Happy New Year!
The participants in the 2009 Lake Junaluska Peace Conference met in Dialogue Groups and brainstormed about interfaith things to do for peace. If you participated, the following can be a reminder of what you committed to do. For other, these can be part of your resolutions for the New Year. Perhaps you will get a new idea for a way for you to work for peace!
Reminder: Check the website for undated information about the Peace Conference for 2010. Marian Wright Edelman will be the keynote speaker and there will be at least 20 workshops to choose from.
Multi-faith Gatherings and Events
• Regular interfaith meetings (with or without meals) to establish relationships & learn from each other.
• Gather Muslims, Jews, and Christians to meet each other & share stories.
• Reach out to other side; get people together to meet at restaurant to talk.
• Roundtable worship/roundtable concerns; orchestrate how to help.
• Invite persons of another faith to your SS class.
• Monthly fellowship meals.
• In-home dialogue groups.
• Come together for common cause, e.g., homeless, food pantry, etc.
• Critique & comparison of the same story in Quran & Bible.
• Start dialogue where there has been none.
• Share Ramadan with Muslims.
• A group in Pittsburgh will have interfaith meeting led by Jim Winkler, which includes a meal. It will be taped for the General Board.
• Visit synagogue with a Jewish friend.
• Establish relationship with Islamic community. Keep at it to overcome suspicions.
• “Let’s Get Connected” Day, perhaps in conjunction with another special day, such as MLK day.
• Partner with other faith groups for community development.
• Urge UMC to get Israeli & Palestinian to speak at Annual Conference (General Conf. also).
• A community garden plot, bringing faith groups together.
• MLK prayer breakfast with different faith groups.
• Identity target social needs, recruit teams of young people of different faiths to work on projects addressing those needs.
• Share with neighbors “friends for celebration of Holy Days (Seder, etc.)
• Incorporation of other faith rituals in ceremonies (Native American, Muslim, Jewish, Catholic, Protestant.
• Hold mini-peace conference in your area.
• Interfaith meals (Break Bread-Break Down Barriers).
• Remember important events, building memories & community.
• Make Noah’s pudding for church supper; invite other faiths.
• Peace Award Dinner in local church; one award to individual, another to organization.
Change Yourself
• Pray.
• Learn from international experts as to what people need, instead of imposing what we think they need.
• Be vigilant & informed about US foreign policy; support peace & justice.
• Write letters to the editor.
• Get together with like-minded; support one another.
• Faith Book Club.
• Visit Islamic center.
• Talk with pastor (he/she can block or help).
• Get accurate information.
• Make sure you are concrete in your own faith & knowledge.
• Be a 50% partner with God. Change ourselves first.
• Practice civil discourse to counter shouting matches, etc.
• Read The Faith Club, in which Muslims & Christians met to define their religions.
• Read, listen, and watch reports with analytical eyes.
• Write article for local paper to educate local community.
• Be prepared to respond to distribution of inflammatory material.
• Don’t grow weary in well-doing; change takes time.
• Use “we/us” instead of “they/them.”
• Pray for peace 5 times a day.
• Don’t just invite others to worship with you; go and worship with them.
• Inform ourselves of other religions so we can stop malicious slander about them.
• When inappropriate behavior is observed, speak kindly one-on-one, even to strangers.
With Youth and Students
• Class on international business in high school; introduce different cultures.
• Create scholarships for international students, who would return home with better understanding of Americans.
• Connect with Muslim students at local universities.
• PeaceJam program in schools.
• Home host internationals, especially during holidays.
• Confirmation classes visit other faiths.
• International youth exchanges.
• Interfaith dialogue teams @ colleges that would go out to youth groups, civic organizations, etc.
• See if conflict resolution can be taught in school.
• Contact campus ministries to find international students.
• Recruit youth leadership in our faith communities that build healthy global understanding.
• Essay contest in public schools.
• Support
• Peace for Kids summer camps for Jewish/Muslim kids.
• Plan youth pilgrimages (travel broadens and educates); raise scholarship funds for travel.
• Talk with local church ministries with children about alternative VBS curricula.
Travel
• Travel with Mission Team; learn about underdeveloped countries.
• Travel to Holy Land; get off the beaten path of most tours.
• Fund friendship force more liberally.
• Volunteers in Mission trips to Israel & Palestine (extra day in Bethlehem.)
• Travel seminars with a particular focus on peace-building.
Activism
• Get on local cable TV with discussion and truth-telling.
• Influence the government. Be informed, write, phone, join groups, vote.
• Lobby officials & especially local politicians, regarding peace as a security issue.
• Peace websites that include interfaith experiences. Use to reach those in Christian-only communities.
• Lobby for a cabinet-level Peace Department to encourage and develop local support for peace.
• Plant Peace Poles.
• Promote curriculum “Teaching Tolerance,” from the Southern Poverty Law Center.
• Join a Christian Peacemaker Team.
• Prayer circles for peace in public locations.
• Use divestiture and boycotts as tools against companies who profit from the occupation of Palestine.
• Utilize Great Decisions program; good way to address issues.
• Hold “conflict resolution” classes at church.