Jim's Peacemaking

Life, some say, is a journey. If my journey had to be characterized by one word, that word would be peace. Others have said the Journey of Life has both an inward and outward aspect. The inward part of my Peace Journey has been life long - in part, a heritage from my religious upbringing in an historic peace church. Growing in faithfulness to a disciplined practice of time set aside daily for prayer, scripture and other inspired reading, and listening for God has been a part of my life for at least the last 30 years. In 2003, my journey took a more outward turn toward following a call to a life of more full time peacemaking. Since then I have volunteered 2-3 months a year with Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) in Colombia, South America . The presence of CPT gives protection from the threats of the paramilitaries and guerrillas to some 80 rural families. During the rest of each of those years, as invitations come, I have shared slide presentations about the work of CPT in Columbia, tryi...

Mennonite Central Committee is a relief, community development and peace organization with some 1000 workers in 53 countries. MCC is sponsored by Mennonite and Brethren in Christ churches. Go to http://mcc.org/acp/ to see examples from their magazine of the work they do. Click on “Involved” at the bottom of the page to find service opportunities. Christian Peacemaker Teams joins local partners to reduce violence through biblically based peacemaking and non-violent direct action in Iraq, Palestine, Colombia , and other places. Their address is http://www.cpt.org . Pray (or as some say, “Lift to the Light”) friends, enemies, government leaders, situations from local to global. Most days I spend over an hour daily interceding by just reading names of people and concerns I wrote in my prayer book. I have sensed that a real connection with these people takes place in this simple practice. It has become a time of meditation for me as well. Request a Presentation Make arrangements so I ...

The Center For Justice and Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University in Virgina provides very good practical training to people from all over the world, including many from hotspots. It is a multicultural experience to study there. You can take anything from short courses in justice and peace-building to graduate studies. One lawyer I know took a course and it completely reoriented the way he practices law. Their web address is http://www.emu/cjp/

Work on personal conflicts and disagreements with whoever you rub shoulders with. It is good to remember God is always with us trying to help in this, one of the most challenging things to work at in building peace.

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