NEWS
1) CDS group continues work in Uvalde, has alternative to fulfill President and Mrs. Biden
2) Shipments from Material Resources ship aid help to Europe and the Caribbean
3) NCC chief scheduled to journey to Uvalde as NCC releases assertion on tragic mass taking pictures
4) Chernihiv (Chernigov) Brethren pastor returns to metropolis, finds meetinghouse miraculously undamaged
UPCOMING EVENTS
5) Annual Conference leaders problem COVID Protocol Announcement
6) Book examine to deal with advanced emotional panorama of household techniques in church buildings
JESUS IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD: STORIES FROM CONGREGATIONS
7) Mechanicsburg is a part of a three-church group welcoming an Afghan refugee household
8) Trotwood Church is getting a Little Free Library®, grand opening consists of profit for Ukrainian refugees
9) Brethren bits: Remembering Gladys Naylor, congregations maintain occasions lamenting gun violence, On Earth Peace day of celebration through Zoom, and extra information by, for, and about Brethren.
June 10 is the final day to register for Annual Conference on-line at www.brethren.org/ac2022/registration. The 2022 Conference is deliberate for July 10-14 in Omaha, Neb. Find the Conference schedule and extra particulars at www.brethren.org/ac2022.
Reflecting the brand new “hybrid” nature of this 12 months’s annual assembly, there’s a name for Annual Conference enterprise volunteers. If you aren’t a delegate to Annual Conference, however nonetheless going to Omaha, please contemplate being volunteer to assist these on-line be a part of the enterprise. Leadership is arranging for a handful of volunteers who can stand-in for digital contributors, taking a query they could have posed within the on-line chat as much as the microphones to share on their behalf. For extra data and/or to volunteer, please write to Enten Eller at tech@LivingStreamCOB.org.
As many congregations return to in-person worship, we wish to replace worship alternatives at Churches of the Brethren throughout the nation at www.brethren.org/information/2020/church-of-the-brethren-congregations-worship-online.html. We additionally carry up for prayer help Brethren who’re energetic in well being care at www.brethren.org/information/2020/brethren-active-in-health-care.html. Please ship new worship data and add well being care staff (first identify, county, and state) by sending an electronic mail to cobnews@brethren.org.
1) CDS group continues work in Uvalde, has alternative to fulfill President and Mrs. Biden
By Lisa Crouch
Children’s Disaster Services (CDS) deployed a Critical Response Childcare (CRC) group to Uvalde, Texas, on May 26 to work with the kids immediately affected by the varsity taking pictures that occurred on Tuesday, May 24.
Six CRC-trained CDS volunteers have been in Uvalde for the previous week and thus far have had 157 youngster contacts throughout their time within the Family Assistance Center.
The group was honored to be current with the kids on Sunday whereas President and Mrs. Biden visited with households within the middle, demonstrating first-hand what CDS does greatest. Due to the character of the response, the flexibility to share photographs and data may be very protected, however the group is doing very significant work with the kids.
The CDS CRC group plans to proceed serving in Uvalde so long as there’s a want on this group.
— Lisa Crouch is affiliate director of Children’s Disaster Services. Since 1980 CDS, a program of Brethren Disaster Ministries, has been assembly the wants of kids by establishing youngster care facilities in shelters and disaster help facilities throughout the nation. Specially educated to reply to traumatized youngsters, volunteers present a peaceful, protected, and reassuring presence within the midst of the chaos created by tornadoes, floods, hurricanes, wildfires, and different disasters. Find out extra at www.brethren.org/cds. More about CDS’s Critical Response Childcare group is at www.brethren.org/cds/crc.
2) Shipments from Material Resources ship aid help to Europe and the Caribbean
By Loretta Wolf
Material Resource workers Scott Senseney and Jeffrey Brown loaded three 40-foot containers with a complete of 1,120 bales of Lutheran World Relief Quilts, transport them to the Republic of Georgia. The two males are on the workers of the Material Resources program primarily based at warehouse services on the Brethren Service Center in New Windsor, Md.
