Jim's Peacemaking

Hello friend, Teaching prisoners how to pray and meditate as a way of reducing violence in their lives is a ministry of Bo Lozoff, Director of humankindness.org. Bo in Its a Meaningful Life- It Just Takes Practice says, “When we integrate committed service to our lifestyle, the temptation may arise to lighten up on our (quiet time) personal spiritual practices. But I believe that's what leads to burnout for so many people. Trying to dedicate yourself entirely through outward activity, no matter how much you seem to be helping others, will sooner or later chew you up and spit you out if you don't take time for inner silence as well. It's like trying to breathe out all the time without breathing in. How long can that last? Be sure to breathe in, too, so that you're helping others from a deeper place (p. 295).” Thomas Keating, in his book on Christian meditation, Open Heart Open Mind, says, “The principal effects of meditation are experienced in daily life, not in the ...

Dear Friend, “Thank you so much for coming to share with the students; I am sure we will talking about this for a number of days,” remarked one of the staff members at the Wellspring Friends School in Oregon. “Wow, look at the donations they made,” I said to my friend Cyrus after my presentation at the Modesto Junior College. Cyrus responded, “Students don’t have much money, so when they make donation, you know you touched them.” “These books about peacemaking will be great for our library; I’ve been thinking that we need something along this line,” remarked the librarian after I contributed peace books after giving a presentation in four classes at Mission High in San Francisco. I had many good conversations and feel my sharing was received very well in the 25 venues at which I presented in Oregon and California. It was quite exhausting at times, though it seemed well worth it. Pray that the seeds planted in that trip would sprout, grow, and flourish. Thanks for your prayers and the ...

Dear Friends, In my continuing peacemaking education, I recently read the book Blood Brothers by Elias Chacour. He is a Christian - a Palestinian priest who grew up during the formation of the state of Israel. His family is part of a Church that dates back to the very beginnings of Christianity. It has been very helpful for me in coming to understand, in a very personal way, how the conflict has affected, and is still affecting, the Jews and Palestinians living in the area. Here's one story: A man had asked Elias, who was his pastor, to come to his house because his mother was dying. After her death, Elias said to him, "We must surely invite your four brothers to come to see the body before she is buried." The brother responded, "We hate each other so much, if you invite them, you will have five funerals on your hands." This was an example of the animosity between people, even within families, in this village. Later, in the middle of the worship on Easter m...

Dear Friend, My next trip to Colombia will take me in a bit of a new direction, for I have been invited by the Colombian Mennonite Brethren to work for three months with them. I will be sharing about CPT work as a way of promoting peacemaking amongst their 44 congregations and nearly 4000 members. Because the Colombian Mennonite Brethren are in the process of recovering their peace heritage, it is a particularly ripe time for this to happen and I am very excited for this opportunity. This direction may not look as "exciting" as being on the front lines with CPT on the Opon River. However, I feel my potential for helping the Colombian peace process is multiplied in this opportunity because I will be encouraging more Colombian Christians to get involved in peacemaking in their own country. The Church has an important part to play, especially in bringing the call to love our enemies and integrity into the Colombian peace process. Last Thursday I shared with a loc...

Dear friends, "Did you go to church before you were put in jail?" I asked over the phone, through the glass window between us. Roy* responded, "No, but I did accept God at the worship service the Gideons have here every Saturday. I am reading the book of Proverbs in the King James Bible they gave me, though it is hard to understand." I asked, "Would you like to pray?" He said, "Sure." I then led us in a short prayer time. I shared with him about the different pieces of peacemaking literature I had brought for him. I knew he had some interest in that because we had met the first time at our weekly peace vigil some three years ago. Upon arriving for my next visit, the jailer told me, "Roy's visiting time is nearly up. Go right in, so you can have a minute or two with him." Again through the glass and phone I said, "Well, we don't have much time. What would you like to talk about?" To my surprise, he said, "...

"You're urging our congress to cut funding for our troops in Iraq really disturbs me, I am a vet from WW II and that is not supportive of the troops. I totally disagree with you." Said the vet after I told him about CPT work. I responded, "I feel it is supportive to bring them home alive, not in a..." (I never got to finish my sentence as it obviously did not make much sense to him.) He interrupted me, "This conversation was a waste of our time." I answered, "I don't think so, even though we disagree deeply. For us to talk with each other is what Jesus would want us to do." We ended by shaking hands as he parted. "How do you like working for the Carnival?" I asked a 20-some year old woman. "Well it sure beats living on the street." I wonder what in her history made her say that. After I shared quite extensively about CPT work, a brother responded, "That is good work you do. I was in Vietnam, and I am still...

Dear Friends, "I just got off the plane yesterday from Iraq, and I return in about two weeks," he said. I replied,"Wow!" He and Logan than began a long conversation about Iraq with a lot of military jargon I could not understand. David went on to say, "It seems sometimes you just can't get throgh to some people, and you just have to take them out. One of the guys under my command just won't listen. He is so angry at losing his buddies that he just wants to take out every Iraqi he sees. I have talked and talked to him and I just can't get him to stop that." Logan responded,"You know, some times rhetoric just does not work; you just have to act. When we took Sammarh in Iraq, my buddy entered the Iraqi police station without resistance because they were on our side. But he was so angry at losing his buddies that he slapped the Iraqi police captain in the face and hit him in the gut. Do you know what I did? I just put myself in front of my bud...