Church of the Brethren and the Office of Peacebuilding and Policy join ecumenical and interfaith calls for ceasefire in Israel and Palestine

The Church of the Brethren has joined more than 20 Christian churches and organizations in the United States in sending a letter to the United States Congress mourning the loss of life in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories and calling for a ceasefire and the release of all hostages. The denomination’s Office of Peacebuilding and Policy signed an interfaith letter to the Biden administration and Congress, dated Oct. 16, also calling for a ceasefire.

New book emerges from new international Anabaptist peace network

A new book titled A Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace: Global Mennonite Perspectives on Peacebuilding and Nonviolence, edited by Fernando Enns, Nina Schroeder-van ’t Schip, and Andrés Pacheco-Lozano, is related to the emergence of the new Global Anabaptist Peace Network.

The Holy Spirit is the first firefly

This year I caught a glimpse of the first firefly next to a pile of refuse near our back gate, blinking beautifully and hopefully in an abandoned place. When we celebrate Pentecost we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit. The disciples gathered in prayer, hidden in a room, in fear. While there may have been hope and expectation, it was likely tentative. I imagine it felt like an abandoned place. Into that place of fear and disorientation came a blinking light. A flicker of flames amidst a rush of wind.

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