Another 40-foot container crammed with Lutheran World Relief quilts and kits left for Poland to help the folks of Ukraine. This was the second part of provides being shipped to Ukraine.
Three containers are being loaded this week and subsequent week with Brothers Brother Foundation hospital provides and tools destined for Eswatini, Guatemala, and Haiti.
On the receiving aspect, two trailers from the states of Washington and Oregon had been obtained on the Brethren Service Center containing new Lutheran World Relief donations. This was a standard Spring gathering of donations, and a welcome sight.
— Loretta Wolf is director of Material Resources for the Church of the Brethren. Find out extra concerning the ministry of Material Resources at www.brethren.org/brethrenservicecenter.
3) NCC chief scheduled to journey to Uvalde as NCC releases assertion on tragic mass taking pictures
A launch from the NCC
The National Council of the Churches of Christ within the USA (NCC) proclaims that Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie, interim president and normal secretary, will probably be touring to Uvalde, Texas, this Saturday to offer a ministry of presence to this group experiencing unspeakable tragedy following the mass taking pictures at Robb Elementary School, the place 19 youngsters and a couple of lecturers had been murdered. There are additionally 17 different victims who had been wounded within the taking pictures. McKenzie will attend the morning worship service at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church on Sunday, June 5.
“There are no words and when there are no words, the ministry of presence is needed,” defined McKenzie. “I will go and pray with and for church members and the community. I hope that my visit motivates people to give support to the families who are experiencing this tragedy and have immediate needs that are not being met as they wait for other funds to be distributed. As I go bearing gifts, I encourage others to give their gifts and send thoughts and prayers in a tangible way.”
“Thank you for reaching out to us,” responded Michael Ok. Marsh, rector of St. Philip’s. “We greatly appreciate your prayers and support. We welcome your presence with us in worship and prayer.”
McKenzie’s go to to Uvalde comes only a week and a half following a visit to Buffalo, N.Y., the place she met with households of these murdered at Tops Grocery Store, in addition to church buildings, group teams, and businesses offering assist and help for that group following the bloodbath of 11 harmless folks by a gunman who focused them as a result of they had been Black.
The NCC on June 2 launched the next assertion:
NCC Agonizes After the Elementary School Shooting in Texas
“They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons; they poured out innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted with blood.” Psalm 106:37-38 NRSVue
The National Council of the Churches of Christ within the USA (NCC) grieves for the 21 lives misplaced at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. We pray for the family members of the 19 youngsters and two lecturers who had been killed and for the 17 who had been wounded.
There aren’t any phrases ample for the horror of this act. Our United States are lined with blood – the blood of harmless youngsters and their lecturers. We mourn these new victims as we nonetheless grieve the lives misplaced and traumatized throughout previous faculty massacres at Columbine High School, Red Lake Senior High School, Nickle Mines schoolhouse, Sandy Hook Elementary School, Rancho Tehama Elementary School, Stoneman Douglas High School, and Santa Fe High School. This 12 months to date, there have been 27 faculty shootings and over 200 mass shootings in our nation. The long-term results of those shootings exacerbate the hurt and trauma skilled by these most impacted in addition to our nation as an entire.
We should act to cease this from ever taking place once more. It is sinful to supply ideas and prayers with out taking decisive motion to reform gun laws.
An overwhelming majority of Americans need tighter gun legal guidelines. A latest survey discovered that 90% of registered US voters need background checks required for all gun gross sales. Yet, those that have made idols out of weapons they promote for revenue proceed to be in charge of nationwide gun legal guidelines by means of political contributions and lobbying efforts. A false theology of “God and guns” has additionally seeped into too many church buildings giving cowl for elected officers who’re intent on doing nothing to cease these mass shootings. Since this horrendous taking pictures of elementary faculty youngsters, the principle gun foyer group, the National Rifle Association, continued to advertise the sale of weapons at their annual assembly in Houston, only a few hundred miles from Uvalde, with the participation of the previous president and present Texas elected leaders. When will there be justice?
