RevSwartz

NIGHT

2012-01-08T20:31:00.000-06:00

From Huehuetenango

2012-01-08T17:56:00.003-06:00

When the bell rings at 5 pm in Huehuetenango, Guatemala, the bell ringer is right up there in the tower. I wonder if he has a hearing loss.

Today our newly composed group, now twelve persons, took a van to Huehuetenango from Antigua. Tomorrow at about 8 am we finish the last leg of the journey to Nueva Esperanza in Chacula.

"Hola" from Antigua

2012-01-07T22:06:00.002-06:00

It is a new world when the modest backpacker Posada San Vicente in Antigua, Guatemala, has free wi-fi! Here is our group at dinner 2 hours ago. We are assembling, and spent this afternoon getting to know each other better. We will take a van to Huehuetenango tomorrow, and on Monday we will go higher into the mountains to Nueva Esperanza, at Chacula, for the fiesta to celebrate their return to Guatemala in 1994, after being international refugees in Chiapas, Mexico.

Guatemala Delegation

2012-01-04T11:30:00.003-06:00

Off to Guatemala on Friday, January 6 on a mission delegation.

The main order of business is to be present at a fiesta celebrating the return of refugees from Mexico to Guatemala that took place in January 1993. The community is called Nueva Esperanza and is in Chacula. These people were among the 200,000 or so refugees who fled the scorched earth policy of the Guatemalan military in the 1980s who were in camps in Chiapas, Mexico, under the supervision of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. When peace accords were achieved in Guatemala they decided to return as an organized community. Sort of a modern day Passover narrative. Last time I was there was in January 1994 and the people were literally living under blue tarps. I am looking forward to see how far they have come.

We will also visit human rights groups which have their offices in Guatemala City.

I ask your prayers for our group as we travel. Please pray that our support and bridge-building will be effective. And that everyone will be safe and healthy.

The photos are from an earlier visit to Guatemala.

ESL Program, Women's Health

2011-12-02T08:02:00.004-06:00

Lisa Viaene, Blackhawk College Program Manager writes:

"Had a wonderful event at the Lights-On ESL program yesterday....the

Health Dept came and did free breast exams for 38 of the women in the program.

Eight have a lump of some sort, so

we will be trying to follow up on this during the next

month or so."

Big thanks to Nora Steele and Mary Oelschlaeger, from the Stand Against Cancer program for helping get that organized with the Rock Island Health Department.

Community Thanksgiving Service Honor

2011-11-28T08:23:00.002-06:00

At the Community Thanksgiving Service that took place last Tuesday, November 22, at House of Fire Ministry on 11th Street I was honored for years of support for community efforts in the West End of Rock Island, and of our neighbor churches. The Church of Peace has a culture of support for our neighbors, so in honoring me the honor was really for the whole church and our commitment to being a good neighbor.

Represented at the event were House of Fire, Truth Temple, Calvary International Fellowship, First Lutheran, Gloria Dei Presbyterian along with Church of Peace.

There were quite a number of members of the Church of Peace as well. Not being "in" on what was going on I was especially impressed with the good turn out of our church members. The upper portion of the back wall above the chancel area at House of Fire is all a mirror. So while looking forward one can see who is in the congregation. As the evening proceeded more and more faces from Church of Peace were visible. Thanks to all members who were able to attend and support the service in this way.

I greatly appreciate this recognition of our church and my ministry.

Stewardship Sunday Sermon

2011-11-13T17:06:00.004-06:00

Gospel Table

November 13, 2011

Welcome Table

I'm gonna sit at the welcome table 

Yes, I'm gonna sit at the welcome table 

One of these days, hallelujah

I'm gonna sit at the welcome table

Gonna sit at the welcome table one of these days!

When our family gathers we always seem to end up sitting together at the table; probably yours too.

So, too, worshipping communities. Today we will end up at tables eating spaghetti. But more than the food, we will talk, laugh, visit, fellowship and catch up with the lives of each other.

When we have an annual meeting for the church, we first gather at table. When we mark an anniversary, when we welcome a new pastor, when we embark on a common effort such as a building project, when we gather after a funeral, at all of these moments we gather as a community around a table.

When we mark high holy days we gather at the Lord’s Table for communion – Christmas, Holy Thursday, All Saints Day-Totenfest. These are formal liturgical events, but they too are rooted in the image of a meal.

These meals are not only concrete events at which obtain nourishment; physical, social, and spiritual, but they are events symbolic of our identity as the people of God. They evoke memories of previous occasions and meals, and they pre-figure the culmination of our life with God.

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. O what a foretaste of glory divine!

The scripture is filled with accounts of meals.

· The Exodus begins with a hurried meal.
· Psalm 23 reads: “He (the shepherd) prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemies.”
· Song of Songs reads; “He calls me to his banqueting table, his banner over me is love.
· Jesus uses parables that compare the Kingdom of God to a man giving a banquet.
· Jesus feeds 5000
· Jesus’ has a Last Supper with the disciples.
· The post Easter disciples meet the Risen Christ and know him in the breaking of bread.
· The Book of Revelation anticipates the culmination of history in a great banquet with Christ on the throne as host. (“And therefore with angels and archangels and all the heavenly host, we praise your name saying, “Holy, holy, holy Lord…”)

As we move toward the heavenly banquet that the scripture foretells we are called to fashion our community of faith in ways that emulate that which is to come.

· With an invitation to all which echoes Jesus’ call to the last and the least.
· With radical hospitality to a wide array of folks.
· With an effort toward excellence that puts our best foot forward.
· With enthusiasm and warmth.
· With dignity, respect, love and generosity.

I believe that as we seek to live out and live into this vision we are engaged in the most important activity taking place on the planet today.

· In a world that envisions scarcity and want, we are living out a vision of plenty and enough for everyone.
· In a world that exudes violence toward those who are different in some way our vision is inclusive and welcoming.
· In a time that is too often despairing this is a vision of hope.
· In a world that envisions getting over on people, this is a vision of hospitality toward people and treating others with justice.
· In a post-modern world of fragmented thinking, this is a unifying vision of human harmony in service of God our creator.
· In a world of guilt and grudges this is a vision of forgiveness and reconciliation based on the Cross of Christ.

We cannot do better than living into this vision; and the church, this church, offers a chance for people like you and me to make a difference for good with the stewardship of our time, talent, gifts, service and visionary imagination. Living into this vision offers the opportunity to join on the side of God and the angels to bring this vision of a heavenly banquet into being.

Amen and amen.

Child Abuse Reporter Training

2011-11-11T12:04:00.002-06:00

On Friday, November 11, at the Church of Peace, Pam Hauman of the Child Abuse Council of the Quad Cities provided a training session for those of us mandated by law as reporters of suspected child abuse. We met for breakfast, and then had our two hour training session. When we scheduled this event several months ago we had no idea how timely this topic would be this week!

The turn out was just right. We had three of our Sunday School teachers, two of the teachers from the childcare that we provide for the Lights-ON program during the week, one of our parish nurses, our church office manager, and two other local clergy members along with me. (We scheduled the event for folks in our church who work with children, and we were happy to extend the opportunity to others to take advantage of the training as well.)

Several years ago our church adopted a "safe church" policy regarding children. This is part of the ongoing process of bringing our words into reality.

And the breakfast was really good too!

Coffee and Fellowship at Friendship Manor

2011-10-18T18:25:00.002-05:00

Several members of the Church of Peace United Church of Christ enjoyed coffee with residents of Friendship Manor this morning, October 18, 2011. This fellowship time was organized by our Parish Nurses, Mary Oelschlaeger and Nancy Olsen.
We gathered at 10 am for coffee and delicious coffee cakes.
There was a brief time of speaking when Carla McGreevey read about coffee cups and the coffee that fills them. The coffee itself is like the gift of life that God gives. The cups are our efforts to distinguish ourselves from others. What we really enjoy is the coffee.

Light Mission Pentecostal Church Workday

2011-10-18T12:42:00.003-05:00

On Sunday, Epimaque of the Light Mission Pentecostal Church (LMPC) told me that he had the week off from work and that he would bring a group by the church on Tuesday to help out. Well, today he came by and was joined by members of the church. They said they wanted to help because they appreciate the hospitality.
Two fellows joined Ed Johnson in the kitchen to help prepare lunch for the children from the neighborhood and from the Intersession program.

One of the women from the church helped out with the childcare program on the third floor that is provided for the infants and toddlers of the ELL adult students. She and her baby fit right in.
Another fellow helped by cleaning windows in the church. A constant need.
And most helped in the garden, raking downed leaves and picking up trash that gets lodged in the little nooks and crannies around the big church campus.

Their help in keeping the church beautiful is much appreciated.

Inter Session, October 2011

2011-10-12T09:51:00.006-05:00

The Rock Island School District #41 is on its fall break and the Church of Peace United Church of Christ decided to continue the Family Literacy Program that takes place at the church. So with help from the Doris and Victor Day Foundation and United Way of the Quad Cities we are providing English as a Second Language instruction for adults, a daycare program for the young children of these adult learners, and for the inter-session time, a reading focused program for the elementary age children of these adult learners. The church is a busy place with programming on all three floors!

On our first day we had 27 in the elementary age group, 21 in the daycare, and over 40 adult learners pursuing their study of the English language.

One of the really strong developments this fall semester is that we have been able to provide small group instruction for adults that is more closely sorted according to level of English competency. This is made possible with the help of volunteers. And many of these volunteers are credentialed teachers with years of experience! How fortunate for our new immigrant and refugee learners.

Another source of volunteers is Augustana College and St Ambrose University. The students provide a freshness and enthusiasm that is very positive. Additionally, our adult learners are relatively young adults, and they relate well with the college and university students.

Finally, because school is not in session the church is able to provide breakfast and lunch to the students through the Illinois State Board of Education nutrition program. With children bussed down from the Academy we had over 125 folks enjoying lunch yesterday. We had to set up extra tables and chairs in the fellowship hall!

Busy church

2011-10-08T09:00:00.002-05:00

On a recent Tuesday I arrived a little later that my usual time and was unable to park in my regular spot in the parking lot. I counted seventeen cars! I count that a good problem. Lots going on at the church even on a Tuesday morning. The Church of Peace has become a seven day a week church.

NAMI Walk

2011-10-02T18:21:00.002-05:00

On Saturday, October 1, a group of walkers from the Church of Peace participated in an event sponsored by the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill that took place at Schweibert Park in Rock Island. From Left to right we are Ernie Colclasure, Mary Oelschlaeger, Molly McGreevey, George Oelschlaeger, Rebecca Swartz, Nancy McConnell, Tom McGreevey and Michael Swartz. This walk raises money for services to mentally ill persons, and also helps combat the stigma that is sometimes associated with these diseases. Nancy Olson, one of the parish nurses at the church helped coordinate our team.

It was a beautiful day and we had an enjoyable time. We joined hundreds of other walkers for the event.

Press Conference for Transportation Equity Summit

2011-08-17T12:46:00.005-05:00

Attendance at our press conference was a little sparse this morning - I think the press was engaged with President Obama out at Atkinson, Illinois. But our turn out of community leaders was impressive and representative of the wide base of support we are getting for the Transportation Equity Summit at Bethel Wesley United Methodist Church in Moline tomorrow night - August 18 at 6:30 pm.

From right to left we are: Tad Birdet of Antioch Baptist Church Hope House and the Rock Island NAACP, Kent Ferris of the Diocese of Davenport, Rev. Julio Alvarado, Associate pastor at Bethel Wesley, Julie Gelaude, Director of the Business Training Center at Blackhawk College, Rev. David Geenen of 15th Avenue Christian Church, that's me at the podium, Minister Glen Evans of Second Baptist Church and Rock Island NAACP, Rev. Sonia Alvarado, Senior Pastor of Bethel Wesley, and Vera Kelly of the Davenport NAACP.

Here is Pastor Geenen outlining the principles of the Transportation Equity Agreement we are asking community groups and government leaders to affirm.

We are all working for a good turn out tomorrow night.

Water Safety Instruction

2011-08-01T11:05:00.004-05:00

There has been a lot of activity at the church this summer. One of the touching efforts was the water safety instruction provided by LuAnn McCracken of the Army Corps of Engineers to the families in the Summer Family Literacy program here at the church. She came to teach the group on Monday, July 25.

Following the tragic death of Michen Niyubahwe on the July 4th weekend in the Mississippi River there has been a great desire to provide timely information to the population of refugees and new immigrants who live at Century Woods here in Rock Island. Folks need to know that our local rivers are dangerous. Since families were already coming together here at the church for learning English, summer fun, food and recreation, this was a good place to start.

If we build a relationship first, then learning new things together is possible. I am grateful to be in a place where we are building positive relationship with our new neighbors.

Pioneering Healthier Communities

2011-07-27T09:05:00.003-05:00

I have been here in Washington D C for a conference on Pioneering Healthier Communities, sponsored by the YMCA. Our presenter this morning was Marlene Schwartz, PhD, who is the Director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity. Here organization has been in dialogue with fast food restaurants, including McDonalds, about making the "default setting" to children's meals more healthy. An interesting thing is that this morning in the Washington Post there was a full page ad, bought by McDonalds, telling how they have changed the basic Happy Meal to include less fat, less sodium and include fruit! This is exactly what our speaker and the Rudd Center has been advocating.

How timely

A Picnic for 700 Kids!

2011-07-16T08:11:00.002-05:00

It is pretty hard to get adequate photos of a picnic for about 700 children. This I learned yesterday, July 15, at Lincoln Park in Rock Island. The event that gathered all these children was the last day celebration for the Rock Island Parks and Recreation summer program for children.
So groups arrived in busses from several programs:

Rock Island Parks and Recreation had their groups from the Academy, from the Math and Science Center and from Ridgeview Elementary Schools.
The Martin Luther King Center summer program was there.
The Family Literacy Program from the Church of Peace came on a bus.
Valley View Homes program was there.
Casa Guanajuato was represented.
The program by Rock Island Housing Authority that meets at Frances Willard School was there.
Broadway Presbyterian Church program for refugee teens.
I have this bad feeling that I am forgetting some of the programs.

Well, everyone enjoyed games in the park, a program on the stage and large inflatable toys that children can climb into. There was some coverage by the press and local television. The biggest single event was serving lunch to all these children, and some random folks in the park; grilled hot dogs, chips, watermelon, fruit cup, milk and scooped ice cream! While it was warm it was not too hot. Good day.

Lots of hard work by staff and volunteers.

Summer Readers

2011-07-07T10:18:00.004-05:00

For the elementary school age children enrolled in the Summer Family Literacy program at Church of Peace there is a big emphasis is on reading. So here are a group of summer readers in comfortable chairs in the lounge.

Different students use the chairs in different ways.

But clearly there is a lot of reading going on!

The Summer Family Literacy program at the Church of Peace United Church of Christ in Rock Island, Illinois, is supported by grants from the Doris and Victor Day Foundation, the Junior Board of Rock Island, and the Regional Office of Education.

