Supplies:
*one ($7-10) tri-fold display board - can purchase at Office Depot/Max –
buy the blue or white
*one EPF banner – (order from EPF - $25)
*one large roll of transparent tape - 2 inches wide
* print out words (in blue if possible) – large (72 point),
if you can place a box around the word do that.
“Connection” “Delegations” “Nonviolence Training”
“Resources” “Conscientious Objection”
(Or other words that you think represent EPF)
*photos or brochures from EPF on From Violence to Wholeness Training, membership brochures – e-mail office for photos and they will be sent in e-mail.
*Peace NOTES - on delegation or other articles - and maybe print out "peace is the church's business".
*order buttons, bumper stickers from EPF national – chapters have 50% discount
*e-mail EPF for upcoming flyers, etc., that can be duplicated.
Making the Tri-fold to set on the table:
l) tape the banner on the top of the tri-fold using the clear tape. The tape comes off easily when you’re using it for a rally, so just tape right on to the trifold
2) cut out the words (above) with the box around them and arrange in a wheel-like fashion in the center of the tri-fold.
3) just simply tape right on top of the word - it will look just fine - I put the word
'Connection' larger and in the center - because that's what it is all about to me.
3) on the sides of the tri-fold, showcase what your group has done - with photos etc. or just use the brochures from EPF such as 'From Violence to Wholeness' or 'Delegation to the Middle East'.
Materials from EPF outside of the presentation board:
*EPF history -always good to have one or two copies
*Cross before Flag (good to have about 10 at least) (can print out from our web site –
updated copies will be forthcoming in 2004)
*membership brochures;
*FVTW brochures
*Prayer cards
* Urgent Call – print off from web site and duplicate.
Always have a sign-up sheet with space for Name, address, phone, church, and e-mail address and have someone to person the table.
Never hesitate to contact our National Office – 312-922-8628 with questions or to share ideas!
Jackie Lynn
Stone and Card:
a reminder never to hold a grudge
EPF member Rev. Ted Curtis (Grace/Chicago) found a wonderful item on his sabbatical that he shared at the EPF booth at General Convention last summer.
Ted passed out 500 and many more wanted this item. Your EPF chapter, parish, or youth group are welcome to this idea: Picture this: a small stone (one you can hold) and a card of explanation, in a small zip lock bag
Supplies:
1) Smooth small stones (reasonable at Hobby Lobby or your local craft store)
2) Cards with this message (click to download the .pdf file for reproduction):
'This stone I keep is not a charm or a good luck piece.
It reminds me of Jesus when he said, "Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone..."
It reminds me not to be critical of others and never to be their judge.
It reminds me to forgive my fellow human beings and never hold a grudge.
I choose mercy.
I choose never to throw this stone.'
3) Small plastic zip lock bags.
Have your chapter, parish, youth group assemble.
Pass these out at diocesan convention, meetings, youth groups − it is a nonviolent public witness.
Resolution for Diocese of Newark Annual Convention
Submitted by the Episcopal Peace Fellowship
RESOLVED that this 130th Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark recognizes that the nuclear danger has increased recently by policies which threaten to lower the nuclear threshold and encourages rather than discourages nuclear proliferation.
RESOLVED that this 130th Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark recognizes that “For People of Faith, An Urgent Call” proposes a realistic set of steps that can be taken to reduce the nuclear danger.
RESOLVED that this 130th Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark endorses “For People of Faith: An Urgent Call” (as outlined in the supporting documentation)
RESOLVED that this 130th Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark urges its congregations and individual members to endorse “For People of Faith: An Urgent Call.
Submitted by: The Episcopal Peace Fellowship (Janet Beddoe, The Rev. Geoff Curtis, Martha Gardner, Kathleen Kellaigh, K. Tyler Miller, Thomas J. Minet The Rev. Allison Moore, Maren Sugarman, Johanna Young, and Nancy L. Young)
Supporting Information
The Presiding Bishop, Frank Griswold has endorsed “For People of Faith: An Urgent Call”, and has spoken out in support of this Call. Furthermore, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America 2003 Churchwide Assembly endorsed “For People of Faith: An Urgent Call” and the ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark S. Hanson has spoken out in support of this Call. The full document, including the endorsement form will be available at the Episcopal Peace Fellowship booth at Convention. Or, you may obtain a copy by pointing your browser to http://www.nrdi.org.
