Peacemaking and the “Powers”
Promoting Justice & Peace in Post-9/11 America
A 6-Session Program for Churches, Youth, & Religious Communities
on Racism, Materialism & Militarism
This new IPJ program
offers Biblical inspiration and prayer, challenging readings and worksheets,
and practical action suggestions for responding to Jesus’ plea to do “the
things that make for peace,” to Dr. King’s call to confront “the giant
triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism,” and to Walter Wink’s
unmasking of the “powers of domination.”
Ideal as a parish or congregation Lenten program or as part of a college or high school course on justice and peace, this 155-page binder provides detailed options and directions for leaders and the worksheets and optional background readings for participants for each of the six sessions. Supplementary resources include a calendar of peace and justice days and seasons, additional reflective passages, music and videos, and books and websites on these issues. For Catholic groups, there is an additional supplement on Catholic Social Teaching on these issues –
Session 1 – Jesus’ Peacemaking Plea & Our Response
Session 2 – Interpersonal Peacemaking & Pledge of Nonviolence
Session 3 – Confronting the “Powers” of Domination
Session 4 – Responding to the “Power” of Racism
Session 5 – Responding to the “Power” of Materialism
Session 6 – Responding to the “Power” of Militarism
”Peacemaking and the Powers”
A Program of Prophetic Challenges & Courageous Responses
Jesus on peacemaking (Session 1) –
“If only today you knew the things that make for peace…”
Gandhi on living the message (Session 2) –
“We must be the change we wish to see in the world.”
Walter Wink on responding to “the powers” (Session 3) -
“We must die to our learned preferences for domination. . . die to such things as racism, false patriotism, greed, and homophobia…”
“Dying to the Powers is not, finally, a way of saving our souls, but of making ourselves expendable in the divine effort to rein in the recalcitrant Powers.”
Martin Luther King, Jr. on speaking out boldly and humbly (Sessions 4-6) –
“A time comes when silence is betrayal…Some of us who have already begun to break the silence of the night have found that the calling to speak is often a vocation of agony, but we must speak. We must speak with all the humility that is appropriate to our limited vision, but we must speak.”
Shawn Copeland on solidarity with the poor (Session 5) -
“Jesus knew what it meant to stand up and speak for justice and right in the thick of oppression. When we stand up, he stands up with us. Jesus knew what it meant to risk for the coming reign of God. When we risk for that reign, he is present to us and with us. Jesus knew what it meant to live in compassionate solidarity with the poor and excluded. When we live that same solidarity, he is present to us and with us.”
US Catholic Bishops on patriotism and peacemaking (Session 6) -
“ To teach the ways of peace is not to weaken the nation’s will but to be concerned for the nation’s soul. . .”
What Others Are Beginning to Say About This Program
Joe Grant, associate director of JustFaith -
“Peacemaking and the ‘Powers’ is a concrete, practical expansion of King’s tripartite challenge for us to speak up and speak out for peace. I believe that in the hands of a creative parish formation minister, youth minister, religion teacher or campus minister, this can be a useful tool and challenging process for committed Christians younger or older… a possible focus study for a JustFaith follow-up group.
Shelley Douglass, director of Mary’s
House in Birmingham and life-long peace activist –
“Just reading over the materials in this program is a deeply moving and
inspiring experience. The step-by-step process and suggestions provided
will make organizing a group much easier. And the conversational tone makes
it all approachable. I look forward to using it!”
Follow these links for samples from Peacemaking and the Powers:
Peacemaking and the "Powers" - $29.95