First Day of Summer Family Literacy

2011-07-05T10:10:00.003-05:00

Today, July 5, marks the first day of the Summer Family Literacy Program here at the Church of Peace. We cooperate in a similar program during the school year along with other partners. This summer we are doing the program on our own for the month of July.

Three are a few differences. During the school year the program is for parents and their pre-school children together. During the summer we are also providing a class for the elementary school age children of these families. So it is pre-school on the third floor, elementary school age children in one classroom, at adults in two or three classrooms in the basement.

While it is our hope that the program will grow throughout the month we believe that this is a very good beginning.

Another difference during the summer time is that we will be able to provide a light breakfast and lunch daily for the participants.

A very busy first day back after the 4th of July!

This Family Literacy program for the month of July is generously supported by grants from the Doris and Victor Day Foundation, the Junior Board of Rock Island and the Regional Office of Education. We are grateful for their gifts to aid these families.

Fabulous! Food Warmer! Finally! Hosanna!

2011-06-30T12:04:00.002-05:00

Here is our cook, Ed Johnson, standing beside our brand new food warmer that was delivered this morning. The food warmer is not even yet out of its wrapping. This will be a wonderful improvement for our food service here at the church.

One of the issues when preparing a large number of meals to be delivered in a small window of time is to keep the food at a proper temperature - warm or cold. What the food warmer allows us to do is to cook warm food and to transfer it into the warmer where it can be kept at a constant temperature. If you look at the bottom you can see dials that allow picking a particular temperature. This is a commercial quality warmer that has a glass front so we can see what is inside without opening the door, and it is of a standard size so commercial sized pans fit exactly on the many racks. What a blessing!

The money for this warmer was given by the Community Foundation of the Great River Bend. We had applied first to a national program to benefit food providers to children. When we were not selected for that grant the Community Foundation stepped in and made a grant very promptly. We are so grateful. And this piece of equipment is expensive. What a big help for hungry children in Rock Island.

Good day!

Bike Rack Needed

2011-06-29T12:22:00.004-05:00

When Rock Island Parks and Recreation decided to have one of their three Summer Day Camp sites at the Academy, our neighborhood school, right down the street, we figured there was not really much need to have a meal site here at the church. Who knew? We have been averaging between 40 and 50 children at lunch daily!

And this is in addition to the over 100 meals we cater to the children at the Academy, daily, for lunch!

I had been running and errand, and when I entered the church building today about 12:15 pm this is the sight that greeted me just outside the door. And when I walked down the stairs toward the Fellowship Hall, where meals are served, I encountered bicycles inside the building too. The bottom photo.

Clearly, we need a bike rack so that bicycles can be parked neatly and safely.

This would also be a real help for the ESL program. Some of our adult students ride to the church on a bicycle. And a bike rack would be where some of the strollers that the young moms use to bring their children could be locked safely.

If you have an inside track on a bike rack let me know.

Non-Discrimination Policy

2011-06-27T10:18:00.002-05:00

On Sunday, June 26, 2011, at our regular June Congregational Meeting the Church of Peace United Church of Christ of Rock Island, Illinois, adopted a non-discrimination policy. This policy does not really represent new thinking at the church, but rather puts it into words suitable for posting for anyone who would want to know about who is eligible for the programs and services of the church. It reads:

The Church of Peace does not discriminate or refuse to offer programs or services to persons on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age or disability."

And they're off....

2011-06-10T13:24:00.003-05:00

Monday, June 6, was the first day of the Summer Meals Program here at the Church of Peace United Church of Christ in Rock Island. It always begins a little slowly. We had about 16 children arrive for breakfast and over 30 children eat lunch. And in addition to the children who come to our church building for meals we deliver meals to various summer programs for children around Rock Island. And we have a satellite site this year at Hope United Church of Christ in Moline, Illinois, and they are delivering meals to similar programs in Moline. We estimate that we served over 600 children's meals per day in this our first week!

This is particularly exciting when we consider our history. The first year we provided meals for children in the summer time was 2004; and we served 440 meals in the entire summer. Here is the history of the year and number of meals:

2004 - 440

2005 - 812

2006 - 2517

2007 - 3412

2008 - 11529

2009 - 13089

2010 - 15388

Please keep us in your prayers!

Family Wedding

2011-05-23T15:52:00.007-05:00

Last Saturday, May 21, we all attended a family wedding in Petersburg, Illinois. "We" is Nancy, Rebecca and I, along with Nancy's parents - John and Kathie. The wedding was for Nancy's cousin, the granddaughter of Kathie's sister; Rebecca, and her now new husband, Doug. It was a great privilege to see that whole side of the family, and good to be there for event.

The wedding itself took place at the theater at New Salem Historical Site, just south of Petersburg. (This is where young Abraham Lincoln spent some time.) It had been predicted that Saturday would be rainy, but it was sunny, warm and nice for the outdoor nuptials.

After the wedding we drove to Athens for a nice dinner. My daughter Rebecca came with me as I drove home that night so I could be at church on Sunday morning. Nancy and her parents stayed at a local Bed and Breakfast, and were able to stay later and visit more with family.

It is important to be there for family events when you can.

End of the Year Program for Family Literacy Class

2011-05-20T11:50:00.002-05:00

Yesterday, May 19, was the end of the school year for the Family Literacy Program here at the Church of Peace, with is part of Lights ON for Learning. This program is a collaboration with Rock Island School District #41, the Regional Office of Education, the Rock Island Public Library, Blackhawk College and the Church of Peace. It focuses on English language learning for parents of students in the Rock Island district, and also has a childcare program to look after the younger children of the adult learners while they are in class. It is a very positive and upbeat program.

Well, yesterday the adult learners received their certificates of completion for the year, and they were very excited to get these. Here is one of the students receiving her certificate, presented by the teachers, Carolyn and Marilyn. The whole presentation is being photographed by another student. The students are proud of their accomplishments, and pleased with the recognition. There must have been 40 adult students receiving recognition.

On hand to observe the presentations were representatives of all of the above organizations, along with community members. There was a luncheon that followed.

Part of what seems to make this program so exciting is the great diversity among the students. In many of these ELL programs all of the students are from the same country of origin. Here at the church there are students from Burma, Burundi, Congo, Iran, Mexico, Tanzania, and students from the US working on their GED. It is an exciting and diverse population!

QCI Transportation Equity Community Task Force

2011-05-10T13:35:00.004-05:00

This morning there was a meeting of the Transportation Equity Community Task Force of Quad Cities Interfaith here at the Church of Peace. Our organizer, Leslie Kilgannon, is the one in the pink top standing up. With the passenger rail service coming at least to Moline, and probably on to Iowa City, we here in the Quad Cities are in a good position to see that this major infrastructure development program also means workforce development and jobs for local people, minorities and others who are typically left out.

In this effort we are in touch with a national effort called the Transportation Equity Network, and information can be found at http://www.transportationequity.org/

Last week when I was in Springfield, Illinois, with Leslie and others from the Illinois Gamaliel Association we talked with State Senator Mike Jacobs about a Transportation Equity Agreement. He was most supportive, and it was encouraging to see that our legislators are coming "on board." Others from our Task Force met with Representative Pat Vershore and also received a positive response.

I am sure there is more to come; or rather more "down the tracks."

Youth Leaders

2011-05-09T16:20:00.002-05:00

Last Saturday morning Nancy and I had breakfast with Ted and Lois Davies, who were the youth fellowship leaders for our group when I was in High School in Los Angeles. They were driving across the country and staying with family in Cedar Rapids. We met in Mount Vernon and had a wonderful visit.

Cross Walk 2011

2011-04-25T10:06:00.003-05:00

I guess it is only right that a walk with the cross on Good Friday is supposed to be miserable. We walk as disciples recalling the first Good Friday when Jesus carried his cross and was crucified. If the theme of the day is misery, then the walk this year was a wonderful success. It was cold and rainy. I only made it as far as the Church of Peace. Most of the walkers continued on to Gloria Dei Presbyterian Church, which is the group that sponsors the experience. In the photo above the group stops for a moment to pray.

Did you go to church today?

2011-03-23T13:19:00.004-05:00

So I picked up the winter 2011 issue of The Crisis, which is the magazine of the NAACP off of my messy desk and was skimming through it. And I came to this page, and it seemed like a very good and very direct question. Did you go to church today?

The church remains one of the few places where people come together on a face-to-face basis to reflect on their life, resolve to do good, seek divine help, and work together for a positive community. There is power in worshipping together.

And since the days of Micah, the Prophet of Hebrew Scriptures, justice has been a topic of concern. "What does the Lord require of you? To do justice, and love kindness, and walk humbly with your God."

Gathering with family, friends and neighbors is a powerful step toward community and justice.

Giants Keep Coming

2011-03-01T13:45:00.002-06:00

Last Sunday afternoon, February 27, Nancy and I, along with the Chairman of the Board at Church of Peace, Paul Waytenick, attended the Community Day Celebration of the Religious Affairs Committee of the local NAACP Chapter. It was a good event; great music, fine preaching, and most important, a way to connect with a positive group of people providing leadership in our neighborhood in Rock Island. And we saw friends.

Being part of the United Church of Christ, whose slogan is "that they all may be one," quoting Jesus from the 17th chapter of the Gospel of John, my default setting is to say "yes" to ecumenical gatherings in the community. Our church stands for treating others with respect and dignity, we believe in diversity, and we cooperate ecumenically with others. We do our best to work in harmony with others unless there is a specific reason not to do so.

At the same time our church expects the same respect that we extend to others. We have found the NAACP great partners over the years, and we value our cooperation.

Bishop Samuel Ruiz dies

2011-01-26T13:18:00.004-06:00

In February 2007 a group of United Church of Christ pastors was in Cuernavaca, Mexico to meet with the leadership team from a Mexican Civil Association (non-profit corporation) named INESIN. And who should we run into but Bishop Samuel Ruiz Garcia, who was the instigator in setting up INESIN years before. The bishop had suggested to Rev. Paula Bidle, and her husband, Bud Moore, that it would be a good idea to help establish an ecumenical center where Catholics and Protestants could meet together to work on common issues. Bud and Paula were UCC missionaries in Chiapas at that time, and INESIN was a 12 year old reality in 2007.

Ruiz was in Cuernavaca to be part of an special service in the cathedral to honor Sergio Mendez Arceo, who had been bishop in Curernavaca from 1952-1983.

Lo and behold, Bishop Ruiz was attending a dinner before the service at CCIDD, which is the center where we were meeting with our partners from INESIN. Small world. Here is Paula Bidle with Bishop Ruiz in the garden.

The United Church of Christ had been working in partnership with Bishop Ruiz and with the Diocese of San Cristobal de las Casas since the 1980s. This partnership was to aid the Guatemalan refugees who fled the scorched earth policy of the the Guatemalan military, and had fled north across the border into Mexico. The partnership helped provide material aid, medicine, and accompaniment for these refugees.

Bishop Ruiz, who had been made bishop by Pope John XXIII, and who had attended the Second Vatican Council, was unusual in that he regarded Protestants like us as potential partners in mission.

I first met him in person in January 1994, just after the Zapatista Uprising, when on a church delegation from the United Church of Christ. The curia (diocese offices) was buzzing with international press and lots of activity and he welcomed our group. I was impressed.

The black and white photo above is another delegation from the UCC meeting with Ruiz before a service in the Cathedral in San Cristobal. I think it was snapped in about 1997. There has been a fairly continuous relationship with the United Church of Christ and San Cristobal from 1982 to the present.

Bishop Ruiz simply had a wider vision than most people. He embraced the indigenous, Mayan people of his diocese, and was loved by them in return. He saw to it that catechists and deacons were deployed to address their spiritual and other needs.

He saw the United Church of Christ pastors as potential allies in doing the work of God in the area. He urged us in our efforts, and we were happy to be partners.

He inspired groups to work together to do worthwhile things. It was his vision to begin INESIN, and after getting things rolling this little ecumenical gathering spot has continued on a journey of peace making. I think of this as spiritual leadership at its best.

Ruiz was also a warm and caring individual. He had a pastor's heart.

The last time I saw him, from a distance, was at a celebration in January 2010 to mark the 50th Anniversary of his ordination. He used this moment to bring together people from around the world for a conference on Pastoral Theology, and to pass the torch, in a way, to the next generation. All this took place in San Cristobal. One could see that he was not in good health, but he continued to serve right to the end.

Below is the notice from the BBC about his death on January 24, 2011:

Mexico bishop and indigenous champion Samuel Ruiz dies

The Mexican bishop and indigenous rights campaigner, Samuel Ruiz Garcia, has died at the age of the 86. He passed away in hospital in Mexico City from complications arising from respiratory problems and diabetes.

Samuel Ruiz served as bishop of San Cristobal de las Casas in the southern state of Chiapas for four decades.

He was best known for his role as mediator in the conflict with Zapatista rebels, and was nominated for the Nobel Peace prize several times. President Felipe Calderon said his death was a "big loss" for Mexico. "Samuel Ruiz worked to build a fairer, more equal, more dignified Mexico without discrimination, where indigenous communities have a voice and where their rights are respected by all," Mr Calderon said in a statement.

Bishop Ruiz led the diocese of San Cristobal de las Casas from 1959 to 2000, when he stepped aside on reaching the retirement age of 75.

Inspired by the liberation theology that swept the Roman Catholic Church in Latin America in the 1960s, he was an outspoken advocate for the rights of the indigenous Maya people of Chiapas, who are among Mexico's poorest and marginalized communities. His followers knew him as "The Bishop of the Poor" or simply as "Jtatic" - father in the Tzotzil Maya language.

Peace broker

On 1 January 1994 Chiapas saw a shortlived armed uprising by a previously unknown rebel group, the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN), which said it was fighting for indigenous rights. Bishop Ruiz was chosen to mediate between the government and the rebels. In 1998 he was pressurized to resign as mediator by the government, amid allegations that he was too sympathetic to the Zapatistas, but the uneasy truce he helped to establish in Chiapas has held ever since.

Bishop Ruiz was also criticised by conservatives in the Church who saw him as too influenced by left-wing political ideas and too flexible in his approach to indigenous religious practices that combined Catholicism with traditional Maya beliefs. The conflict in Chiapas raised his international profile, and he became a widely-respected advocate of indigenous rights throughout Latin America.

One of his legacies is the Father Bartolome de las Casas Human Rights Centre, which he founded in 1989.The organisation is named, like the diocese Bishop Ruiz represented, after a 16th Century Spanish priest and defender of indigenous rights.

New Refrigerator for Family Literacy Childcare

2011-01-18T13:20:00.003-06:00

A new refrigerator has been installed in the Childcare room for the Family Literacy Program here at the Church of Peace. The funds to by the refrigerator were provided by the Moline Foundation. Having a nice unit in the room permits the caregivers to get snacks and bottles and such without having to leave the children's area. We think this makes it safer and provides better supervision for the children. We are grateful to the Moline Foundation for their support.