The Churches’ Center for Theology and Public Policy, an interfaith organization based at Wesley Seminary in Washington D.C. is taking the lead on “For People of Faith: An Urgent Call”. For a complete list of religious leaders endorsing urgent call or for more information, please point your browser to http://www.nrdi.org.
A decade after the end of the Cold War, the peril of nuclear destruction is mounting. The great powers have refused to give up nuclear arms, other countries are producing them, and terrorists are trying to acquire them. Poorly guarded warheads and nuclear material in the former Soviet Union may fall into the hands of terrorists. The Bush administration is developing nuclear 'bunker busters' and threatening to use them against non-nuclear countries. The risk of nuclear war between India and Pakistan is grave.
Despite the end of the Cold War, the United States plans to keep large numbers of nuclear weapons indefinitely. The latest U.S.-Russian treaty, which will cut deployed strategic warheads to 2200, leaves both nations facing "assured destruction" and lets them keep their total arsenals (active and inactive, strategic and tactical) at more than 10,000 warheads each.
The dangers posed by huge arsenals, threats of use, proliferation, and terrorism are linked: The nuclear powers' refusal to disarm encourages proliferation, and proliferation makes nuclear materials more accessible to terrorists. The events of September 11 brought home to Americans what it means to experience a catastrophic attack. Yet the horrifying losses that day were only a fraction of what any nation would suffer if a single nuclear weapon were used on a city. The drift towards catastrophe must be reversed. Safety from nuclear destruction must be our goal. We can reach it only by reducing and then eliminating nuclear arms under binding agreements.
We therefore call on the United States and Russia to fulfill their commitments under the Nonproliferation Treaty and move together with the other nuclear powers to the abolition of nuclear weapons. As steps toward this goal, we call on the United States to:
* Renounce the first use of nuclear weapons.
* Permanently end the development, testing, and production of nuclear weapons.
* Seek agreement with Russia on the mutual and verified destruction of nuclear weapons withdrawn under treaties, and increase the resources available here and in the former Soviet Union to secure nuclear warheads and material and to implement destruction.
* Take nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert in concert with the other nuclear powers - the UK, France, Russia, China, India, Pakistan and Israel - in order to reduce the risk of accidental or unauthorized use.
* Cut all research and development dollars for Star Wars and ban deployment of weapons in space.
* Initiate talks on further nuclear cuts, beginning with U.S. and Russian reductions to 1,000 warheads each.
For More information on “For People of Faith: An Urgent Call”, contact The Rev. Richard Killmer, Program Director, Churches’ Center for Theology and Public Policy, an interfaith organization at Wesley Seminary in Washington D. C., at 202-885-8684 or send e-mail to rkillmer@wesleysem.edu.
There is an Episcopal version of Urgent Call, “For Episcopalians: An Urgent Call”, which is identical to “For People of Faith: An Urgent Call”. “For Episcopalians: An Urgent Call” is a joint initiative of the Episcopal Peace Fellowship and the Churches’ Center for Theology and Public Policy.
For more information about the Episcopal Peace Fellowship’s role in the nuclear disarmament initiative, please contact Dr. K. Tyler Miller, leader of the nuclear abolition and disarmament interest group of the Episcopal Peace Fellowship ( drktyler202@earthlink.net) or Jackie Lynn, Executive Director of the Episcopal Peace Fellowship at 312-922-8628 or epfnational@ameritech.net
Resolution for Diocese of Alabama Annual Convention
Submitted by the Episcopal Peace Fellowship of Alabama
The Promotion of Nonviolence
Whereas, The 74th General Convention of the Episcopal Church passed resolutions calling on the Church to be peacemakers and to promote nonviolence; and
Whereas, The convention urged each congregation to become a model for peacemaking by encouraging its members to commit themselves to nonviolence and peaceable behavior in their relationships; and
Whereas, The convention asked that the Church at national, provincial, diocesan, and congregational levels provide workshop, study, action resources, and opportunities for promoting peacemaking and nonviolence;
Therefore be it resolved, that the Diocese of Alabama engage itself to the purpose of carrying out these resolutions of the 74th General Convention by:
• Providing resources for study by congregations and individuals;
• Conducting workshops and retreats, such as the From Violence to Wholeness experiential spiritual retreat offered by the Fellowship of Reconciliation;
• Incorporating nonviolence and peacemaking in the curriculum for youth Summer Camps;
• Providing Peace and Justice networking opportunities for all members of the Diocese of Alabama.
