Read Dean Eaton’s Sermon delivered the first night of Journey Into Peace, here
REPORT FROM JOURNEY INTO PEACE:
Fifty people from nine states gathered at St. John’s Cathedral in Denver the first weekend in August to learn new ways to make peace.
“Journey Into Peace,” an event co-sponsored by Episcopal Peace Fellowship Colorado, Colorado Jubilee Ministry and the cathedral, centered around a series of workshops on Saturday, Aug. 7, that invited participants to think like “the other,” and to begin to creatively but non-violently disarm those with whom they have disagreements.
“I’m not here to share a lecture on non-violence. This is to produce thinking,” said Janet Chisholm, the senior trainer, founder and executive director of Creating a Culture of Peace (CCP), one of the presenters at the event. The weekend’s activities were an abbreviated version of the standard CCP training, which includes 20 hours worth of workshops, usually scheduled over three to four days.
“We live in a culture that is violent,” said Chisholm, a former national chairwoman of EPF. “But we say there is another way. It’s active non-violence. And we have all learned ways to make peace. Ordinary people can do active non-violence every single day.”
Throughout the workshops, participants were asked to assume the persona of different people, to look at conflict from different viewpoints, and to view those with whom they disagree as beloved children of God who carry with them a lifetime of woundedness from past hurtful encounters.
One exercise particularly touched the Rev. Melanie Christopher, deacon at St. Joseph’s in Lakewood, and a naturalized citizen born in Cuba. Participants were to assume the persona of six different individuals – a clergy person, a police officer, a town treasurer, a reporter, an unemployed person and a legal immigrant – and speak from the heart about why each might seek tougher laws targeting undocumented aliens. “That really impacted me, because I am an immigrant who came here legally, but I know others who did not,” she said. “Imagining those people speaking their truths was very powerful.”
In another exercise, participants imagined themselves to be two opposing sides at a peace rally. Half were designated “hasslers,” whose job was to get in the face of the peace marchers and escalate tensions. The other half were designated “peace makers,” who were to try a variety of techniques to defuse the hasslers’ ire.
“For me, that was very powerful,” said Lynn Huber, the outgoing convener of the EPF Colorado chapter and chairwoman of the committee that planned the weekend. “Moreso when I was being the hassler than the hassled. I got in touch with the fact that if I don’t have any other way to attack, and I’m determined to attack, then I attack personally, and I hate the capacity I see in myself for that.”
Janis Galvin traveled all the way from Massachusetts to take part in the event. She did so because she could find nothing like it being offered closer to home, and a weekend in Colorado in mid-summer seemed enticing. “It’s been wonderful,” she said. “I’m glad I came. I think I can take a lot of this back to Massachusetts with me, and share it in my parish.” While most participants came from Colorado, others came from New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, Arkansas and Utah. Chisholm came from Minnesota, and co-presenter Steve Shanks is a deacon in Alabama.
In addition to the Saturday workshops, the conference included a “peace partners” fair showcasing the work of nearly two dozen organizations committed to peace and social justice; a Friday evening contemplative worship service created by Mishkhah, the ministry founded by Kate Eaton to help others replicate some form of the Sunday evening Wilderness service that has grown so popular at the St. John’s Cathedral; and a time on Sunday for hiking and worship in Rocky Mountain National Park.
The Rev. Bob Davidson, who succeeds Huber as convener of EPF Colorado, said it was a privilege for Colorado to host the conference. “It really highlighted our EPF Colorado chapter and the fact that nationally they had known what we’d been doing here over the years and felt this was a place of high energy and great commitment – and that proved to be true,” he said. “But none of this could have been done by one person or one organization. It was the result of all our partnerships.” More than 100 local faith-based and peace and justice organizations were involved in the conference in some way, either by providing funding, or publicity or other support.
“In terms of looking at how we will move forward, we were given skills and very practical tools for engaging in non-violent witness,” Davidson said. We now have a responsibility, having gained those skills, to look for opportunities where we may be able to emphasize those gifts in a more significant way, as a chapter and as individuals. When you’re given a gift, God expects us to use it. That will be the true measure of the importance of this training – how we exercise that gift.”
Davidson said he expects the full 20-hour CCP training will soon be offered in Colorado. The offering taken up at the Friday evening worship service was designated as a fund to provide scholarships for those who would like to take part in such a training.
SIDEBAR
Episcopal Peace Fellowship Colorado will host its bimonthly Peaceflix on Saturday, Sept. 11, at St. Joseph Episcopal Church, 11202 W. Jewell Ave. in Lakewood, with a showing of the documentary The Laramie Project.
The film, which documents the murder of Matthew Shepard and its aftermath, was created from more than 200 interviews with Laramie, Wyo., residents before, during and after the trial of the two men accused of killing Shepard. The all-star cast includes Steve Buscemi, Janeane Garafalo, Christina Ricci, Peter Fonda and Laura Linney
For more information about Episcopal Peace Fellowship Colorado activities, visit the organization’s website, www.epfcolorado.org. To learn more about Creating a Culture of Peace, go online to www.creatingacultureofpeace.org.
by Rebecca Jones, EPF Colorado Chaper