The Family Literacy Program is a collaboration of Blackhawk College, the Church of Peace, the Rock Island School District #41 and the Regional Office of Education. Most of the families that participate are new immigrants to the United States.

Chiapas, Mexico, January 2011

2011-01-17T20:21:00.002-06:00

This month I traveled to Chiapas, Mexico, on a church mission trip. We did a little sightseeing, and the top photo is of Palenque; a Mayan archaeological site in the jungle or selva region of the state.
We also visited INESIN, a Mexican Civil Association that was established in the mid 1990s with help from Illinois Mayan Ministries. INESIN is developing their facilities, and pictured above is a house that is being built on the property. The plan is to develop their facility for use by visitors both from Mexico and abroad as a retreat center. In this way they plan to become ever more self sustaining.
We touched base with old friends and partners. Here we are in a restaurant in San Cristobal de las Casas. We are, left to right, Sister Clement, Gail Oneal, Sister Lucy, Paula Bidle, Michael Swartz and Carol Merriman. Sister Lucy has been a partner to us since our work began with the Guatemalan Refugees who fled north across the border into Mexico in the 1980s. She has also visited with us in Illinois on several occasions.
This last photo is of the real heart of our journey. We met with some of the leadership of INESIN at a retreat center near Tuxtla Guiterrez for three days to strategize about the future. Here pictured in Martin, Natan and Erindira. This planning meeting is a follow up on a meeting three years ago in Cuernavaca. We looked at how we can continue to work together as ecumenical partners to seek peace and reconciliation in Chiapas, which is a troubled area.

Joyous Future

2010-12-30T09:49:00.002-06:00

Right after services on December 26, our family went to Chicago for a few days. One of the places we visited was the Museum of Contemporary Art. While there we saw this particular piece. Never thought of our church signs as pieces of contemporary art. Hm.

Community Hero Award

2010-10-08T12:23:00.003-05:00

The Transportation Team at the House of Fire Ministries was honored with a Community Hero Award by the Community Caring Conference at their annual banquet last evening, October 7, 2010 at the Milan Community Center. Here the team is presented their award.

Last year the English Language Learner's class at the Church of Peace needed a way to transport the students and their children to and from the classes. The House of Fire Ministries offered their van, and several members of the church volunteered to take turns driving the van to and from the classes. This was a huge help. The weather was often nasty, and the very new immigrants who take the class do not own cars or drive. This was a ministry of love, and meant a lot to the families being transported and to the Lights ON program.

It was wonderful to have House of Fire Ministries as a collaborator with the Church of Peace, Rock Island School District #41, the Regional Office of Education, Blackhawk College and the Rock Island Library in supporting family literacy in our community.

It was great to see them recognized and honored for this ministry.

Intersession Lunch

2010-10-05T12:31:00.007-05:00

During the two week hiatus for the Rock Island Schools, called the 'intersession," we are serving lunch to children here at the Church of Peace. Today was a busy day. Since the kitchen prepared seventy five pieces of pizza and there were still two left, we believe we served lunch to 73 children today! 34 of those children were from the Academy down the street. So that means that 39 neighborhood children were able to attend on their own. (It is hard to get a picture of the crowd with my little camera.)
Here are the three food servers: Nora, Corinne and Tenisha.

On a sad note: We were also scheduled to serve food over at Century Woods apartments, formerly known as Arsenal Courts, during this intersession. We had served up to seventy children per day last summer. The families that live in those apartments have a lot of children. Last Friday, sort of at the last minute, the administration from Century Woods called the church to tell us that we could not serve food at their facility. It turns out that the kids are too messy and too pesky - said they kept coming early to the community room. To me this suggests that the children are bored and hungry. But the administration did not want to be bothered with the children. So no lunch there.

NAMI Walk

2010-10-03T10:22:00.003-05:00

The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill had their annual walk yesterday, October 2, at Credit Island Park in Davenport. Here is our little team from the Church of Peace.

While we got some donations, the main purpose of fielding a team is to help reduce stigma and begin to treat mental illness, more and more, like other illnesses. Certainly, several members of our church have had bouts with mental illness.

So looking in Sunday's QC Times I noted that our little team made it front and center in their coverage of the NAMI Walk.

Book Nook Report

2010-09-27T08:02:00.005-05:00

For the past few years, Church of Peace has brought the Book Nook to the primary students at the Rock Island Academy. Kids, families, and teachers all love it. Since the Academy is now K-6th grade, the school has asked us to expand the program to accommodate the intermediate students.

We stock our Book Nook cabinet with new books, and sell them to the children of low-income families for just 50 cents each. This is not a free give-away, but an affordable price which preserves the dignity of the families while allowing the children to choose their own books and build their own home libraries. Research indicates that homes with many books produce a higher level of learning and a greater love of reading.

We try our best to get the books the children are interested in at the lowest rice. Still, the actual cost of a new book is anywhere from $3 to $5, and we need to seek funding every year for our program. In order to expand our program to the intermediate grades, we will also need to build another rolling bookcase and stock it with books. That is why we are asking for an increased amount of money from last year.

Check out the following pages to read what some of the teachers at the Academy had to say about our program.

Thank you for your past funding of Book Nook and for your support this year.

Sue Spurgetis
Church of Peace

This is such a wonderful program! The students get so excited and anticipate it every year. As I was walking past the Book Nook stand this year, I realized that the program greatly benefits our increasing number of ELL students. Many of their parents speak little to no English and rarely leave their own neighborhoods to see out books for their children. The Book Nook program provides an affordable and convenient way to have these students begin their at-home libraries, who would otherwise have no books at home. Having books at home increases the speed in which the students learn English and acclimate to an English-speaking classroom.
So thank you and all those who provide this service!
Sincerely,
Stephanie Sanders
RIA

The service the Church of Peace provides through the Book Nook is incredibly valuable. Most of my students cannot afford to purchase books at the store or through a Scholastic Book Club. My students love the Book Nook and do their best to scrounge up $0.50 to purchase a book. You know they want to use the service when that 0.50 comes as a mixture of dimes, nickels, and pennies. They're not kidding when they tell me, "Miss Brannen! I found all of these nickels in the car!"
Thank you for taking the time to find the funds to provide this wonderful service to our students. We all appreciate your efforts!
Kelli Brannen
2nd Grade
Rock Island Academy

I love that you guys do this for our kids. Our kids are so excited to be able to purchase books on the Fridays you are here. You provide for our kids a chance to buy a book! Many of our kids do not have books at home. Our families may need the $5 it cost to purchase a book to put food on the table and books are not a priority. Book Nook also allows teachers to purchase books for students. For the past 5 years, I purchased a book for each of my kids at the end of each quarter, so those that don't ever get to buy will have something. Their eyes light up and they are so excited when they get their books!
Bless you all for making this a priority for our kids!
Jessica Bollman

I teach a Special Education Class for grades Kindergarten, 1 and 2. I am always amazed, even after many years of teaching, by the fact hat most of my kindergarten students come to me with little to no knowledge of books. They do not know how to handle books, how to turn pages, or that words on the pages have a meaning that tells the story. I know that many of my students do not have books in their homes. Within a few days of school, they are introduced to the magic and wonder that books and words hold. By the end of their first quarter, my kindergartners seem to not be able to get enough of books, words, and pictures.

Your Book Nook program certainly allows many of my students who come from homes with very limited resources to not only enjoy, but have the exciting opportunity to purchase their very own book. The look in my students' eyes when they approach your Book Nook shelves is truly a testimony to the good that your program does.
Thank you for your Book Nook program.
Carol A. Kossaris
Special Education Teacher
Rock Island Academy

My intermediate students have been asking me each time they see Book Nook if this is something that they will get to have the opportunity to do as well. They would love to have the opportunity to purchase books, too--especially since we are now in the same building and our students are actually seeing the Book Nook take place. I feel that this would be highly beneficial to students at all grade levels at our school.
Thanks for you consideration.
Jamie Braet, RIA, 3/4

Book Nook is a fantastic program! The Rock Island Academy students are thrilled to have the opportunity to purchase these wonderful books at such a low, affordable cost. Thank you so much for this invaluable program--that nurtures the RIA children's excitement for literacy!
Susan Murphy

New Baby Dedication

2010-09-15T10:18:00.006-05:00

One of the families of the Light Mission Pentecostal Church, the group that shares our building, dedicated a new baby last Saturday afternoon, September 11, 2010. These are Kirundi speaking immigrants, whose homeland was Burundi. (Kirundi is a Bantu language with about 4.5 million speakers.)

They had invited me to the event to help pray for the baby, Johnson Willey Vincent.

Well, the first thing was the feast. We enjoyed several foods in the African style. There were bread balls, cooked beef, fried chicken, rice, a lightly cooked cabbage that was served over rice with beans. It was all quite good, and I am sure
to learn more about these foods as time goes on.

There were also a series of "formal" presentations. I mean that not as stiff events, but rather a sequence that has a form taken from the culture.

At one point I asked, "where is the baby." Well, apparently that is the first question of the day. The root of the event is to "show the baby" to the community, and it had been kept out of sight. The baby was soon brought out and the festivities began.

Another element in the sequence is for the father to make a speech, followed by the grandfather. The fellow in the yellow shirt holding the baby is the grandfather. He thanked and blessed God for this child's birth, and prayed for the baby as well.

Then the grandmother - the woman in the bronze colored outfit, along with other mature ladies from the community invited the mother forward to help show and teach her how to care for the baby. She is instructed on how to carry the infant on her back.

As one fellow said to me, "You Americans push your babies in front of you. We keep them close to us on our back."

You can see in the pictures I snapped that there are a number of other photographers as well, recording this "teaching moment" for posterity and for those far away. There was a lot of laughter and great good humor in these presentations.

When the young mom returned to her seat at the head table everyone there sang a little song, so it must be very well known. The woman who was translating for me said that it meant something like "see how much love the mother has as she cares for her baby, this is the kind of love God has for us."
One of the very last moments was when I was asked to pray for the baby. I asked the translator, "do I hold the baby?" She said, "no, just reach out your hands and touch the baby as the parents hold him." That was fine.

What a great day. I was honored and happy to be part of the dedication and "showing off" the baby. Once again I am reminded what a privilege it is to be a pastor and have a representative ministry through the church.

Compressor

2010-08-24T11:04:00.003-05:00

It is one of those good news/bad news situations.

The bad news is that the compressor on our commercial refrigerator in the church kitchen gave out.

The good news is that it waited till the very last day of the summer meals program to do so. That day was Friday, August 13. What can I say?

So here is the technician reparing the refrigerator. It is certainly a speciality and few companies do the work.

Lights ON Resumes

2010-08-24T09:50:00.006-05:00

Today is the first day of the resumption of the ELL (English Language Learners) Class here at the Church of Peace. Whenever something is beginning one hopes for a good attendance. And above is teacher Rachel with a fair sized group in the fellowship hall of the church. The extra feature of this particular class is that there is childcare provided for children too young for Head Start and school. So children are in appropriate childcare while parents are receiving instruction.

Here are leaders and students talking about registration.

This program is part of Lights On for Learning, and is a collaboration with Church of Peace, Rock Island School District 41, the Regional Office of Education, the Rock Island Library and Blackhawk College. It is a way of meeting the needs of new immigrants who live in our neighborhood and seeks to strengthen the educational experience of children in school.

In the Heights

2010-08-12T12:20:00.004-05:00

One of the wonderful events of our California vacation was to see the musical In the Heights at the Pantages Theater in Hollywood in the evening of July 25. One of the special features of this particular performance was that Lin-Manuel Miranda, the creator of the show, sang the lead.

A lot of musicals qualify as chestnuts, but this one came to Broadway only in 2008 - and won a Tony that year as well. For lots of info: http://www.intheheightsthemusical.com/

What I especially appreciated was the consideration of the experience of many Latino folks in a community. Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, Mexicans. And, as musicals so often do, the portrayal was of how life is still about boy-meets-girl, family loyalty, friendships, and what constitutes home. In a moment of our history where Latino immigrants are being vilified and portrayed as a great threat to the nation, it is good to have another perspective presented with such charm and energy.

The music is terrific, and we bought the Grammy award winning CD - and listed to it as we drove across the country, from California to the Midwest.

Summer Activity Program

2010-07-16T10:56:00.002-05:00

Today is the conclusion of the Summer Activity Program at the Church of Peace and the Rock Island Parks and Recreation programs at various area schools. In a few minutes I will run up to the park to participate in a lunch of hot dogs and ice cream where all these sites come together in one place for a celebration.

We will continue to serve lunch for the next two weeks here at the church and at Century Woods. There has been remarkable growth in the number of lunches at Century Woods. We began the summer with about six children. It has grown to about 60 meals a day! We hope to do some enrichment activities at Century Woods and here at church for the next two weeks, and then school will resume.

It has been a very active summer so far.

Feeding 5000

2010-07-08T14:52:00.003-05:00

By our estimate we reached 5000 meals on June 22. Our summer meals program for children began on June 7, and at the end of lunch on June 22 had served 5000 meals. Jesus did it in one sitting. It took us twelve serving days to reach the same point. And we have lots of help and lots of partners.

The part of the account of Jesus feeding 5000 that always strikes me is when Jesus says to the disciples, "You give them something to eat." (Matthew 14:16; Mark 6:37; Luke 9:13) It is only subsequent to this command that Jesus feeds the people.

When in the scripture Jesus speaks to the disciples I hear him speaking to us in the church. I believe that Jesus says to us, "you give them something to eat." And our summer lunch program for children is one of the ways that we at Church of Peace respond to this request from Jesus.

Freedom Fund Banquet

2010-06-28T11:25:00.004-05:00

Nancy and I attended the Freedom Fund Banquet at the Ramada Inn in Moline last Saturday night. It was sponsored by our Rock Island Chapter of the NAACP.

An important part of the evening was honoring six community members and an organization for their service. I realized that over the years at least four of these persons have touched the life of our church as well.

Judge Thomas Kilbride was honored. Before he was a judge, when he practiced law in Rock Island, he aided the Community Caring Conference with legal representation for some 19 years and I recall him providing legal assistance to the church as well when we needed some direction. We were ready to pay for his help, but he gave the advice without billing us.

Rev. Melvin Grimes was honored. He has been a colleague over the years, and he along with his late father were partners with the Church of Peace in community efforts.

Linda Golden was honored. She is a teacher at Thurgood Marshall Learning Center, and was a partner with the YouthBuild Program that taught kids something about the building trades as they constructed houses. This was part of Rock Island Economic Growth, and the church work camps helped in some of these projects as well.

Vince Thomas was honored. Vince was instrumental in saving Arsenal Courts when the city wanted to tear it down to remove poor people. Reorganized as Century Woods this is where many of the members of our African Light Pentecostal Fellowship reside. It is a resource to our part of town.

Nancy and I saw many friends at the event. One of the benefits of twenty years at the same church is to have built relationships over time.

