MC USA peace flags provide alternative for Sept. 11 commemorations

by Laurie L. Oswald

NEWTON, Kan. (MC USA) -- At a time when many people will commemorate the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C., through patriotic flag-flying, Mennonite Church USA is providing an alternative with its new peace flags.

MC USA's Peace and Justice Support Network is making available white flags with the green message, "Pray for Peace, Act for Peace." The flags -- introduced on the network's Web site at http://peace.mennolink.org -- and materials such as worship resources, a peace litany and related links can help Sept. 11 be a time of remembrance, not revenge.

With the help of these resources, congregations can show compassion to one's neighbors, provide an alternative to violence and offer solidarity to those suffering from violence around the globe, MC USA leaders said.

"We don't want to underestimate the impact that Sept. 11 had on many of our neighbors, or thumb up our noses in disregard for the insecurities it creates, or the patriotic responses it elicits," said Ervin Stutzman, moderator of MC USA.

"But as we share the pain of those losses, we also need to think through some alternatives we can offer for how our country should respond. We don't want to mindlessly support a retributive response ...but work for a way to build understanding and reconciliation."

The prayerful and peaceful ways Mennonites commemorate Sept. 11 can also provide an alternative definition for patriotism and show solidarity with those who have lost loved ones in other countries through violence, said Leo Hartshorn, minister of peace and justice for Mennonite Mission Network.

He and Susan Mark Landis, peace advocate for MC USA's Executive Board, worked with Cindy Snider, director of the Executive Board's Office of Communications, to develop the peace flag idea.

"We need to provide an alternative voice, particularly in times when the public voice is so loud in supporting war," Hartshorn said. "It's also a sign of patriotism to support democratic principles that allow alternative voices. We need to speak up publicly and show that the voice for war is not the only voice that can be heard in a free democracy. ...

"As we share our alternatives to violence, we can also convey that we in the United States are not the only people suffering from terrorism. As we grieve, we also need to connect our grief with the grief of the world, where violence is a daily reality."

Those congregations who want to use the peace flags to help establish this kind of peace witness in their communities by Sunday, Sept. 8, need to order the flags immediately, Landis said. To order, call the MC USA toll-free number at 1-866-866-2872 (1-866-TO MC USA) and ask for Roberta Harms, extension 277. The flags come in large, medium and small and can be used in the front yard, by a congregation's sign, in front of businesses, at college, as a worship area banner, at a work desk or in a school locker.

"The flags can provide a visible statement about who we are as a people, that we pray and act for peace," Landis said. "They can be conversation-starters among friends and neighbors, offering alternatives and true hope and security in Jesus and his way of peace."

Landis created "A Litany of Many Voices," taken from the statement of faith written last September. It's also available on the Web site, along with worship resources, "To become as a watered garden," based on Jeremiah 31, for use Sept. 8. Marlene Kropf, director of the Executive Board's Office of Congregational Life, adapted these worship materials from a service she prepared with musician Ken Nafziger for the annual music and worship leaders' gathering in January.

"I think there will be the impulse within congregations to use this resource to pray among themselves, which is good," Kropf said. "But I also hope that we join together with other congregations and other people in the community. This time can open up a space when Mennonites can join with others who desire peace and who want to reflect together about the part all of us have played in bringing about violence in our world."

A related peace-witness link -- http://www.mds.mennonite.net/hope.html -- provides information about a second phase of the Ribbons of Hope Program begun in November 2001 by the Restoring Hope Project. The project is a partnership between Mennonite Disaster Service and Mennonite and Brethren in Christ congregations in North America to help heal communities in New York and Washington.

In the first phase of the program, Restoring Hope invited peace churches and individuals to send ribbons and messages of hope to New York congregations. In the second phase, Restoring Hope will collect additional ribbons to send to troubled communities in the Middle East, Colombia and Africa.

Restoring Hope will also send ribbons to natural disaster sites in the United States and Canada. Churches may send ribbons to the Restoring Hope Project, 216 E. 70th St., New York, NY 10021, or call (212) 737-3700. The deadline for sending ribbons is Nov. 16.

The ribbons, along with Sept. 11 commemorations, can help foster hospitality rather than hostility in our world, said Ruth Yoder Wenger, Restoring Hope project manager.

"As we near the anniversary of the hostility which many of us experienced most directly on Sept. 11, my prayer for the church is that we respond with hospitality rather than participating in the hostility toward 'strangers' we encounter, whether in New York City, on the plains of Kansas, in the wilderness on the West Bank, or in our homes and neighborhoods," Wenger said. Logo available.