Peace and Justice Support Network of Mennonite Church USA
http://peace.MennoLink.org
COMMENTS FROM MENNONITE PEACE CONVERSATIONMarch 10, 2003 (updated March 18,2003)
Thanks so much for arranging the phone-in peace conversation tonight. By the time it ended tears were streaming down my face. Tears of pain from the magnitude of the issues; the potential lives lost and damaged; despair over the fact that the U.S. government seems to be wearing blinders and lumbers on its perilous path, refusing to listen to other countries. But there were also many tears of gratitude for the grace of people in our church who can and do undertake this work, who keep trying, keep asking difficult questions, keep calling us to faithfulness and trust in God. One of the most powerful benefits, for me, of attending Nashville 2001, was the opportunity to hear our church's leaders. There is a power in the spoken word which just cannot be communicated in writing. Thank you for the opportunity to hear Daryl, John and Susan, to feel connected to them and the work they do and be touched and inspired by them in a powerful, powerful way that could never have happened through writing. The grace of Christ be with you all.
Pat Shaver
The Mennonite Fellowship of Bloomington (Indiana) met at our house last night to listen to the conference call. We had 6 adults (and 2 kids for part of the time) listening. There were some very good points made and I thought it was a good use of our modern technology to communicate quickly and broadly. I'd be interested to know how many people ended up listening in.
Cynthia Brubaker What a wonderful idea! Thanks so much for planning this conference call and the invitation to participate. My one concern is, how many churches didn't find out about it? I spoke to a camping colleague in Virginia yesterday, who would have wanted very much to listen in, but he hadn't heard of it until I mentioned it, and wasn't sure if he could pull folks together at the last minute. So, maybe we can find a way to gather even more folks in the future. There were 15 of us in our small group here at Spruce Lake Fellowship who listened in. Again, thanks for drawing us together.
Grace Nolt Thank you for sponsoring the phone conference last night with Daryl, John, and Susan. It was extremely helpful to hear their analysis of the current situation and their perspectives on our roles if/when the war begins.
Karen Glick Metzler I am in Archbold today, and met with the Ministerial this morning. Several of them had taken part in the event and reported on it at the meeting. Excellent!
Dave Worth Just wanted to let you know that we at West Clinton were very impressed with the call-in conversation. It was very timely. However, only 6 from our congregation could gather to listen. Hopefully, there will be more coming. I think a conversation with John D. Roth would be helpful. His book and appearances in our area from been very helpful. He does not deal specifically with Iraq, but it is still very timely. Just a thought! We have sent our check to cover the cost of the phone line. Thank you for making this possible.
Jim Roynon, for West Clinton Mennonite Church
What a great job the three of you did last night! Warren Tyson has a
speaker phone so we sat with him at their kitchen table and listened and
listened and learned. It came through beautifully - after a few glitches
at the beginning, having to do with his system, - and the three of you had
such clarity in communicating and sharing. Your questions were so well
thought through and clearly stated; and their answers and dialog were
of top-notch quality. Your prayer at the end was powerful. I'd love to
have a copy of it sometime.
Kathleen Ranck Thank you so much for the opportunity to hear you, John and Daryl last evening. I am deeply grateful that there are such gifted people in my church who are so committed to peace and so informed and active. Unfortunately, there was occasional static in the speaker phone we were using, and I missed the addresses for requesting the audio tape and for contributing to the cost of the event. Also, did you say that a transcript would be available? I'm sure you are overwhelmed right now, but if someone could get this information to me, I would contribute and request both a tape and a transcript. Again, many thanks. Keep up the good work. And may God's peace prevail, both sooner and later.
David Wenger Just to report there were ten of us from Pilgrims Mennonite Church listening in last evening. Yes, this was worthwhile and more calls like this on occasion would be welcome. We appreciated the input from all three. The blend of information was helpful, as was the encouragement for us to continually respond out of our spirituality-faith in Christ. It is a challenge not to respond cynically and out of anger, although I think there needs to be a way for us to express our anger. I am still working on that one. Peace,
Barry Kreider
I just wanted to let you know that there were two people from our congregation listening in on the conversation on Monday evening with Susan, Daryl and John. Please send my gratitude to these folks and the work that they are doing on our behalf at the capital and U.N. Shalom,
Vicki Penner, Pastor |