Jorge Morales - Conference Minister

2010-06-21T09:23:00.003-05:00

The Illinois Conference of the United Church of Christ elected Rev. Dr. Jorge Morales our Conference Minister on Saturday, June 19, during our annual conference meeting. The conference meeting took place at the University of Illinois, Chicago. Jorge has been a minister in our area for over thirty years now, and most recently has been serving as the Associate Conference Minister. In the photo above he is answering "interview" questions from those of us at conference; he was recommended to us by the search committee.

It is good to have someone in a leadership position that you already know and trust. I have found Jorge an open and helpful colleague in the 20 years I have been a pastor with standing in the Illinois Conference. I am very glad he was selected. The lower photo is the conference standing to applaud the announcement of Jorge's election.

Carla McGreevey; Hometown Hero

2010-06-16T10:37:00.005-05:00

One of our church members, Carla McGreevey, was honored by Modern Woodmen of America, a local insurance company, as a "hometown hero." She had been nominated for this honor by Luke Cooley, an employee of Modern Woodmen.

The purpose of the Hometown Hero award is to honor a person who is of great service to the community. In this case the efforts lifted up were her leadership in the "Book Nook" program of the church to supply books to support literacy in our local elementary school. Another area of service mentioned was her help with the Summer Meals program at the church. There were a lot of ways that Carla serves her community that were not mentioned, too.

The honor has at least three components. First off, she was able to invite a group of friends to come to the ballpark for the local minor league baseball team, the Quad Cities Bandits, to have a meal with her. Second, she was able to designate a charity to receive a $100 gift - in her case she selected the Quad Cities Animal Welfare Shelter. Third, she and the group she had invited to dinner we able to watch that evening's ball game from a sky box that is leased by the Modern Woodmen company. And the Bandits won!

The top photo is Carla and Luke with the check. The second photo is of Carla having her hand shaken by the mascot, Bandit, with her friend, Emily giving a big smile. In the bottom photo is Carla and one table of her family and friends enjoying the "tailgate" dinner. Since it had been raining this took place in the clubhouse.

Summer Lunch Program

2010-06-15T12:27:00.005-05:00

On Monday, June 7, the Summer meals program for children resumed at the Church of Peace. We serve both breakfast and lunch for any child under the age of 18 years. We have been providing this summer meals program for several years now.

The church prepares and serves the meals with a combination of volunteers and staff. And the meals served here at the church are only a small part of all the meals provided for children in the summer. We also, with delivery persons from the church, provide meals to several other sites in Rock Island where children are assembled.

Nora, the church secretary and manager of the food program, reported to me that in the first week of the program, between June 7 and June 11, we served 451 breakfasts and 1751 lunches. That is quite remarkable!

This meals program is sponsored by the U. S. Department of Agriculture and administered by the Illinois State Department of Education.

This means we need to do a lot of record keeping for the program! But this seems worthwhile when we see the smiles on the faces of children enjoying a good meal.

On this day when the photos were taken the main item on the menu was tacos.

The tacos were accompanied by fruit, cookies and milk.

Summer Program

2010-06-08T13:22:00.003-05:00

Well, the Summer Program here at Church of Peace is up and running and it its second day now. These quick photos are of the activities for children that are taking place daily. The top photo is of the youngest group of students, and they focus on reading. I love the three little girls on the sofa with their books!

The second photo is of some instruction about nutrition that is taking place with an older group.

The third picture is of the oldest group, somewhat fewer in number on this rainy day. They are with an actor from a local group doing some theater exercizes.

The fellow at the bottom is the technician from the Hobart diswashing machinecompany. It turns out that we have a difficulty, which of course only became apparent when we were putting the machine to the test on the first day!

Another opening, another show.

More Graduation

2010-06-03T11:53:00.001-05:00

Graduation

2010-05-30T11:43:00.002-05:00

Well, here is Becca walking through graduation at Cornell College in Mt Vernon, Iowa. They feature "preference order" which means that the graduates get to sit with their best friends, so Becca is walking next to a friend, Margaret, and they are followed by other friends.

It was a warm but not unbearable day.

Here is our family pictured together. A wonderful event. More photos will follow, I'm sure.

Covenant

2010-05-27T11:01:00.002-05:00

On the afternoon of April 22, I drove up the Mississippi River to the city of Clinton, Iowa, for a memorial service for one of my colleagues from the California/Nevada Conference of the United Methodist Church. The service was for Charles Andrew Tanner-Dorn. Rev. Tanner-Dorn had died on April 16, and I had received news of it in an email from California. I figured that I might be the only clergy colleague from the Cal/Nevada Conference, and I was.

I remembered Charley a little from the late 1970s, when he joined the conference. I was at that time assigned to churches in the San Joaquin Valley of California and Charley was entering the conference after serving as a priest in the Roman Catholic Church. I remember him as an affable person. But my reason for being there was not that he was a deep friend, but rather it was an effort to live out, or even embody, the covenant of collegiality and commitment we make to each other as clergy members of the conference.

We make some pretty deep promises to each other, and to God, and to our conference, and sometimes these become inconvenient to live out. This was my little effort to embody the connection.

Prayer Vigil in Kenosha

2010-04-30T09:47:00.004-05:00

Yesterday, on April 29, a group of six members of Quad Cities Interfaith (QCI) drove (or rode) up to Kenosha, Wisconsin, to participate in some public events to have a voice in the national discussion on Comprehensive Immigration Reform. QCI is an affiliate of the Gamaliel Network and other affiliates were represented in Kenosha, and another meeting had been taking place there ahead of this immigration event.

At its core, Gamaliel equips and trains church folks to participate in civil society. This was a classic and simple series of events. The top photo is of the preparation for the day, and it is taking place in the local United Methodist Church. One of the pastors is explaining clearly and simply what will soon take place. The pattern for immigrant expulsion that is currently in use is to round them up, detain them first in county jails, then transfer them to detention centers (like the Broadview Detention Center in Chicago,) from which they are shipped by bus to the airport and flown out of the country. So our first stop is the local Kenosha County Jail, which is part of this system.

The pastors and other religious leaders lead the group to the nearby jail where we pray for justice and we pray for those caught up in this system. One of the religious leaders is the chaplain from the jail, who lets us know that all prisoners at Kenosha are treated humanely, but he along with us believes that this pattern of deportation bears closer scrutiny and reform. His participation is strategic; we are stakeholders.

After the prayer vigil at the county jail we walk to the nearby congressmember's office. This is Congressman Paul Ryan, and our presence certainly does not represent preaching to the choir. We arrive outside the office building, sing a devotional song, and one of the pastors makes a short presentation. The office has been informed in advance of our interest and intended visit, and one of the staff members listens to the presentation, receives written material and then makes a prepared speech. The speech is later made available as a press release.

After our visit at the congressmember's office we walk back to the church, have a wonderful lunch prepared by the women's group at the church, and then have a follow up meeting to evaluate the day and plan for future actions.

This was a pristine example of how such training as this works. We were consistently prepared and our efforts were disciplined and respectful to all involved. Different persons participated as leaders and speakers with the group at various moments. Everyone there got to experience "how it can be done" and went home better able to participate in the public discussion of important issues. At every moment we were reminded of our role and values as the faith community.

It was a good day, and on the way home in the van we found ourselves discussion what we should do next back in the Quad Cities. I will bet that similar discussions were taking place in cars, vans and buses around the Midwest.

Participation

2010-04-30T09:44:00.002-05:00

I am grateful that the culture of the Church of Peace is one of consistent participation in the efforts of our conference and denomination. We do what we can to share in God's ministry in the world through various channels. One of those is through the church-wide offereings of the United Church of Christ.

Recently the church received some recognition for our efforts.

Reading in the lounge

2010-04-27T11:36:00.009-05:00

One of the partners in the Family Literacy Program that takes place here at the Church of Peace is the Rock Island Public Library. On some occasions the group travels to the library together. At other times the librarian, Sue Foster, comes to the church and reads to the church and reads to the group. Not only is she providing enrichment for the children, but is modeling a good activity for parents and children to do together. Here they all are in the lounge.

The lower photo also shows what a wonderfully diverse group is here at the church daily. And the size of the program has grown substantially since last September.

Wonderful Day

2010-04-24T17:57:00.004-05:00

One of the great privileges of a long pastorate at the Church of Peace is summed up in this photograph. I taught the confirmation class and confirmed the young father in the photo and also the godfather. And then I officiated at the couple's wedding a few years back. And now I am here for their daughter's baptism.

It was a beautiful service and wonderful day.

Merton Center

2010-04-12T10:36:00.004-05:00

On the same day that I visited the Abbey of Gethsemani I also visited the Merton Center at Bellermine University in Louisville, Kentucky. While this meant short visits at both sites, you never know when you will be in the neighborhood again with such a purpose.

By its very nature a monastery is hardly a place for a focus on a particular personality. While there were many books by Merton in the gift shop, there was no other acknowledgement of him otherwise. The Merton Center could legitimately collect and examine Merton's legacy. An impressive collection is Merton's published work. Several editions, multiple translations to other languages helped me see not only how much he had written, but also how widely received he has been. The Center also has ongoing publications considering Merton's continuing influence, and sponsors convocations of interested persons at intervals.

There are also photos that Merton took along the way. Some at the Abbey. Some taken on his trip to Asia.

There are photos of Merton himself, and also some of his family. One especially dear photograph is of his mother.

There is an impressive collection of quilts that bear Merton's image as well.

The existence of the center, its activities and publications reminds me that there is a whole community out there, who along with me have found spiritual accompaniment in Merton's writings. If you would like to see more about this please go to http://www.merton.org/

Below is a snapshot of one of the rooms at the center.

Pilgrimage to Gethsemani

2010-04-10T12:42:00.006-05:00

A pilgrimage is a journey undertaken for a religious or spiritual purpose, and I went on such a journey for a few days after Easter. There is a tradition for the pastor to "get away" after the rigors of Holy Week and Easter, and I drove down to Kentucky. The destination for the journey was the Abbey of Gethsemani, a Trappist or Cistercian community that follows the Order of St. Benedict in a very traditional way. This particular community was established in 1848 in a hilly part of Kentucky, south of Louisville.

The reason I am aware of this religious community is that the monk and writer, Thomas Merton, resided there for 27 years. I became acquainted with Merton as a writer when I was in seminary in the early 1970s. First I discovered some of his journals that were published, then read the Seven Story Mountain, which is his autobiography, and moved on to some of his spiritual writing. I was saddened and surprised when one of my teachers told me that Merton had been killed in a tragic accident in 1968. His writing seemed so fresh and contemporary that I felt a kinship with him.

The Trappist monks pray seven times a day, and while I was at Gethsemani the prayer service of Sext rolled around at 2:15 pm. The core of this service is the singing of psalms, which we in the visiting congregation were able to do with the monks in the abbey church. That day it was psalms 125, 126 and 127. I count it a privilege to pray with these men.

Above is a photo of the monks in the abbey. It is from a postcard available in the gift shop. I did not think it appropriate to intrude by snapping a photo during the service. The church building is very tall, narrow and white. There was no processional with incense and all on this Wednesday after Easter. The service was quiet and part of a rhythm that is an alternative to our regular pace of life. Serene.

Good Friday Cross Walk

2010-04-05T10:22:00.004-05:00

Each year on Good Friday members from the Church of Peace participate with other churches in the community for a three mile walk carrying a cross. The walk is hosted and coordinated by Gloria Dei Presbyterian Church and has been an event we look forward to. This year seven persons from the Church of Peace walked with the cross - four youth and young adults, and three of us older members. In this top picture Mason Elliott, a high school senior, carries the cross.

The route of the Cross Walk winds through town, from the downtown City Hall out to Gloria Dei Church. Here the walkers approach the Church of Peace. The day was pleasant but overcast, which was actually pretty good for walking.

The group stopped at 13 locations, Stations of the Cross as part of the walk. Here they are stopped in front of the church for a scripture reading and a prayer for our neighborhood schools. Nancy McConnell led the prayer, and mentioned the Primary Academy, which is located just two blocks down the street from this corner. She prayed for students, teachers and administrators.

Hospital Trifecta

2010-03-26T09:53:00.003-05:00

It is all about the elevator. Yesterday afternoon, following the Lenten Devotional Service at the Church I went up to Trinity Hospital with our Parish Nurse, Mary Oelschlaeger. We were going to see two of our older church members who are hospitalized. Getting on the elevator we met the daughter-in-law and granddaughter of one of the members. "I guess we are going to the same place," I said. And we were.

We first met the husband and extended family of the church member in the waiting room, including another daughter who lives out of state. This helped us understand right off how serious this was. After a few minutes with he family we visited the member in the ICU. She had had surgery. We had a short visit and prayer and returned to the waiting room for a further visit with the family. Mary was able to answer some questions about care, and then after a short prayer we got on the elevator to go up to see the other member.

She was fairly cheery, and is on the mend. After a visit and a prayer we rode downstairs to leave the building.

On the elevator we ran into yet another church member. He had just left his wife's room. She was having a quick surgery for a nagging problem before it got worse. We reversed direction, went back up to visit this member. She was a little exasperated, but glad to get this situation taken care of. Again, we had a prayer and left.

I bought Mary a cup of coffee in the lobby shop and we were on our way.

When we got back to the church, Mary, with the permission of the church members, posted their situations on the church prayer chain. We are not always this efficient!

African Light Pentecostal Fellowship

2010-03-08T10:22:00.004-06:00

In the last several weeks we have begun a new adventure with some of our neighbors here in Rock Island. In our immediate neighborhood there are many new immigrants from Eastern Africa, and many of these are Christians. A group of African Christians whose common language is Swahili have approached the Church of Peace about having Bible Study and Worship in their home, heart language. They have chosen a name for themselves. They are the African Light Pentecostal Fellowship.

The Church of Peace has a sympathy for worshipping God in one's home language, since we were organized by immigrants from Germany and that for at least the first twenty years of our life our church language was German.

This African Fellowship will hold Bible Study on Wednesdays from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm in either room 2 or in the Fellowhip Hall. Worship will be between 1:00 pm and 4:00 pm in Fellowship Hall. They have agreed to be flexible, and when Fellowship Hall is needed on Sunday afternoons for other purposes they will move upstairs into the Sanctuary. Other times may be scheduled for Choir practice and other activities. On the fourth Sunday of the month the Fellowship group will meet at 10:30 am for worship with the rest of the church. On those fourth Sundays their choir may share music and some of their leaders may take a turn at Scripture reading. The members of the African Light Pentecostal Fellowship will support the church through a monthly offering.

Two of the members who speak English, Patrick Noya and Ngiriruburundi Joseph have agreed to be our "contact persons." Ngiriruburundi has agreed that we can call him Joseph.

Many of these African neighbors are what is called "secondary migrants." This means that they are refugees welcomed by the United States who were first settled in some other part of the country and have relocated here. As one fellow said, "I was first in Chicago but it was so expensive. Here is a good place to raise my family, and my money goes further." I laughed and told him that these sound like some of the reasons that Nancy and I came to the Quad Cities some twenty years ago!

Pray that God will bless us in our journey together. And do your best to welcome these neighbors to the church.