We admonish those that assert that much more weapons must be positioned in our communities. Arming extra folks isn’t the answer. We know that the easiest way to cease unhealthy folks with weapons is to forestall them from having weapons. We maintain the easy reality that with extra weapons, there are extra gun deaths.
Every nation has folks with psychological well being points and racist beliefs however solely US legal guidelines make it straightforward to choose up a gun and kill folks, simpler, in actual fact, than it’s to acquire a driver’s license. The US has extra gun violence than each different developed nation on the earth. This is shameful and we must always not settle for that we should stay like this.
“We are angry,” stated Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie, NCC Interim President and General Secretary. “The right to bear arms is not the right to kill innocent children, teachers, or grocery store shoppers. We can’t be tempted to blame everything on mental health instability, either. No one should be able to purchase assault-style weapons, especially not someone not even old enough to buy alcoholic beverages.”
There are legislative options that we all know will probably be efficient. In addition to increasing Medicaid in each state with a view to make psychological well being companies accessible to all who want them, stricter gun legal guidelines should even be handed. The NCC continues to name for thorough background checks and the ban of assault weapons and different military-grade weapons, which haven’t any sensible use in our communities past mass shootings. The nation must also have “red flag” legal guidelines in order that regulation enforcement and others can cease folks from shopping for weapons and confiscate weapons in the event that they already personal them.
Today, we once more reaffirm, our 1967 assertion calling for Firearms Control. The NCC holds that the God-given “right to life” is prime and sacred and that it isn’t potential to guard life and keep public order when people have unregulated entry to firearms. Then and now, the NCC requires allow necessities that incorporate “proper identification of applicant (by the fingerprint method if possible), and a waiting period prior to issuance so that an adequate check can be made of the prospective purchaser to verify such matters as age, absence of mental illness, and lack of a felony record.” In addition, we repeat our 2010 name for native, state, and federal legislators “to enact reforms that limit access to assault weapons and handguns, including closing the so-called federal ‘gun show loophole,’ which allows for the purchase of firearms from private sellers without submitting to a background check, or providing documentation of the purchase.”
Furthermore, we problem those that have embraced White Christian Nationalism and affiliate weapons with their identification as Christians. We ask them to look at how unchecked use of weapons mirror our Christian beliefs. Considering weapons as sacred above each different proper together with voting, freedom of speech, and freedom of faith is immoral.
“We pray but we know that prayers are not enough,” said Bishop Teresa Jefferson-Snorton, NCC Governing Board Chair and Presiding Bishop of the Fifth Episcopal District of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church. “The NCC calls on the members of our denominations to advocate, vote, and campaign for appropriate gun laws and elect people who will continue to put our lives, and the lives of our children, above the profit of gun companies. Over 50 years of advocacy has not brought results. We need our churches to have the tough conversations around gun laws and hope that ministers will feel compelled to bravely enter into discussions about gun safety laws in their congregations. We will not be silent and as people of faith, we must act.”
NCC’s insurance policies adopted by the NCC Governing Board concerning gun management:
Ending Gun Violence: A Resolution and Call to Action by the National Council of Churches of Christ, U.S.A. 2010 https://nationalcouncilofchurches.us/common-witness/2010/gun-violence.php
Firearms Control Adopted by the General Board 1967 https://nationalcouncilofchurches.us/common-witness-ncc/firearms-control
4) Chernihiv (Chernigov) Brethren pastor returns to metropolis, finds meetinghouse miraculously undamaged
The following is an replace from the Chernihiv (Chernigov) Brethren in Ukraine and their pastor Alex Zazhytko and his household, offered by Keith Funk, pastor of Quinter (Kan.) Church of the Brethren. Funk has been a key Church of the Brethren contact for the Chernihiv (Chernigov) Brethren:
“Last week Alex and I had alternative to Facetime, one thing we had not performed in a number of weeks. He and his household are again at their house in Chernihiv (Chernigov). I used to be in a position to lengthen greetings to all of the household…. The household is doing nicely, significantly in gentle of the circumstances.
