I live and work in Raleigh, North Carolina. Email, Skype, conference calls make it easy to connect across the church. But technology can’t replace face-to-face time, so I travel regularly to connect with peacemakers across the church. In August, I was in southern California for a few days. Here are some highlights.
Thursday — Had a chance to catch up with Hyun and Sue
Hur, co-directors of ReconciliAsian, a peace center in Los Angeles that
equips Korean church leaders to serve in ways that promote unity,
forgiveness and peace. ReconciliAsian received a Spread the Peace grant
by the Peace and Justice Support Network (PJSN) in 2013, and I was eager to hear
how things are going. We had dinner and they caught me up-to-date on
their work.
Eating fantastic Korean food with Hyun Hur of ReconciliAsian.
Friday — One issue PJSN is focusing on is the Israel-Palestine conflict. We produced Peace Sunday resources addressing it and have a fantastic webinar coming up in December that can help you and your church understand the basics of the conflict. In California, PJSN helped organize an event at Pasadena Mennonite Church on Friday night. It focused on the experience of Palestinian Christians who live in the middle of the Israel-Palestine conflict. I enjoyed meeting the many folks who came out for the event.
Saturday — I spent more time with Hyun and Sue of ReconciliAsian, but also met with Mennonite Mission Network’s very own Craig Welscott. Craig keeps PJSN’s website up and running. We talked about ways to make it even better. Craig recently moved to Los Angeles, so it was good timing that we were able to get together.
Californian Craig Welscott talking about websites and so much more.
Sunday — I got to spend time with Dick Davis, conference minister of Pacific Southwest Mennonite Conference. It was great to hear about some of the ways their conference is working for peace and justice. I also got a chance to get Dick’s input on the Returning Veterans resources PJSN is working on. Dick is a veteran himself and has been a tremendous help in thinking about how Mennonites can help veterans find healing in the aftermath of combat.
It was a great trip and I look forward to returning to California soon.
