Minute for Mission: International Day of Peace

September 21, 2024

The International Day of Peace is a day set aside originally by the United Nations. They hoped that by focusing our attention on peace on this day, we would have a yearly opportunity to stop and educate ourselves on issues of contemporary concern, to mobilize ourselves to address these domestic and global conflicts, and to memorialize and celebrate hard-won peaceable achievements. This is a timely reminder for us Presbyterians, one we would do well to take a minute to reflect on today.

When we think about the conflicts that occupy our headlines, we have the opportunity to educate ourselves about the reasons why peace is crushingly absent in places like Ukraine and Palestine today. The long history of Russian expansionism and Israeli settler-colonialism require serious attention. The Peacemaking Program regularly offers webinars and resources on topics like these.

But the International Day of Peace also provides opportunities for us to think deeply about peace itself and about how peace should be pursued in places where violence reigns. The U.N.’s reminder that peace involves mobilization suggests that peace-work does not entail our withdrawal from or avoidance of politics. Rather, peace is political. If it is going to be more than empty talk, peace must have political partisans. It is a political project we pursue together as partisans of a world where all are enabled to flourish. It is a project that invites us to concrete participation. Our Congress has not responded to the wars in Ukraine and Gaza as partisans of peace. They seem to be weighing their options as between providing unbridled military aid to Ukraine and Israel or no support at all.

As partisans of peace, we Presbyterians have the opportunity to sow peace by rejecting this false binary. We can loudly and proactively champion nonviolent diplomacy, support humanitarian relief work, and push for negotiations that promise to ease conflicts and end cycles of violence. And as we do this work, it will help to remember those who have gone before us and found success. Seeking peace where there is no peace is difficult, complex and often dispiriting work. We will need the help and the wisdom of those who have won peace in the past in the face of steep odds. There are many Presbyterian saints we can turn to for inspiration. Remembering that peace is possible because it has been possible can sustain us in the journey.

 Dr. Andrew J. Peterson, Associate for Peacemaking, Presbyterian Peacemaking Program

Today’s Focus: International Day of Peace

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Jeanie Schmuckie, Legal Assistant, Presbyterian Foundation 
Rose Schoene, Client Service Specialist, Presbyterian Foundation 

Let us pray

God of grace and Lord of peace, we turn again and again to our arms for security. In them, we find instead violence and deepening division and alienation from one another. Turns us instead toward you, toward the peace you promise and already are making ready for us here. Give us your grace so that we may see one another as your fellow children regardless of our differences. Send us your wisdom that we may risk the uncertainty of peace. And give us the strength to pray for our enemies as our friends, to wish them well, to hope to share with them in your beloved community, to do whatever we must to make this so. Amen.

Minute for Mission: International Day of Peace

September 21, 2023

Reflection:

International Meeting of Reconciliation in Colombia: Ecumenical 

Experiences & Learning in the Construction of Peace held at 

Congress of Colombia on Aug. 9, 2023.

In the past several months, Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations has been leading peacemaking efforts in Israel-Palestine, the Korean Peninsula, and Sudan and South Sudan at the U.N. Some of these conflicts have been around as long as the United Nations has been in existence and appear intractable. Others are new, such as the war in Ukraine, as we note with concern the rising levels of political instability around the world. Peace is fragile, and justice is hard-won.

Most recently I had the privilege of participating in the International Meeting for Reconciliation in Colombia hosted by DiPaz, an interchurch platform for dialogue for peace in Colombia. It followed on the heels of the signing of a cease-fire agreement between the government and the National Liberation Army (ELN) that brought hope for greater sustainable peace in Colombia.

Churches have played a vital role in the peace process. Whereas the U.N. approaches peace as cessation of violence and peacebuilding as conflict management, I met church leaders who have a deep and abiding commitment to transformative peace and reconciliation, by building bridges, trust and understanding through dialogue. Local churches and presbyteries have accompanied communities that have no access to government services in hard-to-reach rural territories that are targets of violence.

The church envisions a radical peace, ambitious in scope, beyond path of law and coercion, not about dominating the enemy but transforming it, not to oppress but to live out in justice and harmony. Recognizing the fragility, but always striving toward the peaceable kin-dom.

“For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. … The wolf and the lamb shall feed together. … They shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain, says the Lord.” Isaiah 65:17-25 (NRSV)

Sue Rheem is the coordinator of the Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations.  She is PC(USA)’s representative to the United Nations advocating for the PC(USA) General Assembly policies at the United Nations.

