disease, and too few are doing anything to stop it. Join the ONE campaign today and urge the United States government to use our resources to help turn the tide against hunger, poverty, and disease. Together, one by one, we can help bring an end to overwhelming global poverty, disease, and hunger. For action ideas and to learn more, see www.one.org, www.elca.org/advocacy/one and www.bread.org

Immigration Reform: It is a sad day in America when partisan politics can sideline one of the most important pieces of legislation to reach the U.S. Congress in years. Despite much hope for a comprehensive immigration bill, Senate immigration bill S 1639 was defeated. What we saw in the United States Senate reinforces the polarization of our political system and condones xenophobia both in our country’s policies and rhetoric. We saw the defeat of reason, compromise and reconciliation. As a result of these political games, the 12 million immigrants living in the shadows of our nation will continue in limbo, living in fear of deportation and separation from family. The legislation may have been defeated, but the issue is far from dead. Families are still in jeopardy, workers are still being exploited and the border is far from secure. Join with thousands of others to continue to call for fair & compassionate immigration reform. For more information, visit www.sojo.net

Darfur: After months of delay, the White House finally announced implementation of "Plan B" sanctions against Sudan, designed to compel the Sudanese government to bring an end to the violence in the nation’s Darfur region. While this is a step in the right direction, unilateral U.S. sanctions will not be enough if not matched by other countries in multilateral sanctions. Now, President Bush must engage U.S. allies and support the necessary UN resolution at the UN Security Council to put pressure on the Sudanese government through sanctions by other allies. Join with thousands of others in calling on President Bush to actively engage others on the UN Security Council to join in implementing sanctions against Sudan while continuing peacekeeping and humanitarian aid for the thousands displaced by this conflict. For more information and ways to get involved, visit www.savedarfur.org

For more ideas, visit http://www.unitedforpeace.org and www.sojo.net

Resources

Budget Priorities Computer Activity: As the war continues in Iraq, just how much of the US budget is being spent on military responses to conflict and how much for programs like the Peace Corps and other peacemaking initiatives? LPF's widely-praised Budget Priorities activity examines how the US budget is spent and explores the question "What Really Brings Security?" through vivid graphics and informative activities.

The activity and resource guide are available via our website at www.LutheranPeace.org; both are also available on a CD with supplementary resources for $10 ($4-$8 for LPF members). To order your copy, email lpf@ecunet.org or call (206) 720-0313.

For additional resources, visit www.LutheranPeace.org

ONE Campaign Update

Last month ONE.org commissioned a survey among likely Democratic and Republican primary voters. Below are some of the results from that survey.

*Nearly all Democrats (97%) and 70% of Republicans agree that America's standing has suffered in recent years. In addition to a strong military, Democrats (91%) and Republicans (78%) agree that the United States also needs to improve diplomatic relations by doing more to help improve health, education and opportunities in the poorest countries around the world. Both Democrats (81%) and Republicans alike (70%) agree that reducing poverty, treating preventable diseases and improving education in poor countries around the world will help make the world safer and the United States more secure.

*Democrats and Republicans agree that America has a moral obligation as a compassionate nation to help the world's poorest people through foreign assistance. More than nine in ten Democrats (93%) and 84% of Republicans agree that when millions of children around the world are dying from preventable diseases and hunger, we have a moral obligation to do what we can to help. Similarly, Democrats (90%) and Republicans (85%) agree that it is in keeping with the country's values and our history of compassion to lead an effort to solve some of the most serious problems facing the world’s poorest people.

*When it comes to addressing these issues, Democrats (86%) and Republicans (67%) agree that it is important for Presidential candidates to discuss their plans for addressing global hunger and poverty issues in this campaign. Additionally, eight in ten Democrats (81%) and Republicans (80%) agree that the next president should keep the commitments made by President Bush to prevent and fight the spread of AIDS in Africa

Community News

Anywhere – Work a Day for Peace (September 11-21): The Nonviolent Peaceforce has since 9/11 commemorated this day with fellowship events and calls for peace making. This year, "Work a Day for Peace stretches from 9/11-9/21. 9/21 is the International Day for Peace. Use your creativity to design an activity for one or more the days between 9/11-9/21 and send any funds raised to Nonviolent Peaceforce, 425 Oak Grove St., Minneapolis, MN 55403. This global organization that trains civilians to do peacekeeping uses donations to better be able to respond to the many groups in conflict areas asking for help and support. So far, NP has trained teams working in Sri Lanka, the Philippines and Guatemala. You can help this work of trained civilians grow into mainstream action for peace.

