Applications are now being received for the 2010 Duke Divinity School Summer Institute, online at www.divinity.duke.edu/summerinstitute. This summer’s Institute will focus on the theme “The Ministry of Reconciliation in a Divided World” and will be held from May 31 – June 5, 2010 on the campus of Duke Divinity School. The 2010 Summer Institute will create a community of learning among diverse peers and offer intimate interaction with a world-class faculty of scholars and practitioners. You will experience in-depth teaching, prayer and worship, shared meals, real-world contexts and challenges, and an opportunity to reflect on your own vocation and ministry setting. Continue reading “Duke Center for Reconciliation invites applications to summer institute”
Author: gws
A prayer for Haiti
by Rose Marie Berger
Most Holy Creator God, Lord of heaven and earth,
we bring before you today your people of Haiti.
It is You who set in motion the stars and seas,
You who raised up the mountains of the Massif de la Hotte
and Pic La Selle. It is You who made her people in your very image:
Their gregarious hearts and generous spirits,
their hunger and thirst for righteousness and liberty. Continue reading “A prayer for Haiti”
Bridgefolk Board member returns to Rutba, Iraq
Weldon Nisly, pastor of Seattle Mennonite Church and Bridgefolk Board member, returned to Rutba, Iraq in January as part of a Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT). As part of a CPT delegation that visited Iraq in 2003 during the US invasion, Nisly was injured in an automobile accident and treated at a clinic in Rutba. He and other members of the delegation returned this year in order to express their gratitude to their Iraqi hosts and medical personnel. For CPT news releases on the recent trip, click here.
Italian Catholic bishops call for nonviolence
War Is Irrational, Italian Bishop Affirms
Conference Considers Priority of Disarmament
ROME, FEB. 8, 2010 (Zenit.org).- War is irrational and inhuman, and non-violence needs to become a language, reconciliation a style of life.
These were some of the conclusions at the Italian episcopal conference’s convention last month on “For a World of Peace: the Dream of Isaiah and the Proclamation of Christ.”
Caritas-Italy and Pax Christi co-sponsored the event.
An official from the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, Tommaso Di Ruzza, told the conference participants that disarmament is an ethical question that involves everyone, not just governments. Continue reading “Italian Catholic bishops call for nonviolence”
“Forgiving Lutherans could be a temptation for self-righteousness,” says Mennonite theologian
The request of our historic persecutors for forgiveness presents us Mennonites with a temptation and an opportunity, warns Jeremy Bergen, assistant professor of Religious Studies at Conrad Grebel University College, Waterloo, Ont. In response to a previous article in Canadian Mennonite, Bergen publsihed the following commentary on the magazine’s website. Continue reading ““Forgiving Lutherans could be a temptation for self-righteousness,” says Mennonite theologian”
Mennonite Church Canada represented at Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
WINNIPEG, Manitoba —Mennonite Church Canada leaders gathered with those from other denominations on January 24/2010 for the opening service of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Among the other denominations represented were Anglican, Catholic, Ukrainian Catholic, United Church of Canada, Evangelical Lutheran, United Church of Christ, Salvation Army, Presbyterian and Ukrainian Orthodox. Continue reading “Mennonite Church Canada represented at Week of Prayer for Christian Unity”
Sermon for Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
A friend of Bridgefolk recommends a sermon preached at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva on January 18 on the occasion of Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Click here to read.
Excerpt:
The insight of our ecumenical pioneers in Edinburgh Missionary Conference in 1910 is that witness to the things of Christ’s resurrection will only be effective if Christians are united with one another, be it the churches Acting Together in Haiti this week and in the coming years, the churches responding to human division and unjust structures, the churches responding to the environmental crises, the churches responding to war and violence, the churches responding to cynicism and despair with the good news of the Gospel. In all these things, we bear witness to the Risen Christ, together.
Resources for prayer for Christian unity
Click here for Resources for The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity and throughout the year, jointly prepared and published by The Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and The Commission on Faith and Order of the World Council of Churches.
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity coincides with response to Haiti
“This week we join Christians of all denominations and traditions in celebrating the Week of Christian Unity,” wrote Joetta Schlabach, Bridgefolk participant and pastor of Faith Mennonite Church in Minneapolis, to her congregation this week. “Certainly the tragedy in Haiti is drawing people of all faiths—and many who do not profess faith—to join in a unified response of compassion and aid. Let us pray that some of the hostilities and misunderstandings between faith communities will diminish as people join hands in service.”
For more on the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2010, including links to a joint statement by World Council of Churches and Vatican bodies reflecting on the occasion, visit http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=3193.
Meanwhile, as many people wonder how to respond to the tragedy of earthquake-ravaged Haiti, and how to insure that aid reaches Haitians through reliable channels, Mennonites and Catholics can turn to their churches’ well-respected relief and development agencies. Here are links to the most prominent examples:
Mennonite Central Committee: http://mcc.org
Catholic Relief Services: http://crs.org