“At this time, utilities and companies have been restored to some extent in Chernihiv. Some shops are open and humanitarian help is getting by means of. Alex and his household have been blessed by prayers and giving, and he and his household proceed to assist in distribution of meals and ministering to the wants of their neighbors and metropolis residents.
“Alex is asking for continued prayer as Russia continues to press the warfare. One concern is that Russia is gathering troops on the northern border, which can imply one other incursion into Ukraine from that location. This might immediately contain Chernihiv once more. Alex stated, ‘Keith, we don’t wish to flee once more. If we now have to, we’ll. But we hope to not.’
“The Zazhytko house was not broken and the identical may be stated for his or her congregation’s meetinghouse. This is gorgeous in gentle of 70 % of Chernihiv having been leveled by missile assault and bombing.
“To this point, many of the members of the congregation have not returned to Chernihiv. The hope is that they can and will at some point. Many answers and much work remains. Of course, much of the process of restoration will necessarily be determined only upon the war’s end. May we continue to pray for the end of this conflict.”
— Keith Funk is pastor of Quinter (Kan.) Church of the Brethren.
UPCOMING EVENTS
5) Annual Conference leaders problem COVID Protocol Announcement
From the Program and Arrangements Committee for the 2022 Annual Conference
As we draw nearer to Annual Conference, July 10-14, 2022, in Omaha, Neb., one in every of our prime priorities stays caring for the well being and well-being of all Conferencegoers, in addition to these we are available in contact with all through our host metropolis. In the extremely politicized context of the continued pandemic, this has confirmed to be a difficult activity. Earlier this 12 months, the Program and Arrangements Committee developed a COVID response plan in session with epidemiologist Dr. Kathryn Jacobsen and doctor and former Program and Arrangements Committee member Dr. Emily Shonk Edwards. We not too long ago met with Drs. Jacobsen and Shonk Edwards to evaluate the place we’re, the place we’re headed, and what degree of the plan we will probably be working in at Annual Conference.
This was not a straightforward determination. We know individuals are bored with this lingering pandemic and uninterested in adhering to the precautions essential to preserve everybody protected. Most congregations have resumed regular actions and dropped masking necessities. We perceive all of this.
However, we additionally know that Annual Conference is a really completely different occasion than the Sunday service in an area congregation. Annual Conference is a multi-generational occasion bringing folks from throughout the nation collectively for a big indoor gathering throughout which social distancing isn’t all the time potential and actions like singing and sharing meals collectively are vital. In that single sentence describing Annual Conference, we discover a compilation of confirmed threat components. We wish to collect in individual, but additionally wish to achieve this in a means that’s protected and displays our faith-based dedication to look after probably the most weak amongst us and restrict pointless stress on the native healthcare system. We had so hoped that the COVID numbers would enable us to collect with restricted precautions and restrictions. However, that’s not the case. The extremely contagious Omicron BA.2 variant is surging, and present vaccines have restricted effectiveness at lowering transmission of those circulating strains.However, we additionally know that Annual Conference is a really completely different occasion than the Sunday service in an area
The “Community Transmission” metric upon which we constructed our plan isn’t the first metric presently utilized by the CDC, however the “Community Transmission” map can nonetheless be accessed on the CDC web site (https://covid.cdc.gov/COVID-data-tracker/#county-view) by selecting it from the underside of the drop down menu simply above the map. As of this writing, greater than 85 % of counties throughout the nation are experiencing a excessive or substantial degree of transmission–and since many individuals are not testing or not reporting take a look at outcomes, the transmission charge is probably going a lot larger. We have, subsequently, decided that we must always comply with the protocols outlined within the ORANGE degree of our beforehand authorised and introduced plan.