Pastoral Calling in Mexico

2010-02-17T14:36:00.006-06:00

Doing ministry together means developing relationships. "Accompaniment" is one of the purposes of the Mayan Ministry group that I am part of. One of the dear moments on this trip was when we did a little pastoral calling, an example of accompaniment .

There is a sister named Patti who works with a particular parish south of San Cristobal de las Casas. This parish in Chiapas has an ongoing relationship with a United Church of Christ in Grand Marais, Minnesota. (That is on the Lake Superior and almost up to Canada!)

Well it turns out Patti has had some health difficulties, and one of the women in Grand Marais knit her a prayer shawl. (Our church does this too, for those who are unfamiliar, this is how it works. The gift of the prayer shawl reminds the recipient of the love and concern that surrounds them from a church community. So when one wears the shawl they think about the prayers, love and concern expressed on their behalf.) It was our special task to deliver the shawl.

So, on January 27, we took public transportation to Teopisca, which is down the Pan American Highway from San Cristobal. And then we met Patti in the rectory at the church on the public square in the middle of town. We visited for a time, had coffee and cookies and then Paula did the presentation on behalf of the Grand Marais church.

We had a prayer and were on our way. It is a beautiful, large shawl! It is interesting to think that I could have been doing almost exactly the same thing making a call with our Parish Nurse in Rock Island, Illinois.

Celebration at INESIN

2010-02-17T14:01:00.002-06:00

On Sunday afternoon, January 24, we arrived at the Instituto de Estudios e Investigacion Intercultural A.C., INESIN, by taxi. There were lots of people at the door and spilling out into the street.

When we looked through the door the place was packed. Large tarps were hung from the rooftops and shaded the courtyard. A Mayan altar was set up with flowers, candles and copal incense. Bishop Samuel Ruiz, Bishop Raul Vera and other dignitaries sat at a dais on the porticoed porch of the main dormitory. Rented blue chairs were set up facing the dais and seemingly hundreds of people, indigenous, foreigners and others occupied most of them.

After we had been there for a short time the group broke for a sit down lunch. Tables and chairs were moved to various points around the campus. Bud, Paula and I ended up sitting in the back, behind the dining hall, with a group of men from Las Abejas (The Bees.) They wore beribboned hats and traditional dress. We had chicken and rice with tortillas. We later learned that INESIN served lunch to 250 persons!

While the event was planned to honor Don Samuel, Don Raul, and others, it was in some ways a passing of the baton. The gist seemed to be to begin to institutionalize the movement that has been personally associated with Don Samuel. But no one lives forever. Bishop Ruiz had made gifts to CODIMUJ, INESIN, SIPAZ and one other group. They in turn identified grass roots workers in Indian Theology, The Bees, and a group in working with political prisoners for their liberationist work in Chiapas. Each of these grass roots groups received an award and a grant.

It was exciting to see the efforts at the formation of a movement. It was even more exciting to me to see INESIN right in the middle of things, using their wonderful facility to bring people of many backgrounds together for such an event, and illustrating their competence in hosting such a big celebration.

Pastoral Theology Congress

2010-02-08T11:38:00.009-06:00

Our first day in San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico, was the last day of a Congress on Pastoral Theology that was held in conjunction with the celebration of the Golden Anniversary of Bishop Samuel Ruiz. You will recall that one of the thrusts of Vatican II was that there should be a little more diversity, respecting the specific experiences of various locations in the world in proclaiming the gospel. This giving greater weight to local circumstance and the notion of calling together Bishops from around the world to compare and share experiences with each other in a collegial setting was one of the profound and controversial elements of the Vatican Council. Pastoral Theology, in contrast with Academic Theology or Conciliar Theology would be emphasized in this model.

In cooperation with the Diocese of San Cristobal a list of well known international speakers had been assembled along with more local theologians as well. From the poster below we can see that the scheduled speakers include: Gustavo Gutierrez, Peru; Georgina Zubiria, Mexico; Bishop Victor Corral, of Ecudor; Eleazer Lopez, Mexico; and from the Diocese of San Cristobal - Jorge Santiago, Refugio Esparza, Guadalupe Rojas and Manuel Hurtato. Gutierrez was ill and unable to attend, but so far as I know all the other presenters were able to attend.

When we arrived at the Congress a friend, Fr. Henry, had registered all three of us and had name tags, which made us feel right at home. We were surprised at how many people in the audience we were acquainted with already.

We had heard that at the end of the program there would be a time for presentations to Bishop Ruiz. We identified ourselves as an Ecumenical group that had a gift for the Bishop - a crystal desk ornament from Common Global Ministries, and a letter of congratulations from our Executive for Latin America and Carribean, Rev. Felix Ortiz-Cotto. At a certain point, about three presentations after that from Pope Benedict, presented by Bishop Felipe Arizmendi, we received word that we were next. We had seen Rev. Delle McCormick also in attendance, so we gathered her into our little delegation on the way to the stage.

Rev. Paula Bidle made the presentation. She gave a little background on how our association with Don Samuel had begun with our common assistance to the Guatemalan Refugees beginning in 1982, and had continued over the years. She then read the fine letter from Felix, that outlined the two missionaries that had come in solidarity with the Diocese - Rev. Bidle and Rev. McCormick. There seemed to be some recognition of our participation and partnership that has now run some 28 years now, and is carried forward through the efforts on INESIN. It was an emotional moment for me.

Below is the text of the letter from Felix in both English and Spanish.

Indianapolis, Indiana
January 8, 2010
Bishop Samuel Ruiz
Chiapas, México
Very esteemed Bishop Ruiz:
The United Church of Christ (USA), and the Christian Church (Disciples
of Christ) in the U.S. and Canada, by way of Global Ministries, send very
cordial greetings on the celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of your
consecration as Bishop of the Catholic Church in Mexico. Receive
greetings from the Rev. Cally Rogers and the Rev. David Vargas, Co-
Executive of Global Ministries.
We thank God for your life and your ministry as a pastor and prophet.
We celebrate your commitment to the Gospel that brings peace as the
fruit of justice. We rejoice in your support of the Gospel that does away
with the colonization enterprise environment; which proposes a new way
to relate to one another, with respect and admiration, with the ancient
cultures that inhabit Chiapas, and with other church and religious
expressions that accompany the people in their daily struggles.
We remember the relationship that began several years ago between the
Diocese of San Cristobal de las Casas and the Conferences of the United
Church of Illinois and Wisconsin. As a result of that relationship, the
Global Ministries missionary Paula Bidle and Delle McCormick, served
through the Diocese until the year 2002. We celebrate that the
relationship with the Diocese gave way to INESIN (the Institute for
Intercultural Studies and Research).
We recognize your struggle in defense of life and Creation, in moments
when doing so would put your life at risk. For this reason, you received
the recognition of Global Ministries in the General Assembly of the
Disciples of Christ Church, held in Denver, Colorado in 1997 when you
were awarded the Affirmation Award for Latin America and the
Caribbean, for your commitment to human rights.
We reaffirm our joy and commitment to further deepen the fraternal
relationship with the Diocese, under the current leadership of Bishop
Felipe Arizmendi.
Thank you, Pastor Don Samuel, for following the footsteps of the Master.
Cordially,
Félix Ortiz

Indianápolis, Indiana
8 de enero de 2010
Obispo Rev. Samuel Ruiz
Chiapas, México
Muy estimado Obispo Ruiz:
La Iglesia Unida de Cristo de EEUU, y la Iglesia Cristiana (Discípulos de
Cristo) de Estados Unidos y Canadá, por medio de los Ministerios
Globales, le saluda muy cordialmente en la celebración del Cincuenta
Aniversario de su consagración como Obispo de la Iglesia Católica en
México. Reciba los saludos de la Rev. Cally Rogers y el Rev. David
Vargas, Co-Ejecutivos de Ministerios Globales.
Damos gracias a Dios por su vida y su apostolado como pastor y como
profeta. Celebramos su compromiso con el Evangelio que trae paz como
fruto de la justicia. Nos regocijamos en su aporte al Evangelio que se
vacía de su entorno de empresa colonizadora; que propone una nueva
forma de relacionarse, con respeto y admiración, con las culturas
milenarias que habitan Chiapas, y con otras expresiones eclesiales y
religiosas que acompañan al pueblo en sus luchas cotidianas.
Recordamos la relación que se inició hace algunos años entre la Diócesis
de San Cristóbal de las Casas y las Conferencias de la Iglesia Unida
de Illinois y Wisconsin. Como fruto de dicha relación, la misionera de
Ministerios Globales, Paula Bidle y Delle McCormick, sirvieron por medio
de la Diócesis hasta el año 2002. Nos regocija que dicha relación con la
Diócesis dio paso a INESIN (el Instituto de Estudios e Investigación
Intercultural).
Reconocemos su lucha por la defensa de la vida y de la Creación, en
momentos en los cuales hacerlo implicaba poner la vida en riesgo. Por
tal razón, usted recibió el reconocimiento de Ministerios Globales en la
Asamblea General de la Iglesia Discípulos de Cristo, celebrada en
Denver, Colorado, en el 1997, cuando se le otorgó el premio de
Afirmación para América Latina y el Caribe, por su compromiso con los
derechos humanos.
Reafirmamos nuestra alegría y compromiso con seguir profundizando la
relación fraterna con la Diócesis, bajo la dirección actual del Obispo
Felipe Arizmendi.
Gracias, Pastor Don Samuel, por seguir las huellas del Maestro.
Cordialmente,
Félix Ortiz

Celebration Mass, January 25, 2010

2010-02-04T15:26:00.004-06:00

While in Mexico we (Bud, Paula and I) attended three large celebrations that featured Bishop Samuel Ruiz. One was a Congress on Pastoral Theology, another was an event at INESIN to identify and celebrates partners in carrying forward Bishop Ruiz agenda, and the third, most public was an open air Mass in the square - Peace Square - next door to the Cathedral.

To give some idea of that third event I want to share a translation of sorts of the remarks of the current Bishop, Felipe Arizmendi. Those who prefer Spanish can find the complete text on the website of the Diocesef of San Cristobal de Las Casas.

WELCOMING COMMENTS, THE GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY OF EPISCOPAL ORDINATION
CELEBRATION OF MONS. SAMUEL RUIZ, January 25, 2010

We meet with joy to celebrate 50 years since jTatic Samuel Ruiz Garcia was ordained a bishop here in our Cathedral at the age of 35. We thank God for the total surrender of your life, your walk in the soil and the mud of the three regions that make up our diocese: Forest, Border and the High-lands. We thank God for his commitment to liberation from the shackles of slavery suffered by most indigenous brothers. We thank God – and that is the Eucharist, a thanksgiving, for his permanent-prophetic denunciations against injustices that our people have suffered, not only in Chiapas and Mexico, but also concerning global structures of injustice and fairness worldwide.

Thank you very much, Don Samuel, for your generous dedication to our people. Thanks very much for all the sacrifices, for the walk among us, because of your closeness and commitment to the oppressed. That you, with all your being, are an offering pleasing to the Father God, with the grace of the Spirit, through Christ, with him and in him and that he will keep you in good health, grace and peace.

Jesus Christ our Lord is the visible manifestation of the merciful love of our good Father God, realizing the old promises of a liberating evangelization to the poor. Jesus Christ is our inspiration, our only path, the source of our life, the goal of our pilgrimage, our Savior, Redeemer, Deliverer. Therefore, we conclude the Jubilee Year with the Eucharist, as we put on the altar, along with Jesus, victim and sacrifice His life and work, jTatic Samuel, to be resurrection and hope, full of life for our peoples.

We are here with you, to thank the whole church family: First, is his brother Joseph, his nephews, relatives and friends (standing and applause). They accompanies us from heaven, Luchita, his dear sister and their parents and kin.

He is accompanied by sisters and brothers of other faiths (standing and applause), on this day so meaningful to you and the ecumenical movement, since today concludes worldwide Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

He is joined by brother bishops: Archbishop Rogelio Cabrera, our Metropolitan Archbishop, who is representing the Council of Presidents of our Episcopal Conference. We accompany Bishop Arturo Lona, Emeritus of Tehuantepec, Bishop Victor Coral, Riobamba, Ecuador, Bishop Raul Vera of Saltillo, Bishop Leopoldo Gonzalez, Tapachula, Bishop Benjamin Castillo of Tabasco, Bishop Jose’ Luis Mendoza, Assistant Tuxtla Gutierrez, and our dear brother Enrique Diaz.

He also is accompanied by our Pope Benedict XVI, who sent him a special Apostolic Blessing, which reads: Our Venerable Brother, Samuel Ruiz Garcia, Bishop Emeritus of San Cristobal de Las Casas. We are very pleased with his Golden Jubilee of Episcopal Ordination, at the same time recognizing their activities in the diocese entrusted to his pastoral care. We express our spiritual closeness. The Pope imparts his apostolic blessing as a sign of divine grace. Given at the Vatican, on the 30th day of December, 2009.

At the end of Mass, Don Samuel will give the blessing with plenary indulgence to those who are eligible for the grace of God, have communion and pray for the intentions of the Holy Father.

Thank you very much to those who join us in this jubilee celebration, have come from other dioceses and other countries (standing and applause).

Thank you very much, particularly the large number of sisters and brothers of believers who have come on pilgrimage from all parishes of the diocese, to express his gratitude to Samuel jTatic and to express their pain and suffering, their claims and requirements, which are offering prayer and united to the redemptive of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.

Thank you very much to the communities, catechists, animators, seminarians, deacons, sisters, brothers and priests, who put so much effort to celebrate the Jubilee Year in the seven jTatic Samuel pastoral regions of the diocese. Thank you very much, especially to those who organized the recent Theological-Pastoral Congress, which has helped us strengthen and promote the way of our diocesan Church to be in the challenges that this change of era we face, a Church native liberating evangelization servant, in communion and under the guidance of the Spirit, as indicated by our Third Synod and the Diocesan Pastoral Plan.

Let’s continue to celebrate this Jubilee, whose summit is the redemptive mystery of Christ, which extends and makes present the passion, death and resurrection of his people. We accompany our dear sister, Clemen, who will travel to bury her brother Elias Becerra, who passed away this morning.

This day coincides with the jubilee celebration of the liturgy of the conversion of the Apostle Paul, martyr servant of Jesus Christ, evangelizing that opened the doors of the church to other cultures, host of fraternal communities, the diversity of gifts and charismas.

Thank you very much, Don Samuel. Thank you very much to each and everyone. Let us enjoy this jubilee celebration.