Seattle, WA – Soldiers of Conscience Screening (Fall 07): From West Point grads to drill sergeants, from Abu Ghraib interrogators to low ranking reservist-mechanics; soldiers in the US Army today reveal their deepest moral concerns about what they are asked to do in war. Their message: every soldier wrestles with his conscience over killing. Although most decide to kill, some refuse. Soldiers of Conscience reveals that far more soldiers refuse to kill than we might expect. A week-long screening of this film is currently being organized. If you are interested in helping plan for this screening, email lpfyouth@gmail.com. For more details on the movie, visit www.socfilm.com

Across the US – Christian Peace Witness for Iraq (September and October): Despite outcry from Americans across the political spectrum, the war in Iraq continues. In September, Christians in communities across the United States will enter into continuous witness and vigil until our government ends the war in Iraq. This witness will also be carried out in Washington D.C. as we organize a discipline of public daily worship and prophetic preaching on or near Capitol Hill. Then, in October, the Christian Peace Witness for Iraq will join our sisters and brothers of other faith traditions for a day of public fasting and prayer and a season of discernment of our role in ending the war in Iraq. If you are interested in joining a few dozen people to offer comments on fall CPWI plans, or to find out how you can be involved in these events, email lpf@ecunet.org.

Chelan, WA – “Don’t Hate, Advocate!” Let Justice Roll 2007 (October 6-8): Join with other high school students from the Pacific Northwest in the pursuit of justice. Through service opportunities, speakers, group activities, and more, learn about not only speaking for those without a voice but helping the poor and oppressed find their own voices through advocacy! Remember, “Don’t Hate, Advocate!” For more details visit www.tlc.edu/letjusticeroll

Middle East – Various Trips sponsored by Middle East Fellowship (October and December): MEF works with various church partners in the Middle East to undertake peacebuilding and advocate nonviolence in all sectors of the region. This year there are a number of opportunities to take part in trips to areas of the Middle East. October 19-November 2 there will be a “Holy Land Pilgrimage” for northwest churches, and December 15^th a two-week “Steps of the Magi” will take place. "Steps" is a 2 week long event commencing December 15th at the baptismal site of Jesus (just east of the Jordan River) with pilgrims daily journeying by land to finally arrive in Bethlehem on Christmas Eve to commemorate the gift of God while also distributing "gifts of the Magi" to those encountered along the way. The latter translates into projects that local churches, adult and youth/children's groups can sponsor as practical expressions of their solidarity with the struggling Arabic-speaking Christians of Palestine and their non-Christian neighbors.. For more details, visit www.middleeastfellowship.org

Tijuana, MX – Developing Hearts that Yearn for Justice (January 08): Speakers will include James Forbes, Richard Rohr, Brian Mclaren, Elsa Tamez, Matthew Fox, and Bishop Samuel Ruiz from Chiapas, Mexico. For more details, contact Bill Radata at twobill@cox.net

Do you know of an upcoming event in your community? Email lpfyouth@gmail.com with details to include it in next month’s issue!

Spiritual Reflection

When violence looms around every corner, sometimes it can help to refer to the words of others urging us on to peace. Below are some of my favorite quotes on peace and peacemaking.

“The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the souls of people when they realize their relationship, their oneness with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize that at the center of the universe dwells the Great Spirit, and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us.” – Black Elk

“There is no time left for anything but to make peacework a dimension of our every waking activity.” – Elise Boulding

‘Peace, in the sense of the absence of war, is of little value to someone who is dying of hunger or cold. It will not remove the pain of torture inflicted on a prisoner of conscience. It does not comfort those who have lost their loved ones in floods caused by senseless deforestation in a neighboring country. Peace can only last where human rights are respected, where people are fed, and where individuals and nations are free.” – The XIVth Dalai Lama

“We will not build a peaceful world by following a negative path. It is not enough to say we must not wage war. It is necessary to love peace and sacrifice for it. We must concentrate not merely on the negative expulsion of war but on the positive affirmation of peace.” – Martin Luther King, Jr

“This is the way of peace: overcome evil with good, and falsehood with truth, and hatred with love.” – Peace Pilgrim

“Peace is not the product of terror or fear.
Peace is not the silence of cemeteries.
Peace is not the silent revolt of violent repression.
Peace is the generous, tranquil contribution
of all to the good of all.
Peace is dynamism. Peace is generosity.
It is right and it is duty.” – Bishop Oscar Romero

“If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.” – Mother Theresa