Using the Social Statement in Your Congregation
Session Two: Sections 2 and 3

Aims for this Section
Through this session’s study, participants will:

1. Develop understanding of the church’s divine calling to be a community for peace and encounter the various ways that it carries out this calling;
2. Begin considering what it means for each participant in the group to be a peacemaker.

Resources and Advance Preparation

• Bibles
• Lutheran Book of Worship for each participant
• Scissors and glue stick
• Extra newsprint and markers (or a blackboard)
• List the aims for Session 2 on newsprint
• Make a newsprint chart (or you may use a blackboard) with two vertical columns labeled "Ways the Church is Divided" and "Ways the Church lives the Oneness." Make three horizontal columns labeled "in our congregation," "in the ELCA," in the church "universal."
• Put up a tri-fold cardboard display (or use a bulletin board or piece of poster board) where participants may mount their clippings. As participants gather, they can put their clipping on the display board.

Opening Devotion
Read Ephesians 2:13-22. Invite the group to pray together the prayer for "Peace" on page 42 of the LBW.

Introduce the Aims
Call the group’s attention to the goals for Session 2 that you have listed on the newsprint. Discuss and clarify as needed.

Sharing
Ask participants to share briefly the topic of any clipping they have brought.

The Church: a Community for Peace
1. Distribute Bibles and ask all to look up 2 Corinthians 5: 17-19. Invite someone to read the text aloud. What do the verses reveal about the church `s calling? Highlight the words "Entrusting the message of reconciliation to us."

2. The statement identifies three aspects of the church’s calling to be peacemakers in the bold face type in Section 2A. Ask the group to identify these 3. Consider each in turn:

a. In publicly gathering to proclaim and celebrate God’s Gospel of peace, the Church uniquely contributes to earthly peace.

• Distribute LBWs, and ask participants to discover how many times the word "peace" appears in the liturgy. Then go through the liturgy together to identify each reference noting whether it speaks of "earthly peace," "God’s final peace," or perhaps both.

b. The Church, with a diversity of gifts. contributes to earthly peace in living the oneness we have received.

• Ask participants to read paragraph 1 on page 4. Using the chart you prepared ahead of time, ask participants for examples of ways that the church is divided and other examples of the way that it "lives the oneness," on the level of the congregation, the ELCA and the church universal.

• Read paragraph 2 on page 4. Ask participants to reflect on the chart and to share their opinions about how faithful the church is to its calling to proclaim the message of reconciliation

c. By equipping the faithful to act for peace in their communities, the church contributes to earthly peace.

• Ask the group to read paragraph 3 on page 4. Direct participants to underline the sentence: "The church is the school of the Holy Spirit that molds us an equips us to be peacemakers." Then note the following sentence in Section 3A, paragraph 3:
  "Our everyday communities form the arena where faith acts in love for peace. God calls us to be peacemakers in and through the many overlapping circles of communities through which God gives us life. . . ."

3. Draw a large circle on a piece of newsprint or the blackboard. Then add three progressively smaller circles within the larger circle--each circle containing the smaller circles. Starting with the innermost circle, ask participants to identify communities that they are a part of. The smallest circle is the family. The next, their own community. Then the nation and the global family. Ask the participants to name some ways they can be peacemakers at each level. Indicate that you will return to this topic in session 5.

Preparation for Next Session
Encourage participants to read Section 4 of the statement. They might also continue to read the international news in the newspaper and bring in another news clipping.

Closing Prayer

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