When you join you will receive informational e-mails and invited to join the action group conference calls...it is great to reach across the country and be connected to thousands of Episcopalians working to end the war. 

To Join write to Co-Conveners: Hal Hayek and/or Madeleine Beard.

1. August is the month to visit your congressional representatives in their home office:  For Sample letter EPF sent to Episcopal Congressional Repsentatives;
Ask your Representatives to sign the Declaration of Peace
Help Guide for Congressional Visits click here


2.  *Plan local prayer vigils in September to launch Continuous Prayer Vigil with the Christian Peace Witness for Iraq.  Already have something planned, great pray for peace in Iraq during regularly scheduled events. *Resources for Prayer Vigil

3. Check to see if your Bishop signed the letter to Congress:Episcopal Bishop's letter to Congress on Iraq We've sent these bishop's a letter asking them to encourage their parishes to join the Continuous Prayer Vigil being launched by the Christian Peace Witness for Iraq: September 16th, 21st and 23rd.
Please Call your Bishop to Make sure that parishes will be holding Vigils

4. *Plan now to Participate in October 8th INTERFAITH FAST in your community!

*Pray for those dying in Iraq: include in Prayers of the People.  Each Wednesday EPF will e-mail the names of American soldiers killed and the number of Iraqi civilians killed to include in prayers of the people, it is a powerful reminder of these lives lost.
E-mail EPF for this service.  It is also listed on this web site.

*EPF works through a coalition called Christian Peace Witness for Iraq: check it out here: Christian Peace Witness

July Message from Hal:

LOOKING BACK: It is hard to believe that it is now July when March 16^th seems so near.  That evening as so many prayed and then walked and called on legislatures and the President to do all they could to bring a swift end to the war in Iraq, justice to the region, significant support for our service personnel and families and involvement of the International community we had a sense we could change the direction of the war.  And indeed we are.

LOOKING AHEAD: The Iraq Action Group of EPF has been at work with several strategy teams of the CPWI leadership.  It is now time for us to extend out wide our efforts so that all of EPF and the whole Church continue the call for the end of the war.  Our discrete planning efforts are coming together and we are in a time of new actions.

RIGHT NOW: As we are all aware there is a great deal of political action around funding and troop withdrawal. The Iraq Action Group reminds you that making contact with your Senator’s office today (www.senate.gov) can help to bring clarity and strength to our message of (1) End the U.S. Occupation (a prophetic word), (2) Support Our Troops (a pastoral word), (3) Fund an international effort to rebuild Iraq (a word of moral obligation), (4) Say NO to Torture, and (5) Say YES to Justice (especially concerning poverty issues in the U.S.).  Our calls are needed now before the Senate goes into summer reassess during August.  The Senate is currently debating the bill and amendments for 2008 funding of the war.

PRAY THE NAMES: I began by saying that our March CPWI gathering seems so near.  It seems so close for me as each Sunday we read the names of those services personnel who have died during the previous week.  Some days I almost get lost in the rhythm of name, rank and age; name, rank and age; name, rank and age.  There has been no more meaningful way to keep the cost of the war real to us here at home than this simple practice so many are using in the Prayers of the People.  To receive the names each Wednesday click here.  Names are also posted on EPF web site here.

SIMPLE AND EMPOWERING ways to work for Iraq peace:           The Action group is aware that many of us are looking for a manageable way to respond out of our concerns or opposition to the war to end.  There are several ways our response can be made and I want to raise a few for your consideration.   The first is to pray.  Our lives and actions are always grounded in prayer, so let us take this deep desire for peace into our liturgy and seek God’s sustaining guidance.  On EPF web’s there several options for liturgical use that can be adopted to meet the needs of your community.  Remember the additional collects for special occasions in the BCP and BOS.  These are simple ways to increase within our communities the capacity to live peace as we have prayed for peace.

*THIS AUGUST: VIsit your Senator and/or Congressional Representative while they are home over the August recess.  Religious leaders can have enormous impact! Madeleine has taken letters to each Episcopal Senator and Representative. Her letter might be helpful, check it out!This is an opportunity. Check out the resources of Declaration of Peace.

*VISIT the EPF web site for updates with info that you may find helpful: the Iraq resolution from General Convention 2006, D020 and the recent letter from the Bishops addressed to Congress and calling for the just ending of the war. These are helpful tools for shaping the conversation with your representatives.  You can also review proposed legislation through the above web site for the Senate.  Make such a visit a shared action with youth.

DATES TO KEEP IN MIND: As we move through the summer into the fall there are several .  We will continue to partner with other Christian communities and work with the CPWI, christianpeacewitness@gmail.com.

The first planned events will begin in September.  Beginning on September 16, 2007, Christians in communities across the United States will begin to vigil without ceasing until the occupation in Iraq comes to an end.  See Prayers, litanies, vigils now and more will be available on this site very soon.  We ask Christians to pray, take time slots, parishes to sign up for a day a month, fold these prayers into your planned activities...In DC on September 16th preachers will be preaching on the street the message of United behind the Cross for Peace in Iraq.

The EPF Iraq Action Groups wants to emphasize the last two weeks in September:  Beginning with September 16th,  September 21 ^st, the UN International Day of Peace as a date for actions across the country.  Our hope is to have every diocese involved in the action.  If September 21^st is not available perhaps communities and add an observance into worship on Sunday September 23^rd. Resources and more information will be coming soon.

Plan now to participate in the National Interfaith Fast: From Conquest to Community, is October 8^th.  At this time we we ask our members to join in an interfaith action of prayer and fasting in your local community.  EPF with The Christian Peace Witness for Iraq will join our sisters and brothers of other faith traditions for a day of public fasting and prayer and a season of discernment of our role in ending the war in Iraq.  The hope is to root ourselves from conquest to community, from violence to reverence.

 
Please watch for notices from the Action team shortly with additional information and resources to assist in your prayer and ministry as we build God’s vision of peace in our churches, nation and the world.

Hal