Season of Nonviolence

January 30 - April 4, is a national 64-day educational, media, and grassroots campaign dedicated to demonstrating that nonviolence is a powerful way to heal, transform, and empower our lives and our communities. Originally inspired by the memorial anniversaries of Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., this campaign honors their vision for an empowered, nonviolent world.

In our culture the word "nonviolence" is loaded down with stereotypes, myths, and misconceptions. It may be among the most misunderstood words in our language. For many, nonviolence is a way of life that is grounded in a deeply held religious or moral conviction. For others it is a strategy, a method of confronting conflict or oppression in a way that seeks to honor life. Jesus Christ, Martin Luther King, and Mahatma Gandhi were all pioneers in the philosophy and strategy of non-violence to achieve great things. Check out LPF´s extensive list of resources to learn more about Nonviolence.

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Atonement Lutheran Church

Reconciling in Christ team presents:

HOPE, HOMOSEXUALITY, and HOSPITALITY

A Bible study by Bishop Dave Brauer-Rieke, Oregon Synod - ELCA

Wednesday, January 27th 6:00 PM – Potluck and fellowship; 7:00 PM – Bible study, followed by questions and answers. Everyone is welcome! (541) 265-2554 (download the flier)

If you are interested in more information about the Reconciling in Christ process and how to hold such an event in your own congregation, check out the following online websites and resources:

Lutherans Concerned/North America

Caring Conversations - Trinity's Affirmation of Welcome

goodsoil.org – Lutheran Alliance for Full Participation

Wingspan

Soulforce

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Vision and Challenge of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Jan. 17, birth of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin Luther King quotes reflecting some of the breadth of Dr. King's thought.

Useful as a bulletin insert.

It boils down to this: that all life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Trumpet of Conscience

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January 3, 2010

Epiphany

Migrants and Refugees

Now when they had departed, behold,( an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him." And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. (Matthew 2:13-15)

National Migration Week, will be held January 3 - 9, 2010 and January 17 is the 96th World Day of Migrants and Refugees and this year's theme is “Minor migrants and refugees”. As a child, Jesus himself experienced migration when he had to seek refuge in Egypt together with Joseph and Mary in order to flee the threats of Herod.

How we treat migrants, refugees, and undocumented people in the USA is a hot topic today. Pressure to migrate due to global economic problems, conflict, and climate change mean this will remain a hot topic. Here are a list of websites and resources for understanding the issue from a Christian perspective:

Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service

ELCA Message on Migration

Immigration: It's Our Community - Friends Committee on National Legislation.

Reform Immigration for America

America's Voice

World Day of Peace

The 43rd World Day of Peace will be celebrated on 1 January 2010.

The United Nations invited the world to celebrate One Day In Peace - January 1, 2000 - as the beginning of the International Decade for the Culture of Peace & Nonviolence for the Children of the World! Lutheran Peace Fellowship joined with 1000 other organizations in almost 140 nations in this launch for a better world... Throughout the past decade, LPF has developed resources, workshops, and trainings in the effort to create a culture of peace and nonviolent responses to conflict.

links:

International Day of Peace - Wikipedia

Pax Christi - World Day of Peace

USCCB - World Day of Peace

THEME FOR THE WORLD DAY OF PEACE 2010

ONE DAY IN PEACE

Christmas Day - December 25th

It is not always “simple” to live and work for simplicity and sustainability in our world.
This is especially true during the holiday season when consumerism is working overtime.
Here are ideas on simplicity in the way we live, the gifts we give, the time we share, and the ways we prepare to receive the Prince of Peace.
Peacepoints: Reclaim the Season

Success!
LPF´s top program priority last spring was offering information and encouragement to our members to support increased funding for poverty related assistance. We are pleased to report that on December 13, the Senate approved H.R. 3288, a "consolidated" appropriations bill that contains FY 2010 funding for this along with other important priorities. Approved earlier by the House, the bill is now on the President's desk for his signature.
The bill includes funding increases for USAID, Global Health and Child Survival, Development Assistance, Agriculture and Food Security Programs, Basic and Higher Education,, Educational and Cultural Exchanges, Energy and the Environment, Peace Corps, Millennium Challenge Corporation and substantial funding for Improving Access to Safe Drinking Water and Humanitarian Assistance. A complete summary can be found at:
http://appropriations.house.gov/pdf/FY10_SFOPS_Conference_Summary.pdf

Human Rights Day 2009

Human Rights Day 2009 on December 10

will focus on non-discrimination.

