| St. Savior Episcopal Church, Bar Harbor, Maine |
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New England in autumn is evidence
of God's good grace.
Greetings, EPF friends and family! I'm in the Holy Land this week, about as far away from the grandeur of New England in October as one can get, yet spectacular in a quite different way. I look forward to sharing my experiences here with you when I return. As I was preparing to leave, and while I am here, I have been reflecting on the hostilities in Syria, and offer this, gifted to me by EPF stalwart Bill Sloan in Pensacola:
Justice soothes.
Justice heals the wounds and sores in the social body.
Justice strikes down all robbery -- illegal and legal.
Justice calms.
Injustice stings.
Injustice burns, irritates -- kills sociability and creates conflict.
Injustice is unsocial -- antisocial -- and is thus a social sore.
Injustice prevents brotherhood.
Injustice, organized in justice, is the soul of all class-labor forms of society.
The purpose of all class-labor forms of society is robbery.
The robbed resist - sometimes
The robbers are ready for resistance - always.
In all class-labor forms of society, the ruling class always have:
First, an armed guard -- ready:
ready to serve as tusk and fist for the robber ruling class
ready to suppress protesting chattel-slaves
ready to suppress protesting surfs
ready to suppress protesting wage earners
ready to defend the class-labor system
ready to extend the class-labor system
ready to defy and defeat and hold down and kick the robbed working class.
Second, an unarmed guard -- composed of prideless purchasable human things, social chameleons, moral eunuchs, political flunkies -- intellectual prostitutes -- ready:
ready to make laws in the interest of the ruling class
ready to interpret laws in the interest of the ruling class
ready to execute laws in the interest of the ruling class
ready to cunningly cajole and beguile the toil cursed working class
ready to cunningly teach meekness, humility and contentment to the working class
ready to cunningly teach servility and obedience to the working class
ready with grand words to cunningly dupe and chloroform the working class
ready to bellow about "Law and Order" when the unemployed call loudly for work or bread and when hungry strikers open their lips in self defense
ready "for Jesus' sake" (and a salary) to glorify war and scream to the "God of Battles" (also the "God of Peace") for victory; ready to baptize wholesale murder and flatter the blood stained conquerers; ready to whine and mumble over the shell torn corpses of the victims and hypocritically sniffle and mouth consolatory congratulations to the war cursed widows and orphans -- ready thus to mock their own ruined victims -- for a price; ready to preach -- to the workers -- that they must fight like hell to "get a home in heaven."
From the preface to "War - What For?" by George R. Kirkpatrick, published in 1910. |
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An invitation from
EPF NEC Chair,
Rev. Bob Davidson |
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Year of Action Celebrations in
Bristol and Providence,
Rhode Island! |
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EPF
80th Anniversary Commemoration!
Sunday, November 10, 2019
St. Michael’s Episcopal Church
399 Hope Street
Bristol, R.I.
A Commemoration of Witness
4:30 PM Evensong
Preacher: Rt. Rev. Shannon MacVean-Brown
Bishop of Vermont
Celebrant: Rt. Rev. Nicholas Knisely
Bishop of Rhode Island
Followed by A Celebration of Peace
5:30 PM Fundraiser
Swing Band, Wine, Beer & Soft Drinks,
Hors D’oeuvres & Silent Auction
Monday, November 11, 2019
Center for Reconciliation
271 North Main Street
Providence, RI
Pilgrimage
9:00 – 11:00 AM
Benefit Street’s Mile of History
walking tour
sponsored by Center for Reconciliation
Providence, RI
Lunch
11:30 – 12:30
Keynote & Panel Discussion
12:30 – 2:30 PM
Byron Rushing, Massachusetts House of Representatives, 1983-2019
Representatives of Racial Reconciliation Ministries,
Province I, ECUSA
Tickets:
Sunday Fundraiser: $60
Monday Events including lunch: $30
All events Sunday and Monday: $80
https://give.classy.org/reconciliation |
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Presiding Bishop Michael Curry
congratulates EPF on 80 years of loving action and witness,
declaring that our activity is,
"Nothing less than the work of God!"
Click HERE to give to our 80 day campaign! |
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| The North Dallas chapter of the EPF meets on the first Sunday of each month at the Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration in Dallas to write to their elected representatives, calling it their "Peace Post." If you are in the area, please join them. If you're elsewhere, consider doing something similar in your own congregation, to build a community of peace workers. |
| From the Oct. 7 Peace Post info packet, shared with us by Ron Damholt of North Dallas EPF: "Today we’re suggesting three possible issues: wording in the National Defense Authorization Act designed to prevent war with Iran, and to end US support of the Saudi bombing of Yemen; reauthorization of a version of the Violence Against Women Act which would include strong provisions for the protection of Native American women; and the proposed limitation of refugees to 18,000 in FY 2020, the 'lowest number in the history of the modern refugee program' in the United States." Read the full Peace Post packet here. |
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Our upcoming schedule:
Looking forward, EPF will be in:
Oct. 11-24: Palestine
Nov. 2-3: St. Luke's, Altoona, PA
Nov. 9-11: EPF 80th Anniversary, Bristol and Providence, RI
Nov. 21-23: Borderland Ministry Summit, St. Philip's in the Hills, Tucson, AZ
Dec. 4: National Vigil for All Victims of Gun Violence (TBD)
Dec. 22: National Day of Reparations (FOR) TBD
Are you near any of our planned stops and want to visit? Just shout! Steven and I are planning to spend the winter in the southwest, heading up through California and then into Oregon and Washington. We will come back east in time for our NEC meeting in Detroit in April, 2020. To schedule a visit, contact me at epfactnow.
Until next time,
power to the peaceful!
Melanie
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| Along the Kancamagus Highway near Lincoln, NH |
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