Newsletters

Friends,

During our General Assembly two weeks ago, the Presbyterian Church (USA) took action to make our grave concern about the Arizona immigration law known. With important leadership from several AZ pastors, the Assembly voted by more than 65% to refuse to hold meetings of the national church in the state of AZ until the law is changed.

The call continues to go out from our sisters and brothers there to widen the response. To that end, I wanted to share the following information with all of you.

Stay tuned. I hope to get more news out about the Assembly within the next week or two. It was an amazing Assembly for those of us who are particularly concerned for the cause of peace, nonviolence, and justice.

Blessings,

Rick

Solidarity on July 29

A national call has gone out from the National Interfaith Immigration Coalition to:

1) intensify solidarity with AZ on July 29.

2) use viglls, services, etc as a catalyst for strengthening local networks to organize around copy-cat legislation in various regions of the country.

In AZ we would like to be able to show the people and the press that people of faith from across the nation are praying, fasting, and sharing sacred time in opposition to SB1070 and all it implies. We kick off a day of significant action with an interfaith service at the Capitol 6:00 AM 7/29.

Services will continue throughout the state throughout the day as actions occur. Please let Rev. Phil Reller (preller1@cox.net) know if you are able to identify a congregation/partner in your area (or more broadly) to host an event, which might be as simple as opening doors for prayer to hosting an interfaith service.

Phil can send liturgical pieces from IWJ, UCC, AFSC—though they are encouraging local voices.

Please respond to Phil (preller1@cox.net) immediately if you can help!

The Presbyterian Peace Fellowship, in consultation with Mark Koenig of the Presbyterian Peace Program, requests your action regarding the new START treaty that President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed on April 8, 2010. Ratification requires approval first of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and then the support of at least 67 senators on the floor.

We ask you to write members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee immediately (it may come out of committee on July 27) and your own Senators before August 3 (when it may come to a vote).

The Reverend Gradye Parsons, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) said, in reference to the NEW START, "This initiative resonates with the vision of the prophet Micah who looked toward the day when nations 'shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks' (Micah 4:3). Guided by this Biblical vision, General Assemblies of the church and its predecessors have understood that following Jesus and working for God's intended order and life abundant involve seeking international disarmament and arms control measures."

Working for a world free of nuclear weapons is a goal of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America that was first articulated by the 167th General Assembly in 1955.

Thank you for taking time to write your senators.

Click here for more information

The Luke 6 Project, a dispersed Christian community in formation, dedicated to the study and practice of nonviolence as a member of the Community of Living Traditions, seeks an Elder to give leadership to the work of the Luke 6 Project and coordinate its relationship to the Community of Living Traditions. The Elder will have a deep experiential and studied understanding of nonviolence as a way of living in the world and as a means of achieving God's Kingdom on Earth. Click here to learn more about this position