Today’s Focus: International Day of Peace

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Vianniffel Martinez, Housekeeper, Stony Point Center, Presbyterian Mission Agency
Brad Masters, VP Business Dev. & Financial Advisor, Trust Services, Presbyterian Foundation

Let us pray

God of Peace, we pray for peace not as the world gives it, but for the transformative peace for which Christ came into the world.  May we be instruments of your peace wherever we go. Help us to be reconcilers and repairers of the breach. Help us to build a new world community of peace, justice, and outpouring of love to realize God’s Shalom. We pray for this peace in the name of the Prince of Peace. Amen.

Minute for Mission: International Day of Peace

September 21, 2022

Today is the International Day of Peace, also known as “Peace Day.” For the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), every day should be Peace Day, but this is a special day, set aside by a unanimous U.N. resolution in 1981 and observed around the world. It provides “a globally shared date for all humanity to commit to peace above all differences and to contribute to building a culture of peace.”

It is interesting that the U.N.’s International Day of Peace and the PC(USA)’s Peacemaking Program are about the same age. It was in the early ’80s that the Commitment to Peacemaking, “Peacemaking Congregations,” and the Peacemaking Offering (now the Peace and Global Witness Offering) were begun among Presbyterians. It was a time when both the international community and the church community sensed a need to focus on peace as a priority.

This year, after an extended pandemic pause, we are welcoming seven International Peacemakers to the PC(USA). They come from Cameroon, El Salvador, Israel/Palestine, Madagascar, Malawi, Rwanda and Tuvalu. As you read this, they are itinerating to mid councils and educational institutions who have offered to host them for a portion of their visits. They are staying in homes, speaking in congregations, and visiting schools, civic organizations and elected leaders. They are being interviewed by local news organizations and meeting with clergy groups. They are sharing stories of the global church’s response and action in contexts of conflict and war, injustice and oppression, natural and human-caused disaster, poverty and climate change. They are bearing witness to the challenges faced and the hopes forged by our siblings in Christ. We can learn from them.

It is as clear on this International Day of Peace as it was back in 1981 that our international and church communities must remain steadfast in our work and witness for the “culture of peace” that we seek. Thankfully, we have a continuing and strong presence at the United Nations through our Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations. Our congregations and mid councils remain engaged in peace work and witness at the local and regional levels. The Presbyterian Peacemaking Program continues to provide opportunities and resources for the whole church. This year in addition to hosting International Peacemakers, we are providing Season of Peace resources, offering the Mosaic of Peace Conference in November and planning three new domestic and international Travel Study Seminars for 2023. We have also produced a new Companion Guide to the Commitment to Peacemaking that guides congregations on a yearlong process to focus their peacemaking witness on one of five focus areas: racism, poverty, violence, immigration/migration and climate change. There are new resources available to congregations for Confronting Militarism and considering Becoming a Peace Church.

There is plenty to do on this International Day of Peace. 

Carl Horton serves as coordinator of the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program in the Compassion, Peace & Justice ministry area of the Presbyterian Mission Agency in Louisville.

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff

Sarah Foreman, Associate Operations Director, Presbyterian Publishing Corporation
Valdir Franca, Coordinator, Latin America & the Caribbean Office, World Mission, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us pray

God of Peace, your world is well-acquainted with the pain of violence, the misery of poverty, the curse of racism, the brokenness of enmity and the destruction of Creation. Place us in the midst of these, make us your instruments and guide us in the way of peace. Amen.

Minute for Mission: International Day of Peace

September 21, 2021

The International Day of Peace, which was established by the United Nations, is observed all around the world on Sept. 21 each year.

The theme of peace is prevalent at the United Nations. Its founding in 1945 came after the devastation of the second World War, and it was created “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to [hu]mankind” (U.N. Charter, preamble).

This theme of peace is showcased in the artwork donated as gifts by the member states over the years.  The artwork collection ranges from murals, tapestries, stained glass windows and sculptures in and around New York headquarters.     

There is one artwork that stands apart for me. It’s called “Let Us Beat Our Swords into Ploughshares.” If the title sounds familiar to some, it’s because the words come from the Book of Isaiah 2:4: “He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.” 