This means the next:
• Annual Conference attendees will probably be anticipated to put on N95 or KN95 masks always within the conference middle and assembly rooms on the Hilton besides when consuming or ingesting. Masks are the simplest software in stopping unfold in opposition to the BA.2 pathogens that hold within the air like a mist. Leadership talking from the rostrum or head desk could take away their masks whereas chatting with be higher understood, however will change their masks when they’re completed talking.
• We can have interaction in congregational singing. All choirs can even put on their masks whereas singing.
• Meal occasions will happen, however limits will probably be positioned on numbers to permit for a bit extra social distancing, and planners will probably be requested to current this system first. Those who really feel comfy doing so could eat within the assembly room and benefit from the desk fellowship, whereas those that don’t really feel comfy doing so will be capable to request a boxed meal to take with them after this system.
• Social distancing reminders will probably be posted in areas the place folks are inclined to congregate in traces.
In addition, though not included in our preliminary protocols, we’ll distribute small purple coronary heart stickers that may be utilized to call badges by those that, for any cause, desire to keep up at the least three toes of distance from others. This will enable everybody to know the best way to method and greet each other.
COVID vaccines stay efficient in lowering the danger of great sickness, hospitalization, and loss of life. We strongly encourage all Conference attendees to get totally vaccinated previous to Annual Conference.
We additionally encourage all Conference attendees to check for COVID earlier than coming to Annual Conference. If you take a look at optimistic–or if somebody in your family checks optimistic inside 5 days previous to Annual Conference (whether or not or not they had been planning to come back to Annual Conference)–please, please, please keep house. We will refund your registration price. Finally, in case you start to really feel ailing at Annual Conference, we ask that you simply get examined after which isolate till you’ve a take a look at end result. If you take a look at optimistic, you shouldn’t return to in-person actions.
We know that quite a lot of emotions could also be evoked by our determination to stick to latest CDC steering recommending a return to masks sporting when touring and attending massive gatherings. For a few of you, this plan could trigger frustration, nervousness, and even anger that we’re taking these precautions at a time when many Americans have determined to stay just like the pandemic is over. We name on all Conference attendees to keep in mind that scripture and custom problem us to like each other and to not conform to the world. As members of a group of religion, we should be keen to stick to precautions that defend the lives and well being of our brothers and sisters throughout the group of religion and the folks of Omaha who will probably be welcoming us into their group. We anticipate that every one Conference attendees will honor this determination and cling to the protocols outlined above.
— The Program and Arrangements Committee: Annual Conference moderator David Sollenberger, moderator-elect Tim McElwee, secretary Jim Beckwith; elected members Carol Hipps Elmore, Beth Jarrett, and Nathan Hollenberg; director Rhonda Pittman Gingrich; in session with Dr. Kate Jacobsen and Dr. Emily Shonk Edwards
6) Book examine to deal with advanced emotional panorama of household techniques in church buildings
By Jen Jensen
“And looking at those who sat around him, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother’” (Mark 3:34-35).
Jesus radically reorients our perspective on household by reframing the Christian household as those that do the need of God. Yet because the church we proceed to exhibit all of the faults and foibles of human households. Learning the best way to navigate the dynamic panorama of household techniques as they apply to the Christian group may help church leaders have interaction with extra compassion and understanding.
Part-Time Pastor; Full-Time Church is internet hosting a 10-week dialogue centered on the ebook How Your twenty first Century Church Family Works by Peter Steinke. Based on Family Systems Theory pioneered by Murray Bowen and additional developed and utilized within the non secular context by Edwin Friedman, Steinke discusses emotional techniques, nervousness, generational switch, and the forces that draw us collectively and preserve us aside.
