Circle of Peacemakers Festival

If we are anything as a network at Circle of Hope, we are doers of what Jesus commands of us. How do we do these commandments, though? And, how we can be proactive peacemakers at the micro and macro levels? We've been asking questions like these as the newly formed Circle of Peacemakers team, a group that came out of the now-defunct Shalom House. We tried to answer some of these questions at our first annual Circle of Peacemakers Festival that happened on Friday, September 19th.

In preparation for the festival, Circle of Peacemakers asked questions of those who were connected to us via social media. Then, while we ate soup and desserts, we split into groups to discuss the church’s response to issues of peacemaking. One of those questions was, “A well-known journalist, James Foley, was beheaded by ISIS in Iraq. What do you think is the right response from the government? From the church?” One respondent succinctly and poignantly responded that the government should apologize for proliferating the war that Foley was covering and that the Church ought to pray and find ways to be at risk with people like him.

The task of peacemaking is humbling and sobering. It was necessary to have the five music acts from around our network to provide inspiration and soul healing as we thought through the many burdens of the world in our festival. The music acts featured everything from soulful harmonies to singer-songwriter styles and a hip hop performance by Jared Selby who got the whole crowd to be his “producer” by asking them to provide the beat by clapping rhythmically and singing backing vocals for him.

Finally, Rachelle Lyndaker Schlabach, director of the Mennonite Central Committee U.S. Washington told us about the often thankless job of working to influence lawmakers inside the beltway to make policies reflect a holistic Christian worldview. She reminded us that we need Sabbaths to continue working toward bringing the Kingdom to earth and not be too disappointed when it seems that our efforts are not effective enough. To quote Dr. King, as the Church we are neither masters nor servants of the State but rather the conscience of it and we must act accordingly. 

Our next quarterly meeting is Friday December 5 at 1125 S Broad Street. Bring yourself and your enthusiasm. See you there!

(By the way, Like our Facebook page, follow us on Twitter, and read our blog at www.circleofpeacemakers.com).

Reporting: Jerome Stafford

A Benefit for Mission Year

Last Thursday, Ra Mendoza led a benefit for Mission Year at Broad & Washington with a big turn-out. Circle of Hope, The Simple Way, and Eastern University came together to celebrate what God is doing in Philly and raise money for Mission Year—a Jesus-centered program that encourages young people to come to the city for at least a year to live communally, work for justice, and love their neighbors.

Local artists B-Wise and Atiba Halisi shared their musical gifts and Malia Walden shared poetry. Rachel Sensenig, Nes Espinoza, and Shane Claiborne gave messages about the state of Philly right now, the invitation to die and rise with Jesus, the joy of bearing one another’s burdens and the call to demonstrate justice. Pastor Leonard Dow prayed that whether we are prophets, priests, poets, or practitioners—or all of the above—we’d reflect the great love of God who fills us.

The Justice Conference Gathers Thousands

Joshua Grace reporting.

I'm not sure of the final count, but a few thousand people convened at the Convention Center last weekend for The Justice Conference.  The organizers describe it as "a movement of students, teachers, business people, parents, artists, social entrepreneurs, pastors, advocates and academics all of whom are discovering the paradox that true life is found when we give our lives away on behalf of others."  Ken Wytsma began organizing in 2010 and this year the conference went beyond Portland, OR to Philadelphia.

I attended with a heavy heart.  My friend Richard Twiss, who convinced me to attend, was set to speak and hang out but suddenly and tragically died from complications after a massive heart attack a few weeks ago.  There was a brief but meaningful acknowledgement of him on Friday night but more importantly his family and legacy were on the hearts of all of us who knew him and those who were learning about him for the first time.

Howard, Molly, and I were naming some of the people from our church who were there on our Facebook Page.  We got to thirty people pretty fast.  There were probably more that we haven't named yet.

I've enjoyed the Facebook and Twitter chatter yesterday and today about highlights.  I would add three of my own.

1.  Brenda Salter McNeil on Friday night.  I got to meet her briefly after her talk at CCDA a few years ago.  She gave us a great gift about how to identify and be moved by our compassion.  She put her neck out there advocating for gun control, particularly that which would reduce the number of gun violence in urban areas.







2.  It was pretty fun to see my boy Shane Claiborne get the rowdiest welcome.  He was brilliant as usual and showcased the creativity of RAWtools, Mennonite blacksmiths from Colorado Springs, CO who intend to "partner with communities in an effort to repurpose weapons for productive lifelong purpose."  They did a demonstration of taking a donated AK-47 and turning it into useful and beautifully made garden tools.



3.  PhillyBloco got a few thousand people dancing on Saturday night.  Martha, Jay, and about 20 of my other friends blew the place up with "Brazilian Music to shake your body and soul!"  Dozens (hundreds?) crammed the front to learn the moves, the isles were filled, and people jammed from their seat.  I told one of the security guards, a nice lady named Sharon that it was my wife's band.  She told me afterwards that she wants to go to the next show.

Jesus Doesn't Sleep on Racial Reconciliation

On Saturday, January 12 our Church Planting Core team is hosting a seminar at Broad & Dauphin from 9-11am:  "Jesus Doesn't Sleep on Racial Reconciliation and Neither Do We."  Our friend Drew Hart is leading us, and all are welcome.  The seminar will be the first in a series of every-other-month opportunities generated by our 2013 goal to learn from the wise voices in our region.