Events

Peace Week at the Pacific School of Religion
September 17-21, 2007

Coordinated by PSR students and PSR Peace Particles
(Seminarians to End War and Sow Peace, a.k.a. SEW Peace)
All events are free and open to the public.
For more information, please contact sewpeace <at> gmail.com.

 

 

The Peace Tree – brainchild of Abby, handiwork of many. 

Altar at the Tuesday chapel service:

“Drop the Debt, Not Bombs,” convened by Robyn Morrison. 

Two of our peaceful dancers, Kelly and Michelle.

 

 

Folks gather outside the Mudd Building after the opening commissioning  of the Peace Tree.  

SEW Peace gets its name up on the window beside the Peace Tree. 

(Yes, the image is on its side, but that’s to represent how peace is…. um…. turning the world around????)

 

Peace Week Schedule of Events for Education, Witness, and Action

 

All Week
Growing Art Piece on PSR Quad

 

12:30 pm – Mudd Building

 

Consecration of the Art, with music and free peace T-shirts

 

Tuesday
PSR Chapel Service
11:10 am, PSR Chapel — Luke 16:1-13
“Drop the Debt, not Bombs” – Robyn Morrison, preaching

 

Wednesday
Taize Worship
7:30 pm, PSR Chapel

 

Thursday
Healing Prayer Worship Service
6:30 pm, PSR Chapel — Psalm 79

 

Thursday-Friday
24-Hour Peace Pray-in
Buckham Chapel – 6:30 pm – 6:30 pm
* To sign up for a 30- or 60-minute prayer shift, please contact members of the Contemplative Prayer Group, especially Amie Giordano or Gayle Basten.

Friday – International Day of Prayer for Peace
Peace Teach-in – all workshops take place in the Mudd Building

10:30 am – Workshops:
1. Pastoral Care for Veterans, with VA Hospital Chaplain Carolyn Talmadge
2. Peace for Israel and Palestine, with the Network of Spiritual Progressives’ Nichola Torbett
3. Rebecca Ann Parker sermon, “Theological Education in a Time of Wars,” podcast and discussion
1:30 pm – Workshops:
1. Veterans for Peace, with Ted Arrindal and other PSR veterans
2. Creative Writing for Peace, led by Christina Hutchins
3. ENGAGE Training, with Pace e Bene trainers Ryan Baum and Robyn Morrison (session runs 1:30-4:30 pm)
3:00 pm – Workshops:
1. Peace Pilgrim – movies and discussion, led by Sheryl Butler
2. “Ground Truth” – movie about the Iraq war, hosted by James Leveque

 

Public Panel

 

“Resisting Imperial Peace: Theological Reflections”

 

6:30 pm – PSR Bade Museum

 

Worship Service

 

8:30 pm – PSR Quad

 

There is a Balm in Gilead – Reverend Lynice Pinkard of First Congregational Church of Oakland Preaching – Jeremiah 8:18-9:1

 

Party for the Peaceful
9:30 pm – Mudd 100

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10 September 2007

Dear Faculty, Staff, and Other Members of the PSR Community;

During the week of September 17-21, Seminarians to End War will be coordinating a series of events to call our community’s attention ever more deeply to our hopes for a peaceful world, beyond the sorrowful state of war our nation is sowing. The week will include three worship services, a teach-in on Friday, and a growing art piece, culminating in 24 hours of prayer ending on September 21, the International Day of Prayer for Peace. (Please see the accompanying schedule of events for details on these events, or email sewpeace@gmail.com with questions.) The week’s scriptures and theme, Balm not Bombs, are taken from the next week’s lectionary readings. We are coordinating our events with the national campaigns of the Declaration of Peace, the Ecumenical Peace Institute of California, Christian Peace Witness, Jubilee USA Network, and United for Peace and Justice. We will be working with campus student groups, with local peace activists, and, we hope, with you!

We hope the events of this week will encourage all of us to strengthen the Pacific School of Religion as a training ground for ministers in times of war. In short, we want this week to be motivation to engage in our studies as if (a) war were happening. (Because it is.)

PSR is an excellent location for this training ground, not only because of its location in the Bay Area and its reputation as a pioneer of social justice, but because of the incredible, varied experiences of the individuals gathered here into community. Students, faculty, staff, and family members hold profound experiences of resisting past wars, in the U.S. and abroad, and we all have much to gain from sharing the lessons of our collective wisdom.