Learning to navigate the advanced emotional panorama of our church households can contribute to a extra important and wholesome pastoral ministry. The dialogue will probably be facilitated by John Fillmore, a “circuit rider” with Part-Time Pastor; Full-Time Church. Continuing training credit score will probably be accessible for contributors and books are offered to contributors. Registration is required and group measurement is restricted so join quickly!
Sessions will probably be at 7 p.m. (Eastern time) on Tuesdays starting on June 14 by means of Aug. 23, not assembly the week of Annual Conference. Please contact jjensen@brethren.org with questions. Register at https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIkcuuhrTwuG9BsRO1KPwsT8Z7XAco5Ctwl.
— Jen Jensen is program supervisor for Part-Time Pastor; Full-Time Church, a program of the Church of the Brethren’s Office of Ministry. Find out extra at www.brethren.org/ministryoffice/part-time-pastor.
JESUS IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD: STORIES FROM CONGREGATIONS
7) Mechanicsburg is a part of a three-church group welcoming an Afghan refugee household
When Afghanistan fell to the Taliban in August 2021, Mechanicsburg (Pa.) Church of the Brethren member Sherri Kimmel anxious concerning the household of a pupil she’d met by means of her work at Bucknell University. Her efforts to assist that household led her to Church World Service (CWS), one in every of 9 nationwide organizations working with the US authorities to resettle the 76,000 Afghans fortunate sufficient to succeed in the United States. Although the exiles didn’t embrace the scholar’s household, Kimmel needed to help different Afghans in constructing new lives in America.
Another Bucknell connection, professor Brantley Gasaway–an Anabaptist neighbor–helped Kimmel forge a partnership between his church, Grantham Brethren in Christ, and hers.
Kimmel enlisted yet another congregation, Mechanicsburg Presbyterian Church, and shortly discovered herself main a 10-member, 3-church welcome group, working with CWS to resettle a younger Afghan household of 4 in Carlisle, Pa.
On May 22, the Church of the Brethren sponsored a picnic in honor of the household and, with members of the welcome group watching, introduced a beneficiant verify to assist with the household’s bills.
The welcome group, fashioned in September, spent its first few months gathering family items and furnishings, forming a transportation group, and finishing clearances that might allow them to work together with the household they might be supporting. The group initially met with Andrew Mashas of CWS Lancaster. He knowledgeable them that the almost unprecedented variety of refugees arriving had led CWS so as to add a brand new workplace in Harrisburg, Pa.
Once the brand new website director was employed in December, the group started assembly often with Alex Swan. As he labored to rent his workplace workers, group members took on the problem of serving to Swan put together for the anticipated early 2022 arrival of the Harrisburg workplace’s first household.
In early February, the group realized they might be welcoming a younger couple with two young children. Team members joined Swan to fulfill the household at Harrisburg International Airport and drive them to their new house in Carlisle. The household had arrived within the US on Sept. 8, 2021, and had been confined to the bottom at Fort Dix. The group delighted in seeing the household’s first actual glimpse of America as they commented on the cornfields lining the street on their technique to Carlisle.
While the household settled into short-term quarters in a Carlisle Airbnb, the group visited them often, took them grocery buying, chased down job leads, and assisted Swan in scouting out rental alternatives. Through a group member’s private connections, they secured a three-bedroom townhome in Carlisle. On move-in day in late March, the group rented a U Haul truck and transported the gathering of furnishings and residential furnishings they’d saved at one of many church buildings to the household’s first American house.
With the household now settled, the group turned to different duties–serving to them arrange financial institution accounts and a household finances, offering transportation, arranging ESL lessons and tutoring for the mother and father, enrolling the eldest youngster in Head Start, searching for authorized illustration for an asylum declare, and so forth.
While just a few group members had labored with refugees earlier than, most, together with group chief Kimmel, had been rookies. According to Kimmel, although most of the group members had been strangers when the group first met, they united across the frequent explanation for serving to a really appreciative and pleasant younger household settle into a brand new and protected life in Carlisle. Truly, Jesus was working of their neighborhood.