+ Felipe Arizmendi Esquivel
Bishop of San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas

Off to Mexico

2010-01-19T16:11:00.004-06:00

I am off to San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico, beginning Friday, January 22. I will meet Rev. Paula Bidle and her husband, George Moore, who were mission volunteers in with the Diocese of San Cristobal in the middle 1990s. Together we will be there to represent the Illinois Maya Ministries and Rev. Felix Ortiz-Cotto, Area Executive for Latin American and the Caribbean of the Global Ministries, a partnership between the Disciples of Christ and the United Church of Christ. The specific purpose of our visit is to be present at the 50th Anniversary of Bishop Samuel Ruiz Garcia's elevation to Bishop of the Roman Catholic Church, which took place on January 25, 1960. That is back when John XXIII was Pope! Above is a group photo with Don Samuel Ruiz on January 25, 1997. This delegation was present that January, and were invited to participate in the celebration that year in the Cathedral. We are, L-R, Rev. Jeff Nichols, then Conference Minister of the Illinois Conference United Church of Christ, Rev. Bonnie Beaupre, Chicago Association Minister, Rev. Michelle Prentice-Leslie, Illinois UCC Pastor, Bishop Ruiz, Rev. Juan Saavedra, a Pastor from the California-Nevada Conference of the United Methodist Church, Martha Pierce, Illinois Maya Ministry, Rev. Michael Swartz, Pastor of the Church of Peace United Church of Christ, Rock Island, Illinois.

On the visit this year George, Paula and I intend to visit several partners in the area in addition to attending the celebration for Bishop Ruiz, now retired since 2002. We will visit with SiPaz, an international group working for peace; INESEN, an intercultural institute in the area working to bring about ecumenical understanding, and Melel, a group supporting street children in San Cristobal. We also hope to visit a coffee cooperative that produces organic, bird friendly, fair trade coffee, and one of the pastors and parishes out in a more rural area.

The wonderful element in the experience in the area over these many years is that we have built relationships with some church folks of good will in the area. The faithfulness of the relationships over the years strengthens our mutual ministry.

Please pray for our little travelling group which will be in Mexico this next week or so.

Codex Sinaiticus

2010-01-11T11:05:00.007-06:00

It sometimes seems to be an oxymoron when we talk about discoveries pertaining to ancient scripture. If it is so old, how can we "discover" something new.

Well, beginning last July (2009), anyone with access to the Internet can look at one of the oldest and most complete biblical manuscripts in the world. The document is called "Codex Sinaiticus" and can be found at its own website: http://www.codexsinaiticus.org/

A little historical background: This hand written book with a binding was found by Constantin Tischendorf (1815-1874), a professor of theology at Leipzig, in the monastery of St Catherine on Mount Sinai. On a visit in 1844 he found some leaves of the Old Testament manuscript, and in a later visit in 1859 he saw the New Testament segment. The codex, written in Greek, probably dates from the 4th century, and most scholars believe that it was written in Egypt.

Tischendorf arranged for the Czar of Russia to buy the document, and so it was acquired by the Imperial Library at St. Petersburg. It was sold in 1933 to the trustees of the British Museum.

Codex Sinaiticus is considered a most authoritative text, and quite early. It was instrumental in the "Revised" versions of the scripture which were begun in 1881. This was because it pre-dates manuscripts on which many modern European editions were based before that time.

One of my personal treasures is an 1870 edition of the New Testament, in English, with comparisons between the Authorized Edition of the time with materials from the then newly discovered manuscripts, edited by Tischendorf, (pictured above.) As you might imagine, this little book was very controversial in 1870!

WELL, HERE IS WHERE WE GET TO THE "NEWNESS." Prior to this year, if one wished to see the ancient manuscript in total one would have to travel to four countries, because portions of the document are at The British Museum, the National Library of Russia, St. Catherine's Monastery and Leipzig University Library. Now all of the pages are photographed and may be examined at the above website - moving from page to page over the Internet. The project is online, and there will be further developments as time goes by. This is truly phenomenal.

So on this cold January morning, from my office in Rock Island, I was able to log on and look at the text for next Sunday in a 1600 year old manuscript! This really democratizes biblical research and makes what was very obscure immediately accessible. Wow!

Clinton Presidential Center

2010-01-04T10:52:00.003-06:00

The highlight of our after Christmas trip was a visit to the Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock, Arkansas. We were able to walk over to the Center from our hotel, which was close by. Both are along a body of water that I thought was a riverfront, but is apparently David D Terry Lake. The locals thought it was chilly at 45 degrees. We thot is was a welcome, warm relief!

In designing the building for the Center the guiding principle from President Clinton to the architect was to make it look like a bridge, echoing his theme of "bridge to the 21st century." In this they were successful, and the site of the library is near the water and next to an old railroad bridge.

There was a quite a lot of information in the Center. Beautiful displays. Interactive locations. There was a full size replica of the Oval Office and the Cabinet Room. There were lots of helpful docents, such as the one who took a photo of our family. Once again, it is interesting to reflect again and in some detail about events which took place during one's own lifetime. We were reminded once again of what a good eight years this was for our family. Of course, these were important years for our daughters, who were then young. But it was also a time of economic growth for our family such as has not been the same since.

We got a couple of those little electronic devices that look like cell phones. When the user comes to a location there is a number, and when that number is punched into the device, there is a recording about what one is looking at. It was all Bill Clinton's voice. I think I had forgotten how articulate a person he is. Speaking easily and fluently. Sharing thoughts. While there may not be a one-to-one correlation, there is a sense that the speaker is a far more competent person when they speak clearly and articulately. Even the Romans emphasized oratory as part of the qualification for public office.

National Civil Rights Museum

2009-12-31T10:58:00.006-06:00

Our family likes to travel right after Christmas, and this year one of the places we stopped was Memphis, Tennessee, and there we visited the National Civil Rights Museum. It was a moving experience to walk through a long timeline oriented exhibit that narrated the experience of African American persons in America.

The museum itself is located in the Loraine Motel, the site of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Something that I did not know before this visit is that this motel was Black owned, and
thus the place that leaders such as King commonly stayed. So a would be killer could make a good guess that he would be there at this location.

It is always interesting and a little disconcerting to talk about history that has taken place in one's own lifetime. One of my minister colleagues from California, Rev. James Lawson, was one of the leaders with King who was prominent in the pictures and quotations on the walls.

We walked through a bus of that era and saw the life sized figures of Rosa Parks and the bus driver, and read about the confrontation that began the Montgomery bus boycott. Details on the wall also outlined that she had been trained at the Highlander Center and was prepared mentally and spiritually for this moment when it came. Often when we hear about it in the media it is presented as though she was just especially tired and fed up on this day and decided not to move on an impulse. This is certainly not the whole story. Rosa Parks was also a trained organizer, and part of a group.

A heart stopping exhibit was a bus that had been bombed that was in the museum. The aluminum that was stretched and blown open was a dramatic example of the force. And I was reminded of how much the current terrorists who blow things up have in common with the racist terrorists in the American South. The combination of murders, intimidation, arrests, jailing, police dogs, beatings, bombings, fire hoses - it was something pretty powerful to address. And to do so with non-violence.

I had not thought about this era for some time. The museum also elicited a good conversation with our daughters.

Over dinner I shared with them that although it all seems so clearly cut and dried, good and bad, just and unjust, at the time all of this was controversial. It was not so clear cut in the media or in politics.

I also shared with them the analysis that prior to Presidency of John Kennedy that the Democratic Party could depend on the "solid south" to deliver lots of votes for President in national elections. And after President Kennedy's efforts, and those of his brother Bobby Kennedy during this era, and especially after the Voting Rights Act passed by congress and signed by Lyndon Johnson, the south is now solidly Republican. The Republican party has taken up the mantle of White resentment.

I found it sorrowful that the museum seemed to stop the narrative around 1968. Sometimes it feels like there has not been so much progress since that time.

Children's Time

2009-12-16T11:58:00.003-06:00

Each week in worship at the Church of Peace there is a moment called "Children's Time," when the kids come up to the chancel and we talk for a few minutes. Well, this last Sunday there was a larger group than usual. Last Sunday was the week of the Children's Christmas Program, it was about bells. And there was a good group of kids present. And I have a fork in my hand and telling the story of the woman who wanted to be buried with a fork in her hand, because there was more to come. So she should keep her fork.

So the decorations are beautiful in the church, and there is a good group of kids, and many of them are looking at me and listening to the story!

It is good for children to know that they have a time and place at church.

Cars in the Parking Lot

2009-12-10T10:50:00.002-06:00

A number of years ago I heard about a frustrated business owner, whose business was not going as well as she had hoped, and she believed that her employees were slacking off, and that was the root of the problem. In a staff meeting she proclaimed, "I want to see those cars in the parking lot!" You know, that is a measure of what is going on at a facility. The cars in the parking lot.

That crossed my mind a few weeks ago when I arrived a little late to church on a weekday. There were already a number of cars in the parking lot, and there was no church meeting scheduled for the day. These were the cars of the employees, and some students in the Lights ON for Learning program.

That started my mind rolling. Our church staff roster lists eleven members. There are six persons who receive a paycheck from the Community Caring Conference. There are three employees of Blackhawk College who report directly to the church building to do work for the college. And this does not mention various supervisors who work in other locations and have some responsibility for activities that take place here at the church. The way I think of it, some twenty persons think of the church as the place where they work.

This is a high water mark for the time that I have been here. The Church of Peace itself has three more employees than last year - their jobs are funded by various grants we receive. In an economy where unemployment is up it is good to be working in the opposite direction. (We do wish that the jobs we provide were higher income.)

Many years ago when there was debate about whether the church should move or stay at its present location one of the reasons to stay was to provide an "anchor" in the neighborhood. The fact that twenty folks count this as their home office shows that we have indeed provided an anchor of sorts.

Of course, with twenty different people working in and out of this building life is more complex, with more relationships and all. But it is a good sort of complexity. A rich complexity of personal interaction - and that does not mention all the volunteers for each of the organizations that are in and out of the building on a regular basis. And then the church meetings. And the meetings of the Community Caring Conference, and the meetings of the Lights ON for Learning.

You know, with all of this there are indeed more cars in the parking lot. On a regular basis.

Count our blessings at Thanksgiving!

2009-11-25T11:07:00.003-06:00

We are here in Minneapolis for Thanksgiving at our daughter's apartment and I read USA Today (November 25, 2009) at the motel. You know the section where there are little news stories for each state? Well the post for Iowa is as follows:

Des Moines - Authorities said the church where more than two dozen parishioners were sickened had used gasoline generators for months to power the building. Authorities said fumes from the generators flowed back into the building on Sunday as a choir rehearsed, injuring 26 children and two adults. The church used the generators because it owed $3,200 in utility bills.

Puts a new light on the Stewardship drive.

Family Literacy Program Cooking Class

2009-11-17T13:36:00.000-06:00

Since September 15, 2009, there has been a family literacy program meeting here at the Church of Peace. This program is a cooperative effort of the Regional Office of Education, Blackhawk College, the Rock Island Library, Rock Island School District #41 and the Church of Peace. It turns out that the need of most of our students is for learning the English language, and most of the program is classroom instruction. At the same time, there is also a need to learn some practical language skills, and this is best done through a hands on technique. And everyone likes to eat!

So, one of the practical, hands on, language activities is to cook together. That way the foods are named, and the cooks use their language skills to communicate with each other. So on one day last week the students prepared lunch for each other. This was made possible by a small grant from a group at Royal Neighbors that was used to buy the food. And once the cooking was done the whole group sat down to enjoy a meal together.

Our church secretary, Nora, snapped two photos of the students and teachers together, standing proudly behind their accomplishments!

Roadtrip

2009-10-31T13:34:00.002-05:00

Well, the praise band from the Church of Peace was invited to play at Hope United Church of Christ in Moline, today, for the Western Association Fall Meeting. Above is the singing group sharing a song, and below is a photo of the boys in the band, who are in a corner behind the singers. The chapel of Hope Church is dramatic with orange windows in the chancel area, and that combined with the red shirts of the praise band gives a rosie hue to the pictures.

The band did a great job and sang some dozen pieces, some with congregational participation, and some without. I am always proud of the intergenerational quality of the praise band and singers, ranging from teens to grandmothers.

Three Classrooms

2009-10-13T11:06:00.005-05:00

Today we had three classrooms working at the same time for the Lights ON for Learning Family Literacy Program. The first classroom was for parents who are learning English as a second (or third) language. That is the top photo. Katia, the ESL teacher from Blackhawk College is consulting with our Parish Nurse, Mary O at the door of the room.

The second classroom was for students who are in elementary school. That is the second photo, five children around the table as a book is read to them. These children usually attend the Primary Academy, but this is one of the Intersession weeks, so there is no school this week, and these children are here working on language based activities. The teacher in this classroom is Mitch, assisted by a volunteer, Lisa.

The third photo and the third classroom is one for children too young to attend school.
That is the classroom in the bottom photo. The children here in this photo are enjoying a snack and are here with Julie and Ann in the church nursery. This program is provided every day that the Lights ON for Learning program is taking place, otherwise the parents would be unable to attend the class because they would be doing childcare.

It is a busy place this week around the church. And after a busy morning in the classrooms lunch was served to all the children, along with children from the neighborhood.

Lunch Program Reprise

2009-10-12T11:30:00.003-05:00

The Church of Peace had a good time with the Summer Lunch Program for neighborhood children, and decided to serve lunches again for the Intersession this October as well. The Rock Island School District rearranged the school calendar a few years back to have a shorter summer vacation break and to add vacations in the fall, winter and spring to make a more balanced schedule with shorter breaks. The basic premise is that children loose less ground academically when they have shorter breaks, and the school district also hoped to provide special learning opportunities for students during these breaks, called "Intersessions."

We know that some of the kids in our neighborhood really miss their school lunches when they are not available, and so we are providing lunch here at the church during Intersession. Also, we provided lunch for the students at the Intermediate Academy, who came by here for lunch after spending the morning at school

Having lunch here also made it possible to provide a meal for the children of the adult students in the Lights ON for Learning Family Literacy Program. The most challenging part of having meals during intersession is having children remember that a meal is available when it is only served for a short time. We put our "chefs" out on the street to spread the word!

QC Symphony

2009-10-08T10:58:00.006-05:00

Last Saturday evening, October 3, Nancy and I attended the first concert of the season of the Quad City Symphony Orchestra at the Adler Theater in Davenport. The program consisted of two pieces; Mozart's Symphony 41 in C major, the "Jupiter" and Mahler's Symphony No 1 in D major, "Titan."

The music director, Mark Russell Smith pointed out in his brief remarks that there are significant contrasts between the two works. This was Mozart's last symphony and Mahler's first. The Mozart is played by a fairly small ensemble while the orchestra for the Mahler is indeed large. Mozart is classical while Mahler is modern.

While the Mahler was dazzling and wonderful, my mind has dwelt on the fourth movement of the Mozart Symphony 41. The program notes point out that there are five themes woven together in this movement. I think my parents owned an LP with this movement included as part of a collection. I found listening a wonderful privilege, to hear the piece played by live musicians in my presence, like visiting a city one has seen in films all one's life. And while the piece is complex it all fits. It is a vision of balance, harmony and aptness, deftly fitted together.

I was reminded of the theologian Karl Barth's admiration for Mozart. Barth speaks of Mozart’s utter uniqueness: “In the case of Mozart, we must certainly assume that the dear Lord had a special, direct contact with him." And Mozart's music “evidently comes from on high” (These quotations are from a little book written by Barth in 1956.)