As a component of the PSR Peace week activities students, faculty, staff, and guests from the community or from beyond the community are invited to participate in a series of worship services:
• The first service will be the PSR Chapel Service on Tuesday September 18th from 11:10 until 12:00. The theme of that service is “Drop the Debt – not Bombs” (Luke 16: 1-13) and will focus on the relationship between oppressive international debts, the resultant lack of basic human services and poverty as one potential contributor towards creating a culture of violence and terrorism.
• The Thursday service will be at 6:30 pm in the PSR Chapel. The theme of the service is based upon Psalm 79 and the service will be a healing service of prayer and music.
• The 24-hour prayer vigil will begin with the service and continue from 7:30 p.m. Thursday until 6:30 p.m. Friday with individual or small group prayer in one-hour increments in the PSR Buckham Chapel. To sign up for the prayer vigil contact Gayle Basten at gbasten@earthlink.net or Amie Giordano at agiordano@psr.gtulink.edu .
• The Friday worship service will be held on the PSR Quad (yard) beginning at 8:30 p.m. The theme of that service is “Is There No Balm in Gilead?” (Jeremiah 8:18- 9:1). Reverend Lynice Pinkard of First Congregational Church of Oakland will be preaching and the service will include diverse interfaith voices speaking about personal experience of the human effects of war and violence. After the service, all are welcome to participate in an informal gathering where we will continue the conversation about how spiritual leaders and seminarians can work for peace and justice at this important crossroads. It will be a time of fellowship and fun for building the PSR/GTU/Berkeley peace and justice community and making friends.

Workshops at the Friday Teach-in will all be held in Mudd Building, and will address the following topics:
• Peace Pilgrim
• Cinematic expressions of the experience of war
• Pastoral care for veterans
• Intersections of the war in Iraq with conflict in Israel and Palestine
• Veterans for peace
• Creative writing
• Nonviolence training through Pace e Bene

While the week’s events will be run mainly by students, we particularly invite those of you who are teaching classes this semester to participate in this Peace Week, however you see fit. Your classes have helped us students add a theological voice to the passions we brought into our seminary studies, and we know we have much more to learn from you, both inside the classroom and out.

Thank you for fostering a community where questioning systems of violence and oppression is an integral part of our faith formation and our callings to religious leadership.

In Peace,

Seminarians to End War

 

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And, the week before, our buddies at PANA are hosting a cool series of events on women resisting militarism!

September 11-15, 6:30-9:00pm

“Women Resisting Militarism and Creating a Culture of Life: A Week of
Community Conversations”

 

San Francisco Bay Area, various locations

Sponsored by Women for Genuine Security and the PANA Institute’s Civil
Liberty and Faith Project.

Internationally recognized women activists will share their experiences,
strategies and projects to transform local communities and cultures
affected by U.S. militarism. Local groups will talk about organizing
across borders to transform U.S. policy and create a culture of justice
and peace.

* Tuesday, September 11: “Voices from the Philippines,” at the
Filipino Community Center, 35 San Juan Ave, San Francisco (buses 14, 49;
Balboa BART). Hosted by babae, FACES, Gabnet.
* Wednesday, September 12: “Voices from Puerto Rico and Hawaii,”
at La Pena Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave, Berkeley (Ashby BART).
Hosted by Bay Area Boricuas and others.
* Thursday, September 13: “Voices from South Korea,” at Pacific
School of Religion Chapel, 1798 Scenic Ave, Berkeley (Berkeley BART).
Hosted by KAWAN and PANA Institute.
* Friday, September 14: “Voices from Okinawa and Guam,” at
American Friends Service Committee, 65-9th St, San Francisco (Civic
Center BART). Hosted by Famoksaiyan, Friends of Okinawa
* PLUS Saturday, September 15, 7pm: “With These Voices: The Art
and Expression of Women in Resistance,” at the Women’s Building, 3543
18th St., San Francisco (Mission/16th St. BART). Join women from Guam,
Hawaii, Japan, Okinawa, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, South Korea and
the Bay Area in an evening of art and celebration.

Donation requested.

These events are part of the 6th international gathering of a Network
that brings together women from Guam, Hawaii, Japan, Okinawa, the
Philippines, Puerto Rico, South Korea, and the U.S. to build and sustain
a women’s network to promote, model and protect genuine security in the
face of militarism.

For more information contact Women for Genuine Security,
info@genuinesecurity.org, 510 849-8260, www.genuinesecurity.org

THE OPPOSITE OF WAR IS CREATIVITY!