— This article was offered to Newsline by Sherri Kimmel.
8) Trotwood Church is getting a Little Free Library®, grand opening consists of profit for Ukrainian refugees
From the Church of the Brethren’s Southern Ohio and Kentucky District
Little Free Libraries are a worldwide phenomenon. The small, front-yard ebook exchanges quantity greater than 140,000 all over the world in over 100 international locations–from Iceland to Tasmania to Pakistan. Now, a brand new Little Free Library in Trotwood, Ohio, will be a part of the motion to share books, convey folks collectively, and create communities of readers.
Trotwood Church of the Brethren will host a grand opening celebration for his or her Little Free Library on Sunday, June 12, from 4-6 p.m. (Eastern time). The celebration is open to the general public and can embrace a ribbon chopping at 4 p.m. adopted by a scorching canine roast and family-friendly actions, together with story instances for youngsters. In the occasion of rain, will probably be held within the church fellowship corridor.
“Our Little Free Library doesn’t just belong to us, it belongs to the whole community,” says library steward Peggy Reiff Miller. “With its ‘Take a book-Share a book’ theme, our hope is that this Little Free Library will bring a little more joy, a little more connection, and a lot of love of reading to our community.” The library is a small field on a stand and positioned within the entrance garden of the church.
The grand opening celebration can even characteristic a fundraiser to offer Ukrainian books for Ukrainian refugee youngsters and orphans by means of a challenge of the Ukrainian Book Institute. “Far away from home, with little to call their own,” says Miller, “books in their own language will provide these children a moment of peace and connection to their homeland.”
The Trotwood Church’s library is the 141,024th to register worldwide with the Little Free Library group. This nonprofit group has been honored by the Library of Congress, the National Book Foundation, and the American Library Association. Reader’s Digest named it one of many “50 Surprising Things We Love about America.” To be taught extra concerning the group go to www.littlefreelibrary.org.
9) Brethren bits
— Remembrance: Gladys Naylor, 104, who was a part of the Church of the Brethren mission in Ecuador and in Europe accompanied her late husband, Kurtis Naylor, on the World Council of Churches workplace in Geneva, Switzerland, has died on May 16 on the Cedars in McPherson, Kan. In Ecuador, she taught faculty and labored within the cultural middle. In the US she was an government on the nationwide workers of Church Women United, was a director with the YWCA, and was corresponding secretary for the International Committee for the World Day of Prayer. She additionally was a highschool trainer. The Naylors returned to Europe in 1959 to direct Church of the Brethren program, and likewise to signify the Brethren on the WCC in Geneva till 1963, in accordance with a historical past revealed by Brethren Press. She was born on Feb. 5, 1918, in Navarre, Kan., the daughter of Benjamin Hoover and Margaret (Hoffmann) Shank. In 1942, she married Kurtis Friend Naylor, they usually had been married 58 years earlier than his loss of life in 2001. She was a graduate of McPherson College and a member of McPherson Church of the Brethren. Survivors embrace daughters Merylee Ortmayer of Lexington, Ky.; Cherylin Peniston (W.J.) of Thornton, Colo.; Mariza Naylor of Alta Loma, Calif.; and Illana Naylor (Richard Barrett) of Manassas, Va.; grandchildren and great-grandchildren. A memorial service will probably be held at a later date. Memorial items are obtained to McPherson Church of the Brethren and McPherson College. Condolences could also be despatched to the household at www.stockhamfamily.com. Find an obituary on-line at www.midkansasonline.com/2022/05/19/gladys-naylor.