I found the Mozart reassuring.

Here is an article about Barth on Mozart at www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=1382

Family Literacy Program

2009-10-07T11:25:00.002-05:00

On September 15, 2009 the Church of Peace officially opened its doors to the Lights ON for Learning Family Literacy Program. This program supports the parents of children enrolled in Rock Island schools to help them learn practical skills, including speaking, reading and writing English. Pictured here are two students, Faila and Tambala, who are from Congo and who speak Swahili at home. They study with their teacher, Katia, also pictured.

This program at the church is a partnership with the Regional Office of Education, Blackhawk College, Rock Island School District 41 and the Church of Peace, funded through State of Illinois grants. We got a late start because of hold ups in state funding.

One of the helpful elements of the program is that childcare for the children in the family who are too young for kindergarten is provided when the adult learners are in the building. Since the class meets at the church they also have access to other kinds of support. Probably the most important and satisfying element of the program is that we are building relationships in community.

USS Rolf

2009-10-03T08:36:00.002-05:00

During the Second World War, Walter Rolf, the son of Rev. Fred Rolf, the longtime pastor of the Church of Peace, attended the Naval Academy, was assigned to combat in the South Pacific, and later killed.

His memory and heroic death was honored when the United States Navy comissioned the Destroyer Escort USS ROLF (DE362), which is pictured here. Much more information about the ship, along with a photo of Lt. Rolf, and of his mother Mrs. Martha Rolf are to be found at http://navsource.org/archives/06

In particular, on this website are some photos that include Mrs. Rolf along with other women. While she is identified, apparently the site managers do not know the identity of the other women in the picture. There may be some older members of the Church of Peace who could easily identify these other persons in the photo.

New Trees

2009-09-30T10:00:00.007-05:00

Yesterday four beautiful trees were planted at the Church of Peace. They are Maple trees of a fairly large size so they should provide both shade and fall color almost immediately. They are planted in the boulevard/parkway between the sidewalk and the street on 12th Avenue, along the south side of the sanctuary.

The driving force behind getting the trees in the ground this fall was Ernie Colclasure. He arranged to purchase the trees for a good price, get the appropriate approval from the City of Rock Island, and obtain professional installation. The beautiful landscaping at the church not only shows our love of God, but also shows our pride and commitment to the neighborhood.

At a certain level, every tree planted is a statement of faith in the future.

NAACP 100th Anniversary Celebration

2009-09-28T08:02:00.004-05:00

Yesterday afternoon I attended a program put on by the Rock Island County chapter of the NAACP to celebrate the Centennial of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People which took place at Broadway Presbyterian Church in Rock Island. It was a fine event with inspirational preaching by Rev. P W Harris along with exceptional music.

I learned something about the history of the organization and was pleased to have a small part in the service. It is critical to remember how important faith and the churches have been in struggle for human rights for African American people.

To know God is to do justice.

2009-09-21T10:46:00.002-05:00

On a rainy Sunday afternoon I drove up to Elmhurst College to attend the ceremony to award the Niebuhr Medal to Gustavo Guiterrez, father of Liberation Theology. Father Guiterrez grew up near Lima, Peru, and was a professor of theology and a parish priest.

The top photo is of Fr. Guiterrez having received the medal, with President of Elmhurst College, Dr. S. Alan Ray, at the podium reading about the award, and with Kenne Bristol, Chair of the Board of Trustees standing next to him.

What I appreciate most is that Guiterrez gave a speech after receiving the award. It was not new information. I still have my battered paperback edition of Liberation Theology that I bought in seminary in the 1970s. (A Theology of Liberation, 1971) But now, if I read some of it again I will hear it in his voice. His words were substantial, not sentimental. He spoke of poverty as not "misfortune" but rather "injustice." He also clarified some elements of the "preferential option for the poor." It is not an enemy of "universalism;" God does love everyone. Rather poverty is to be dealt with first, because it is contrary to the will of God.

I sat with some friends in Hammerschmidt Memorial Chapel on the Elmhurst campus. It is a big building and there was a good crowd. I count it a great privilege to hear in person people whom I have read for years. It also made me feel a little old; his seminal work was published some 38 years ago and I probably became acquainted with it some 35 years ago!

His theology, with an emphasis on concrete reality has been refreshing after a period when European theology was awfully cerebral. The notion of reading the scripture in the light of our immediate experience and asking "What specific action does God want us to take?" works fairly well at a local church level.

Gustavo Guitierrez

2009-09-16T15:38:00.003-05:00

On Sunday, September 20, at 7:00 pm noted theologian Father Gustavo Guitierrez will receive the Niebuhr Medal at Elmhurst College. It is exciting that this Latin American speaker for justice will be in our area. For more information go to www.elmhurst.edu/niebuhrmedal

Labor Day Parade

2009-09-08T10:40:00.003-05:00

The Church of Peace had a unit in the Rock Island Labor Day Parade this year. Here are most of us right before we stepped off. The new element this year was the Mobile Bell Choir. It was fun and here they all are on the hay rack that was pulled by a red truck. The truck was preceded by our God is Still Speaking banner and two of us handed out candy till the candy ran out. It was lots of fun and a beautiful day.

Church Directory

2009-09-03T09:03:00.002-05:00

Every five years the Church of Peace does another pictoral directory. So, in anticipation of 2010 we are having photographs taken of church families. Today is the last of four days of shooting, and make up sessions can be scheduled in September.

On the one hand this is a pain. It takes lots of coordination and there are always little glitches. At the same time a new pictorial directory provides several good things. It is a way to be in touch with all the families in the congregation - those we see all the time and those we see seldom. For many families, including our own, we do not have portraits taken otherwise; so it pushes us to get some photos done. I still have photos of me with my parents that we would not have if it was not for the church directory years ago. It is also a way to help us get to know each other better. There are always new people and it is good to have a book where a person can ask, "Who is that person I see in church?" and then find an answer.

I am grateful to church members and friends who take the time to schedule an appointment and help their church in this way.

Baptism

2009-08-30T13:16:00.002-05:00

On August 23 there was a baptism at the Church of Peace. Here I am standing with the little boy and his parents in front of two of the banners we use at the sacrament; one of the Holy Spirit descending, and another of the Rainbow promise after the flood.

I am reminded of the deep support expressed for little children. In addition to the promises of parents, congregants and God, there is a world of support from an extended family. This day was truly heartwarming; brothers, sisters, aunts and uncles, grandmother and more. Many from out of town and out of state. Every single little child represents a whole community of love and support, which he can only come to understand as the years unfold.

Thanks be to God.

Tower Hill Retreat

2009-08-26T11:01:00.011-05:00

The Illinois Maya Ministry group had a retreat at Tower Hill Camp in Sawyer, Michigan, August 23 - 25, 2009. The purpose of the retreat was to plan the year ahead. This group has an ongoing interest in Central America, with special focus on Guatemala and Chiapas, Mexico. In the last several years we have found ourselves doing more in regard to immigration reform and justice for immigrants. I guess this is because it is the same Mayan people from Southern Mexico, Guatemala and Central America who bear the brunt of events like the ICE raid in Postville, Iowa, May 12, 2008.

My part of this event was to coordinate the devotions, and we learned more about various Madonnas and how they are part of the spirituality of the region. This is something that is not part of the background for most Protestants! The theme was taken from the Bible; And Jesus replied, “Who is my mother?” (Matthew 12:48) We looked at various images and discussed our responses. One was Our Lady of Guadalupe, here from tiles in a wall at Mission San Xavier del Bac, near Tucson, Arizona.

The setting at Tower Hill is beautiful, and we enjoyed swimming in Lake Michigan.

Good Piece on Ramadan

2009-08-26T11:01:00.010-05:00

In June of 2007 I attended a weeklong workshop at Georgetown University in Washington D. C. about Muslim Christian dialogue at the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding. So I am now on their mailing list. I was recently informed that the founding Director of the Center, Dr. John L. Esposito, has published a special Ramadan piece in the Times Online. I learned a lot by reading it, and recommend it.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article6805750.ece

Prayers for our Longview Neighborhood

2009-08-18T09:40:00.005-05:00

Over the last several days there has been an ongoing discussion in the newspaper our Rock Island Alderman, Terry Brooks, for the ward that includes the Church of Peace. In this discussion Alderman Brooks characterized our area as a War Zone. This characterization has been the subject of a lot of conversation. It is ironic that there has more discussion of Alderman Brooks' characterization than of the reality he mentions on the streets.

Here are a couple of public prayers I have made on this topic:

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Holy God, it is your will to hold both heaven and earth in a single peace. Let the design of your great love shine on our discouragement and sorrows and give
+ peace among nations,
+ peace in our neighborhood,
+ peace in our homes and
+ peace in our hearts.
While we know Good God, that your will for us is peace we read in the newspaper that we here at 12th and 12th are in the midst of a War Zone. That there is violence and distrust, that people are settling disputes in the streets with guns.
- While the flamboyant language makes many of us uncomfortable we do recognize a certain truth to the assertions.
+ It is true that our neighbors live with some fear of violence.
+ It is true that kids walking home from school are not always safe from violence.
+ It is true that there is more shooting in our Longview neighborhood than in other neighborhoods.
+ It is true that property is vandalized on occasion in retaliation for perceived slights.
- Our faith tells us that acknowledging truth is the beginning of positive action.
+ We have had leaders in the past that felt that when a problem was identified in our neighborhoods that people were picking on Rock Island unfairly.
+ We have had law enforcement leaders who get defensive when crime is identified because they think it implies that they are not doing their job.
- Help us acknowledge the truth of our difficulty and take positive steps to make our neighborhood safer.
+ As we help neighbors get to know neighbors and look out for each other more.
+ As we acknowledge our difficulties and address them.
+ As we re-implement elements of community policing that we have let lay fallow in the last few years.
+ As we continue to address basic issues like school drop out rates, racism, run down property, lack of jobs, hunger, drug abuse and poverty.
+ As we work consistently for a better and more beautiful neighborhood and better future.
We believe that the gift of the resurrection to new life is not something only there and then, far away and long ago. We believe in power of the resurrection:
+ In a church like the Church of Peace.
+ In a neighborhood like Longview.
+ In a town like Rock Island.
+ In the hearts of sinners like us.

Bless us this day and always, through the living Christ. Amen.

Here is another delivered at Kiwanis:

O God, our creator, by your holy prophet you taught your ancient people to seek the welfare of the cities in which they lived. We commend our Rock Island neighborhoods to your care, that they may be kept free from social strife and decay. Give us strength of purpose and concern for others, that we may create here a community of justice and peace where you will may be done; in Your name we pray. Amen.

Summer Lunch Program

2009-08-13T09:45:00.008-05:00

The Summer Lunch Program ran from June 8 to July 31, 2009, here at the Church of Peace. Actually, we served some breakfasts and some snacks along with the lunches. While meals were served here at the church building to the children enrolled in the Summer Fun Camp, and walk-in children from the Longview neighborhood, the main effort was to cater the programs for children put on by Rock Island Parks and Recreation at several schools.

When it was all said and done we served about 13,000 free meals! Exactly, the count is 12997. That includes 9612 lunches. So our average lunches per day were 240; average meals 325. This is in fact somewhat fewer lunches than 2008. This is because the program that Parks and Recreation usually has at Ridgewood School had to be cancelled because of renovation to the school facility this summer. While we did serve lunch to the kids from that area in Haymaker Park there were significantly fewer kids eating because of the renovation program.

What really makes the program work for the church is the participation of all the volunteers. We have a professional cook, and two additional certified food preparation folks, and a cooks's helper and the administrative staff. But without the volunteers the program could not survive.

The Summer Lunch Program also helps us participate in the mission of God in the world. There is the narrative of Jesus feeding the 5000. (I guess his followers kept count too.) And also the passage in Matthew 25 where the disposition of those before the Great Judgement of God hinged in part on whether one had fed the hungry. We are privileged by being part of program that feeds hungry children here in Rock Island.

Running to Prevent Child Abuse

2009-08-11T10:43:00.007-05:00

Here is a photo of Anne Walters, a past President of the Child Abuse Council (CAC), finishing the BIX on Saturday, July 25. This year she asked for several people to "sponsor" her to raise money for the CAC - and so we felt like we were part of her effort!

The CAC, like so many human service agencies that do business with the State of Illinois, has been in difficult financial straits this year. The State of Illinois is hundreds of thousands of dollars in arrears in paying for services. It has been a roller coaster hearing that program funds are cut by various degrees - 70%, 100%, 40% - makes it hard to plan carefully the year ahead.

I have been on the CAC board for years and a link appears on this blog page.

This morning I read an interesting article about how Disabled Kids receive corporal punishment more than other kids in schools and states that still permit such punishment. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/11/education/11punish.html?_r=1&hpw

What I find especially interesting is that the majority of states no longer permit corporal punishment in the schools. The CAC here in the Quad Cities were part of the effort to end corporal punishment first in the Iowa Schools, then later in the Illinois Schools. That was a big effort and controversy at the time - now it seems as basic as wearing a seat belt when you are in a car.

Since the majority of states now forbid corporal punishment in the schools, could it be time to talk about national policy?

Or might there be something more specific. Such as, if a child has an Individual Educational Plan (IEP) where they are receiving special services for a handicapping condition, and thus the school system is receiving federal education dollars, that they may not subject that kid to corporal punishment in the schools? Basically, if the naughty behavior is a result of their handicapping condition it seems inhumane to paddle then - it hurts; it humiliates; it illustrates violence as a way to solve problems; it is big powerful people hurting little vulnerable people.

I think this is certainly worthy of discussion in civil society.

Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum

2009-07-31T18:08:00.002-05:00

Here I am with Sojourner Truth and Frederick Douglas at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum in Springfield, Illinois. Nancy and I got away for a quick trip before she goes back to work next week.

Today was also the last day of the Summer Lunch program at the Church of Peace. Lots of kids enjoyed eating lunches prepared at the church.

I Walked on the Moon with Neil Armstrong

2009-07-20T11:16:00.004-05:00

Here is the sermon I preached yesterday. While I seldom post sermons, this one is timely and also shares about me and my experience.

I walked on the Moon with Neil Armstrong
July 19, 2009 + Ephesians 2:13-22

An unusual fact that most people do not know about me is that I walked on the moon with Neil Armstrong on July 20, 1969! It is a funny story and I want to tell you about it.

Throughout the 1950s recruiters from California aircraft engineering companies would travel throughout the Midwestern United States looking for engineering types that wanted to live and work in California. There was a booming aircraft industry on the West Coast and they needed trained people. My dad had worked for General Motors on aircraft for years – he had received special training during the Second World War and with my sister in college in 1959 he cut a deal and we moved to California in 1960. After a brief sojourn in San Diego where dad worked for Convair, we moved to Los Angeles, near the international airport, which was the center of the Southern California aircraft industry. Dad went to work for North American Aviation.