“Discrimination lies at the root of many of the world’s most pressing human rights problems. No country is immune from this scourge. Eliminating discrimination is a duty of the highest order.”
Navi Pillay
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

Discrimination: treating a person or particular group of people differently, especially in a worse way from the way in which you treat other people, based on the group, class, or category to which they belong (skin color, religion, sex, etc.) rather than on individual merit: intolerance and prejudice.

videos:

UN Human Rights Chief urges an end to discrimination

Anthony Romero message for Human Rights Day

Robert Archer Interview

Wilder Tayler

Links:

Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights - Human Rights Day 2009

The Campaign for U.S. Ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)

LPF resource: Addressing Racism: Challenge for Peacemakers

Lutheran Human Relations Association

The Lutheran World Federation - Office for International Affairs and Human Rights

Lutheran Immigration & Refugee Service

Lutherans Concerned/ North America

Goodsoil

ELCA:

Human Rights - CSR program

Human Dignity and Human Rights

ELCA Commission for Multicultural Ministries

Journal of Lutheran Ethics - February 2009 issue - Human Rights and Family

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Atonement Lutheran Church

Reconciling in Christ team presents:

HOPE, HOMOSEXUALITY, and HOSPITALITY

A Bible study by Bishop Dave Brauer-Rieke, Oregon Synod - ELCA

Wednesday, January 27th 6:00 PM – Potluck and fellowship; 7:00 PM – Bible study, followed by questions and answers. Everyone is welcome! (541) 265-2554 (download the flier)

If you are interested in more information about the Reconciling in Christ process and how to hold such an event in your own congregation, check out the following online websites and resources:

Lutherans Concerned/North America

Caring Conversations - Trinity's Affirmation of Welcome

goodsoil.org – Lutheran Alliance for Full Participation

Wingspan

Soulforce

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Dramatic new film

"The End of Poverty?"

nationwide premier

Now Showing in Seattle

for other cities see the full schedule and more details . . .

Interview: Filmmaker Philippe Diaz on “The End of Poverty?”

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is America’s time to gather with friends & family to share a delicious feast. It involves giving thanks for having enough food to eat and having people with whom one can share love, reflections and good company.

One would think that in a country of such enormous abundance and wealth that everyone would be able to share and enjoy plenty on this national holiday, but a recent report found that almost 15 percent of U.S. households had trouble finding enough food in the past year. While we can certainly attribute this fact to the recent economic downturn and rising unemployment, another study showed that even before the recession began, more than two-thirds of families

with children who were defined as “food insecure” under federal guidelines contained one or more full-time workers. Food banks and meal programs are stretching themselves to the limit to serve more people impacted by increasing hunger in America.

Lutheran Peace Fellowship has a new project to help support and train volunteers in U.S. hunger programs called "Lutherans and the Hungry Poor." This project has great potential to help by offering effective support, resources, and workshops to strengthen and expand a crucial element in Lutheran hunger programs: the core volunteers and leaders.

LPF’s expertise in these areas has such respect that we’ve been awarded a $9,300 matching grant from Wheat Ridge Ministries to support our work. This means that your donation to LPF for this project will be matched in full! The dollars we contribute this season will bring in an equal amount of much-needed support to assist hunger programs nationwide.

We also offer the following free online resources to raise awareness of and take action to end hunger in America, and throughout the world:

Hunger Resources

Hunger Awareness Meal - This experiential meal illuminates hunger and poverty in the world.

Hunger advocacy: Here´s how you can make yourself heard

Hunger and Development Links

St Martin of Tours - Feast Day

St Martin of Tours is known as the first conscientious objector and a great peacemaker in the Christian church. His feast day of 11 November (or the nearest Sunday) which is also observed as Remembrance Day for remembering those killed in wars (it was called Armistice Day following the First World War).

Lutherans have had a long history of responding to the gospel call to be peacemakers. One of the initial motivations for the formation of a Lutheran peace movement in the US was the need to support those resisting the draft through conscientious objection to military solutions to conflict. LPF traces its roots to this movement dating back to 1940.

For more contemporary information on current issues relating to the military service, see LPF's resource: Youth and the Military

For further information on St Martin of Tours, here are several links:

Martin of Tours

St. Martin's Day

St Martin — patron saint of conscientious objectors

November 11th. St. Martin of Tours.

SAINT MARTIN OF TOURS BISHOP, CONFESSOR—316-400

St. Martin of Tours