— “You are invited to join On Earth Peace for a Day of Celebration!” stated an announcement of the particular Zoom occasion on June 29 “to highlight our work as we appreciate and invite your ongoing support. The day-long celebration will include activities from each of our program areas. You are invited to come and go as your schedule allows using the same ZOOM link,” stated the announcement from On Earth Peace. The occasions embrace (in Eastern time):
• 11:30 a.m. – Worship
• 12 midday – “Read Alouds” that includes youngsters’s books selling justice and peace
• 1:30 p.m. – Cooking class with a dialog
• 3 p.m. – Interns, fellows, workers meet and greet
• 4 p.m. – Kingian Nonviolence Intro Training
• 6 p.m. – Keynote on Anti-War and Anti-Militarism
Register at www.onearthpeace.org/dev_oep_day_of_celebration_2022.
— Community Peacemaker Teams (CPT) is becoming a member of requires a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, as a part of its work for local weather justice. “People of all religions have been sounding the alarm for over a decade,” stated an announcement. “But ineffective or corrupt governments, powerful extractive industries, financial institutions and fundamentalist cultural and religious forces have blocked the necessary steps. Throughout history, the only force that has overcome such inertia and resistance is courageous, public, values-based leadership for compassion, love and justice. That is why we are coming together now to call for a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty. We are peacefully, respectfully, and firmly lifting our voices to call for the actions that the world urgently needs, now:
• An immediate end to new fossil fuel infrastructure projects
• A rapid decline in fossil fuel production with a corresponding surge in renewable energy
• A commitment to a just transition for impacted workers and climate-vulnerable communities and regions that have done little or nothing to cause this crisis. We’re gathering signatures ahead of the media launch during the G7 in June. Invite your faith leaders and communities to sign today!” Find out extra at https://fossilfueltreaty.org.
— An interfaith assertion at Stockholm+50 is urging dedication “to become protectors of this earth,” reported the World Council of Churches (WCC) in a launch. The assertion titled “Faith Values and Reach – Contribution to Environmental Policy,” was signed by representatives of varied faith-based organizations and indigenous cultures the world over, together with the WCC, and directed to the governments, UN entities, civil society, and all stakeholders of the “Stockholm+50” processes. “The world is facing a triple ‘pandemic’ of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution,” reads an introduction to the message. “Those hardest hit are those who have caused the least damage.” Said the discharge: “The message notes that root causes of the triple planetary crises are deeply fueled by structural greed and apathy that underpin our current economic systems. ‘Amassing of obscene wealth by corporations and select individuals is directly related to global environmental problems and solutions, which is morally and ethically unacceptable,’ the message reads. ‘Without addressing these underlying causes, we are on a collision course to disaster.’ The message further notes that poor and marginalized people, especially women, children, older persons, Indigenous people and those with disabilities are most impacted by climate change.” Download the total message from https://wedocs.unep.org/handle/20.500.11822/40048.
— Anabaptist World, {a magazine} that experiences on Mennonite and different Anabaptist our bodies, is providing a web page of reporting out of the just-completed convention of the Mennonite Church USA at https://anabaptistworld.org. The convention made some key choices affecting the lifetime of the denomination.
— Enten Eller, pastor of Ambler Church of the Brethren in Pennsylvania and a member of the pastoral group for Living Stream Church of the Brethren, a totally on-line congregation, has had an opinion piece revealed within the Reporter Online titled “Saying ‘No’ to the Gun God.” His article cited Deuteronomy 6:4, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone,” and Habakkuk 1:2-4 (NRSVue), “O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen? Or cry to you ‘Violence!’ and you will not save? Why do you make me see wrongdoing and look at trouble? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. So the law becomes slack, and justice never prevails. The wicked surround the righteous; therefore judgment comes forth perverted.” He wrote, partially: “God asks us to worship only him. Our safety, our security, comes not from guns, but from God. Prayers and moments of silence are insufficient right now, because without action, this assault on our children will end as before, with no meaningful change…. It is past time to act…with love, with compassion, working together for the good of this country. And act we must. No more sacrifices. Our children’s lives depend upon it. Our God calls us to nothing less than to choose life.” Read the total opinion piece at www.thereporteronline.com/2022/06/02/faith-matters-saying-no-to-the-gun-god.
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