September 21, 2005
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
On this International Day of Peace, members of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America celebrate the 10th anniversary of
adoption of the social statement, “For Peace in God’s World.” The
statement focuses on international peace and “recalls that the
basis of the Church’s peace-calling is in God’s final peace, the
peace of God’s eternal reign. That calling is to proclaim the
Gospel of God’s final peace and to work for earthly peace.”
The social statement
(
/socialstatements/peace ) acknowledges that
“we share with the Church of Jesus Christ in all times and places
the calling to be peacemakers.” We dedicate “ourselves anew to
pray and to work for peace in God’s world.” The International Day
of Peace on September 21 offers a fitting opportunity to renew our
commitment to pray and work for peace in these troubled times.
This church has actively participated in the Decade to Overcome
Violence initiative of the World Council of Churches. The
initiative has developed helpful resources
(
http://www.overcomingviolence.org ) for use in congregations
to study and discuss issues related to peace.
The United Nations designated the period 2001-2010 as the Decade
for a Culture of Nonviolence and Peace for the Children of the
World. In 1999 an unprecedented number (31) of our synods together
memorialized the 1999 ELCA Churchwide Assembly to urge that our
church focus on this Decade. A staff task force was created to
develop and help implement goals and ELCA activities during the
Decade.
One result is the Equipping for Peacemaking Network. With the
generous support of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, the task
force sponsored a training event to equip trainers for
peacemaking. More than 40 members of ELCA congregations from all
nine regions of the church were selected from a pool of 300
applicants. The goals of the event were: nurturing and
strengthening peacemakers in their ability to share skills,
insights, and stories about peacemaking and nonviolence; fostering
and supporting an appropriate spirituality for such efforts; and
equipping ELCA members to examine their own lifestyles and their
congregation’s practices to better contribute to justice and
nonviolence. I encourage you and members of your congregation to
join the Network and find more information online at the Decade
Task Force’s Web site:
www.elca.org/nonviolence. The leaders who attended the
training event continue to replicate their experiences holding
similar events.
As we pray today for peace, please join me in rededicating
ourselves, in the words of Francis of Assisi, to be instruments of
God’s peace in every aspect of our lives.
In God’s Amazing Grace,
Mark S. Hanson
Presiding Bishop
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
