Peace with Justice Sunday
May 18, 2008
First Sunday after Pentecostr/in Kingdomtide
“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with God?” --Micah 6:8b, NRSV
How would you spend $55,000? If you ask United Methodism’s General Board of Church and Society, you might hear an answer like this: “We would teach young people about peace building, aid children living in poverty and promote health-care reform.” During a recent meeting, the board approved 16 grants, exceeding $55,000 and received through the annual Peace with Justice Special Sunday offerings.
One $5,000 Grant was given to Harbor House Crisis Shelter, a health and welfare ministry. This mission responds to the growing number of homeless mothers and children. The grant is being used for case management, educational materials and community awareness—all in an effort to reach out to what some may consider “the lost, the least and the last.”
50 percent of the Peace with Justice Sunday offering goes for projects in the United States and other countries and half remains in your conference for peace-making ministries and programs. That’s money that stretches across the street and around the world! Thank you for sharing these stories with your church family and providing an opportunity for people to support Peace with Justice programs. May we do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with God as we all do peace-making ministries.--The Rev. Jane Follmer Zekoff, former director of ministry and outreach, Wisconsin Conference
For more information on Peace with Justice Sunday, visit www.umcgiving.org and order resources. Call (888) 346-3862
Peace with Justice Sunday: Teaching Peace is Possible
Witness to God’s hope for a faithful, loving world.
Your gift offers The United Methodist Church a voice in advocating for peace and justice at home and around the world.
“If you ask any child what kind of world they want to live in, they will say peaceful, safe, honest, respectful,” said Conna Wilkinson, who directs the Peace Challenge Camp in Oklahoma City.
Skyline Urban Ministries offers the camp to teach pre-teens how to make peace with themselves and others. “We teach what Jesus said and did so they know they have options for living a more happy and peaceful life,” Wilkinson explained.
And they create an environment where children can begin to ferret out what contributions they can make.
The camp puts campers through team-building exercises. “Incredible things happen during these challenges,” Wilkinson noted.
“We had a team of four boys who were working to figure out how they were all going to stay on a swinging balance beam for six seconds,” she said. The smallest boy on the team fell off the end twice, and the beam swung back and hit him.
"The team agreed it was more important to protect their team than to succeed at the challenge, so their compassionate consensus was to stop."
Will lessons learned at peace camp endure real-world tests?
“At the very least, children leave here knowing peace is possible,” Wilkinson said.
--Adapted from Interpreter magazine, May/June 2007
For more information on Peace with Justice Sunday, visit www.umcgiving.org and order resources. Call (888) 346-3862