Our family decided that it was better to live near work than to take one of those long Southern Californian commutes so we bought a little house near the airport. We were not alone in the journey we had taken. There were families from all over the US and world who had located to the area to work in the aircraft industry. The little community we were part of had sprung up after the Second World War like toadstools after a rain. And even the place names reflected the focus on flight. We lived on Kittyhawk Avenue. Other streets in the area were Airport Boulevard, Aviation and Interceptor Avenues. There were two Junior High Schools in the community – Orville Wright and Airport Junior High. I went to Airport. We were not assembled in classes but rather “flights.” The yearbook was called the Flightlog. You get the picture.

My mother went to work for Garrett AirResearch. My sister and brother-in law worked for North American. Dad got a better job at Hughes Aircraft.

When President John Kennedy in the early 1960s decided to put a man on the moon our family was right ready to do a part. It was the same industry that produced guided missiles, fighter aircraft, bombers and commercial aircraft that was called upon for the space program by NASA, so there was a strategic military angle to the whole program. And the US wanted to beat the Soviet Union. Our town was as focused on the Aero Space industry as the Quad Cities was focused on the farm implements industry.

When a space capsule went up no one seemed to talk about anything else, and we were always glued to the television. My adolescent mind grasped at certain tidbits about the program that you did not read about in the newspaper. There was a question about how to dispose of bodily waste in space and in the men’s room at North American Aviation there was a drum for employees to donate urine for space science. My brother-in-law told me he did his part. Garrett AirReseach had the contract for the “environmental systems” for the astronaughts, so she always listened with special care about how comfortable they were in the capsules.

With this background, in the summer of 1969 I had just graduated from Los Angeles State University and was spending eleven weeks in Europe. It was the era of five-dollars-a-day, and that was my budget, a shoestring. On July 19 and 20 I was in Germany, I think Munich. When I came back to the little student hotel where I was staying on that day the television was on in a little room off the lobby and a group on international students and young adults were watching and the sound was in American English – it was the same feed that we were getting to US television, I’m sure. I usually ignored the television since my German was very poor, but I stuck my head into the room and listened intently.

Someone said they were having difficulty understanding and asked me if I understood. I said “yes,” but added that I was not capable of translating into German. They said that was OK, but could I slow it down and explain some things to them. I was delighted to do so. I would listen to the jargon filled NASA speak and then summarize it in simpler English.

This went on for 20 or 30 minutes, but we were all getting restless because they were on the moon but not getting out of the capsule. I was really tired, and so was the group, so I excused myself and went up to go to bed. I traveled then as I do now with a little transistor radio, and I found the same feed on the FM dial on Voice of America in Europe. I wanted to hear the astronaughts exit the space capsule and actually set foot on the moon. I tried to stay awake, but fell asleep with the radio on. I was in that twilight sleep when Neil Armstrong narrated his journey down the ladder, and then took that step onto the moon’s surface with the famous statement, “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” And the remarkable thing was that in my dream I was with Armstrong on the ladder and with him as he took that first step on the moon. I walked with Neil Armstrong on the moon!

And in a certain way I did. My thinking and that of my family could not have been more engaged in the space program than it was. The success was our success; the pride was deep and real. And I had been pleased that the international college students had also been fascinated with the American space program – they had been hanging on my words.

Several days and a few countries later I was in Geneva, the French speaking part of Switzerland. Like most students, I visited the United Nations campus there in Geneva, and went into the galleries to see what was happening. We were told that we were fortunate, that a smaller meeting was actually taking place, though not a general assembly. I put on the little shell like ear pieces with the simultaneous translation and a delegate from some country in Africa was speaking, and actually commenting on the moon landing of a few days before. He said, “When Armstrong made the statement ‘one giant leap for mankind’ he was not speaking for me.” The diplomat went on to explain that his country was so poor that spending money to go to the moon seemed frivolous. And that the privilege of the first world was so great that he and his countrymen had no identification with it. I was shocked! At first I thought that he was shortsighted and did not really get it. But as I have mulled this story for some 40 years now, I realize that he was coming from a different background and simply had a different set of assumptions and another point of view, conditioned by his experience.

2

I am sure that there had been many opportunities for me to realize that a person’s background shapes their point of view prior to the moon landing, but something this dramatic has provided a touchstone for this reality ever since. Such a realization is one of the benefits of travel, particularly at a young age.

Here are a few other moments when I have had similar experiences:

a. Many focus around the public schools and teachers.

i. In my family home teachers were respected people and teaching was an honored profession. If I had a disagreement with a teacher, my parents were sure to take the teachers point of view first. My sister became a teacher and later a school psychologist.

ii. When I was living in Newark, New Jersey, working in a low income minority neighborhood as part of my internship with some Presbyterian churches, the local teachers’ union went on strike. I was shocked to realize that the minority parents and program administrators did not take the perspective of the teachers and the union. To them the teachers were elites who made more money than they did, lived out in the suburbs and commuted in to the heart of the city and did not care deeply about the kids. This was disturbing to me. It was a new way of thinking about teachers.

iii. When I lived in Chowchilla, California, a third of the congregation were teachers. Many married to farmers so that the farmers could have insurance and the family could have a steady paycheck. This too was a new concept to me. But support for teachers and education was pretty solid.

iv. When I served a church in San Mateo, California, with many members from the Silicon Valley computer companies these folk looked on teachers with distain. Teachers did not have that entrepreneurial spirit. The term “teacher” was synonymous with “slacker” in the minds of at least some of these high-tech and bio-medical types. Again, I was shocked. And of course, Nancy was working for the public schools.

But over the years I have come to see that one’s perspective on public education and public school teachers is shaped by one’s social location. While middle class folks like me hold teachers in high regard, both the poor and the rich hold them in some contempt and for different reasons.

I have come to realize that that people come from a different background and simply have a different set of assumptions and another point of view, conditioned by their experience.

b. On the day that Barack Obama was inaugurated President of the United States most people were pleased and hopeful. The African-American employees of the church and the Community Caring Conference where even more buoyant and hopeful. It depended on one’s life experience.

c. I think I have told this story before, and it is about the ethical scruples of Tongan Americans in contrast with Palangi – Americans.

Sampeni Finau, a Tongan Methodist Pastor, lost his wife Mary when she died from a heart attack. They had been married some 40 years. A few months later Sam married his church secretary who was some 30 years or so younger. We Palangi (white) pastors were shocked and dismayed because it is forbidden to hit on the secretary and especially one so young was considered inappropriate. The Tongans were very angry at Sam as well, but for different reasons. The did not care that it was the church secretary, and they did not care that she was so much younger. Their issue was that Sam had not respected Mary by observing the two years of mourning due her as a wife, and that he had married before the time period of mourning was complete.

CONCLUSION

Most of the time we are blind to the ways our life experience shapes our point of view. Our point of view is part of what we assume about the world. And assumptions are things we simply do not think about and take for granted. Those who are a little more self aware will sometimes see the ways their life experience shapes how they think, and this is probably a good thing.

In Ephesians there is a lot of consideration about how two cultural groups, Jews and Gentiles, can through Christ become one. Those who look at cultural diversity in the church, at how people of different economic and ethnic backgrounds can work together look to Ephesians. And this gives us the goal. That we may become one in Christ.

One of the strategic questions has been, do we become one by ignoring our differences? Or do we become one by acknowledging, sharing and even celebrating our differences? My experience is that we must acknowledge our differences. If we try to ignore them they blindside us.

Recently Nora, who coordinates the summer lunch program at the church, served a chicken salad product that she thought was simply delicious. It was not cheap! The kids turned their noses up at it. Angela, the church Outreach director, observed, lovingly with a smile, “kids in the hood don’t eat stuff like that.” Angela has become something of a menu consultant and things are working better. We had some chili dogs this week, and Nora said, “I thought they were gross. The kids loved them!” We did not get to this place by ignoring differences, but rather by acknowledging and acting upon difference.

Acknowledging and acting on differences born of background, social circumstance, race, education and money is hard work, but simply to think that all of this can be ignored is naïve and counterproductive. If we seek to achieve even in part the unity that is celebrated in Ephesians we will need to be more aware of our assumptions, and more accepting of the differences that others bring to our community.

Amen and amen.

Bicycle Rodeo

2009-07-16T14:36:00.004-05:00

Today the youngsters at the Summer Club here at the Church of Peace participated in a Bicycle Rodeo put on by the Rock Island Police along with some community volunteers. It was a darling program. And the kids loved it!

One at a time each child piloted a bicycle through a pre-set course. They were coached on how to make right and left turn signals and how to ride safely. Each child also received a bicycle helmet to promote safety in riding.

The photo above is a child going through their paces, and the photo below is of the line waiting for a turn.

Simple Summer Pleasures

2009-07-13T11:42:00.002-05:00

Some simple summer pleasures retain their allure even in our more sophisticated times. Here some of the younger students from the Summer Club here at the church enjoy running through the sprinkler. The day was hot and they had been working hard on their reading all morning and running in the sprinkler was a welcome break.

Road Trip

2009-07-09T11:48:00.003-05:00

We just got home from a great American Road Trip yesterday evening. Nancy, my wife, had driven out to Southern California for a good visit with her family. Last week I flew out to meet her and to enjoy visiting with family, and then on Sunday, we got up early and got on the road. We travelled with Harrison, the dog.

It was a great trip. We travelled through Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Nebraska and most of Iowa. The roads were good and the travel was fast. We were on the road for four days and three nights. One of those evenings we stayed in Santa Fe, New Mexico. We walked around the downtown area in the twilight. Here is Harrison with Nancy in front of a statue of St. Francis of Assisi. Francis, here sculpted with the wolf of Gubbio, seemed like just the perfect place to take a photo of a travelling dog.

The last time we drove from California to the Midwest was in 1990, and that time we were moving. This was an easier trip. It is a big country.

Baptisms are for Everyone

2009-06-29T11:13:00.002-05:00

One of the really good ideas to come my way in the last few years is for the pastor to carry a newly baptized baby around to "introduce" him to others in the congregation. Here is a very cute little member who was baptized this last Sunday at the Church of Peace "meeting" one of the older members of the congregation.

Baptism includes covenants that have many partners. Parents affirm their faith and promise to raise a child to be a Godly person. God gives acceptance to God's family. The congregation promises their love, support and care. The child's extended family gather around the parents and baby to show their support and love.

As young parents Nancy and I were immensely proud of our baby girls and wanted everyone to share our joy. And I thought about baptism as being about acceptance into the community of faith for the baby and the family. Many members of our extended family shared in the event as well.

And over the years I have come to realize what a moment of encouragement it is for a congregation to see new little ones being baptized. Last Sunday was also our June Congregational Meeting, and I think we entered that meeting with our spirits lifted and confident that God was not done with us yet.

Thanks be to God.

Summer Work Camps 2009

2009-06-26T09:23:00.002-05:00

On my way into the church parking lot this morning at about 8:30 am I saw the work camp group from Holy Trinity Lutheran Church (ELCA) of Ankeny, Iowa, loading their coolers into their vans for a day of Work Camp. At my request they stopped and let me take their photo.

This group arrived on Wednesday and will stay through Sunday, and they are our first work camp of the season. They are off today to work with our partner, Project NOW (www.projectnow.org) on an apartment complex in Viola, Illinois. This is the first of five church groups who will assist Project NOW in keeping low cost rental units maintained for the residents. By working with us and the work camp groups Project NOW is able to leverage their efforts to keep their property in good shape, and thus aid residents.

The camp groups stay in the old parsonage here at the Church of Peace. Their needs are met by the work of our Summer Work Camps Director. Megan Elliott, a church member who will be a senior at Elmhurst College in Elmhurst, Illinois, in the fall is the host this year.

Not only do work groups such as the one from Holy Trinity get a lot of good work done, but their presence and enthusiasm is a positive witness to Christ and the church.

California Nevada Conference

2009-06-25T11:38:00.005-05:00

Here is the view from my seat at the California Nevada Conference of the United Methodist Church which I attended last week; June 17-20. My assigned seat was in section Q10, and the rows went all the way back to 'W.' The Bishop, Warner Brown, is seated up on the dais, and there are two large projection screens on either side to help those in the convention center follow what is going on. I think the thing that struck me most this time was how big and corporate this conference is, especially compared with my UCC conference in Illinois.

One night the body was voting on the constitutional amendments for the national church. Since there was a paper ballot that had to be recorded I got a good idea of how many participants we had. There were about 620 persons casting ballots. And this was at 10:30 pm when some had just run out of energy and gone back to their hotel to sleep for the night.

It was good to see old friends. I was appointed to the Church of Peace UCC for the 19th year by Bishop Brown.

Summer Club

2009-06-15T12:02:00.008-05:00

About five years ago the Church of Peace began serving lunch to children in our neighborhood who are eighteen years of age and younger. We were asked to do so when our local elementary school was closed for the summer for reorganization. After that first year we have tried to provide some enrichment program for children as well. It seemed a little thin to bring kids in, feed them a meal, and then shoo them on their way.

Well, today we began our Summer Club for 2009. We serve these children breakfast and lunch, and provide enrichment activities for the children during the morning. The Club meets from 9 am. to 12:30 pm. The Club is jointly sponsored by the Church of Peace and the Community Caring Conference of Rock Island. We have some 50 children signed up, and about 35 showed up on this first day. This is not too bad, and we made phone calls to the homes of the kids who were not here. The club is divided into three groups.

They are the Lions, the Tigers and the Bears. O my.

The youngest group is the Lions. These children are 6 & 7 years of age and the focus of the group is on reading. These children were identified to us by our local elementary school, the Primary Academy, as kids who would benefit from an intensive reading program. Our instructor is Sylvia Elliott, a reading specialist with the Rock Island Schools and a member of the church. She is assisted by three college students who are working with us for the summer. Of course it will not be all reading, there is music and art, and field trips scheduled as well. Here they are on their first day.

The oldest group, youngsters 12 - 14 years of age, are the Bears.

Here are the Bears working with Katie Casey and Mary Kae Waytenick on music in the sanctuary. It is hard to tell from the photo but these youth are clapping, snapping and slapping out a very complex rhythm. The academic focus of the Bears and the Tigers is on social relationships in community. Mary Kae is a retired music educator from the Rockridge District, and Katie teaches in the Sherrard School District.

The last photo is of the Tigers, the middle group, age 8 - 11 years, with their art teacher, Hillary Plog, in the Fellowship Hall of the church. I think I must have been making my rounds with the camera just as they were beginning their time together. Hillary is explaining to them what it is like to be in a wheelchair, as she is. It seems a double privilege to receive quality art instruction
and to learn about how people are able in different ways. Hillary teaches with Katie in Sherrard.

Our Outreach Director, Angela Richardson, is coordinating the program, and there are teachers from RICCA as well, including Deacon Al Edgeworth, from the Truth Temple Church, across the street.

And this is just the first day. More to follow later.

This program is supported with special gifts from the Doris and Victor Day Foundation of Rock Island, the Junior Board of Rock Island, and a generous donation from a couple who helps support educational efforts for youth in our area. The food program is funded by the US Department of Agriculture.