The artwork shows a man holding a hammer in one hand and sword in the other. He is in motion, ready to swing his hammer on the blade to continue bending the metal into a curved ploughshare symbolizing the human desire to put an end to war and convert tools of destruction and death into a tool for the upbuilding and life for the world.   

This bronze sculpture was created by Soviet artist Evgeny Vuchetick and presented to the United Nations by the government of the USSR in 1959 during the height of the Cold War, a poignant reminder that the desire for peace is universal. 

The U.N. has called on member states to observe 24 hours of non-violence and cease-fire on the International Day of Peace. How can Presbyterians observe this day? One way is to engage with the Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations’ (PMUN) U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals Study & Devotional Guide (goal No. 16 is peace) in order to build a more sustainable world. So let us work for peace in the world. 

Sue Rheem, Representative to the United Nations, Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations, PC(USA)

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Laura Wampler, Operations & Accounting Associate, Presbyterian Publishing Corporation
Kimberly Wells, Mission Specialist, World Mission, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us pray

God of Peace, we say we desire peace and yet humankind has perpetuated cycles of violence and war throughout the ages. Today, we come before you with heavy hearts, and pray for those regions where there is conflict and war and so much human suffering, inflicting unspeakable pain and misery on one another. But we know there is a better reality. … O how good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity. We long for your peace. May we dismantle the weapons of destruction and create tools for flourishing of your creation. Amen.

Minute for Mission: International Day of Peace

September 21, 2020

Ukraine/Russia Travel Study Seminar participants meet with Orthodox leaders for a final consultation on the path to reconciliation to Dom Koinonia, Minsk, Belarus. Photo credit: Carl Horton

Today is the International Day of Peace, also known as “Peace Day.” For the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), every day should be Peace Day, but this is a special day, set aside by a unanimous U.N. resolution in 1981 and observed around the world. It provides “a globally shared date for all humanity to commit to peace above all differences and to contribute to building a culture of peace.”

It is interesting that the U.N.’s International Day of Peace and the PC(USA)’s Peacemaking Program are about the same age.  It was in the early 1980s that the Commitment to Peacemaking, “Peacemaking Congregations,” and the Peacemaking Offering (now the Peace and Global Witness Offering) were begun among Presbyterians.  It was a time when both the international community and the church community sensed a need to focus on peace as a priority.

Last year, two groups of Presbyterians learned firsthand about the importance of promoting peace in an international context. In February 2019, a group visited our partners in Rwanda to learn about and from that country’s 100-day genocide in 1994 as they commemorated the 25th year of post-genocide healing and reconciliation work. In a country where 90% of the population self-identified as Christian, we learned about the unspeakable violence that Christians had committed against one another, the Church’s complicity in that violence and the international community’s failure to intervene.  The stories of resilience, repentance and reconciliation were abundant and transformative. Then in May 2019, a group of Presbyterians traveled to the edge of the conflict in Eastern Ukraine to meet with church partners from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. The group learned about the communities trapped in the conflict zone, the humanitarian and peace-building work of the church on all sides and the way in which U.S. foreign policy has contributed to and continues to perpetuate the conflict. The group expressed the PC(USA)’s solidarity with those working for peace in the region and caring for the victims of the conflict. 

It is as clear on this International Day of Peace as it was back in 1981, that our international and church communities must remain steadfast in our work and witness for the “culture of peace” that we seek.  Thankfully, we have a continuing and strong presence at the United Nations through our Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations. Our congregations and mid councils remain engaged in peace work and witness at the local and regional levels. The Presbyterian Peacemaking Program continues to provide opportunities and resources for the whole church. This year we are hosting International Peacemakers, providing Season of Peace resources, hosting a yearlong gun violence webinar series “Standing Our Holy Ground,” planning the Mosaic of Peace Conference and leading Travel Study Seminars. We are also producing new resources to accompany the Commitment to Peacemaking that will help congregations address racism, poverty, violence, immigration/migration and climate change.

There is plenty to do on this International Day of Peace. 

Carl Horton; Coordinator of the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program in the Compassion, Peace & Justice ministry area of the Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us join in prayer for: 

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Deborah Murphy, Office of the General Assembly
Margaret Mwale, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us pray:

God of Peace, your world is well-acquainted with the pain of violence, the misery of poverty, the curse of racism, the brokenness of enmity and the destruction of creation. Place us in the midst of these, make us your instruments and guide us in the way of peace.  Amen.