A thoughtful Lenten sermon asks "what does the way of the cross look like" for people in a nation going to war?

The Rev. Matthew Gunter of St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Glen Ellyn, IL, preached on this on Sunday, March 16, 2003.

He suggested four points:

These are adapted from five suggestions presented by the peace group, Act for Change.

1. Urge the President not to use nuclear weapons in Iraq

There is now a risk that American military forces will use tactical nuclear weapons for the first time in human history. In May 2002, the administration dramatically altered U.S. policy, allowing for preemptive attacks against countries with weapons of mass destruction and also allowing our forces to use our own weapons of mass destruction against them even if that country did not use them first. Unfortunately, this means that battlefield nuclear weapons could be used in Iraq for so-called "bunker-busting" efforts and as a tactic against massed Iraqi forces.

Go to the Act for Change web site, where a page is set up to let you send an e-mail note to President Bush urging him to renounce the use of nuclear weapons.

2. Give to emergency relief efforts for the people of Iraq.

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance is working with the ACT network and with the Middle East Council of Churches to stockpile supplies and make plans for helping the large number of people likely to become refugees as a result of the US attack on Iraq.

Check out the PDA web page for details on their plans, and to make a direct contribution on-line.

Should you want to contribute without using the on-line channel, designate your giving for Project Number 92000082, project name: Iraq

3. Urge the Secretary of Defense to "support our troops: bring them home now!"

An unprecedented opposition to the war, both home and abroad, has failed to convince the Bush administration to act in accordance with world opinion and avoid a preemptive war with Iraq. Now, regardless of how we feel about the war, we must support the safety of our military. The Bush administration should work to protect our troops and minimize human suffering on all sides.

Urge Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to bring our troops home and minimize human casualties on all sides.

4. Keep speaking out against the war.

Join in local newspaper ads or billboards to be sure the voices for peace are not silenced or forgotten.

Working for Change is running a national campaign to raise funds for the placement of anti-war billboards in strategic locations around the country.

5. Come together with peaceful people in your community

At a time such as this, it's more important than ever to stay connected with friends and neighbors, and to cooperate to opposed this war in visible ways. Around the country there are and will continue to be vigils, rallies, acts of peaceful disobedience and religious services. Resist the temptation to be alone and watch TV coverage of the war; encourage friends and neighbors to get together - for prayer, for letter-writing or telephoning, for rallies and vigils and whatever else you can think of.

CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE !!
PRAYER IS NICE, WE WILL ALL PRAY.
NO ONE WILL NOTICE IT.
CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE WILL GET PEOPLE'S ATTENTION.

The text is short and simple:

A CITIZENS' DECLARATION

As a US-led invasion of Iraq begins, we, the undersigned citizens of many countries, reaffirm our commitment to addressing international conflicts through the rule of law and the United Nations.

By joining together across countries and continents, we have emerged as a new force for peace. As we grieve for the victims of this war, we pledge to redouble our efforts to put an end to the Bush Administration's doctrine of pre-emptive attack and the reckless use of military power.

You can sign up at: http://www.moveon.org/declaration/

Take a look at "An annotated critique of President George W. Bush's March 17^th address preparing the nation for war"

Stephen Zunes, Middle Eastern Editor of Foreign Policy In Focus, provides an annotated critique of the president's address to the nation about imminent war against Iraq. Given that the Democratic Party leadership in Congress declined to take their traditional opportunity to offer a formal response, FPIF provides a response to all the president's arguments for war. Line by line, argument by argument, falsehood by falsehood, Zunes responds to the president.

Stephen Zunes is an associate professor of politics and chair of the Peace & Justice Studies Program at the University of San Francisco.

Mary McClintock Ferguson, who is Associate Professor of Theology at Vanderbilt Divinity School, spoke at the conference under the title "Redeeming Obliviousness: the Church and the Challenge of Difference." Her central point was that diversity continues to challenge us, for our reaction to diversity in many cases is "obliviousness" - a more or less intentional choice to be unmindful of people who are different or marginalized. We maintain our obliviousness through a systemic pattern of privilege that allows our beliefs about the dominant group's world-view to go unchallenged.

Whether it's an attitude of "color-blindness" that claims simply to ignore race, or the pretense that lgbt people just don't exist in our churches and communities, this "obliviousness" keeps us from enjoying and serving the fullness of God's creation

Chris Glaser -- writer, preacher, activist -- led worship on Friday and Saturday for the conference.

Arch Taylor attended the conference on behalf of Presbyterians for Restoring Creation.  He offers a very good summary of the conversation with Wendell Berry, as well as notes on other presentations. 

We're still receiving expressions of support for Moderator Fahed Abu-Akel as he prepares for a "trial" because of his steadfast defense of the integrity of our church and its polity.

PCUSA offers worship resources for these very hard days ... including

If you have not done so already, look seriously at the statement "An Alternative to War for Defeating Saddam Hussein," endorsed by a number of religious leaders. including Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick.  Consider signing it and sharing it with your legislators and others.

In the ever-hopeful faith that there is some divine will for peace, not for war, then even as the US and its few friends prepare to make their move, it may be worth paying attention to a detailed and reasoned case against the war. Jonathan Schell writes in The Nation that the president's goal of rolling back arsenals of weapons of mass destruction, nuclear and otherwise, is a legitimate and important goal. The problem is, of course, that the issue is much larger than Iraq's weaponry, whatever it may be.

To scale back the threat of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, he argues, will require that all nations - possessors of those weapons (notably the US), "proliferators" such as India, Pakistan, now North Korea and others, and the many others that see nuclear weapons as the route to true dignity and sovereignty in the modern world - must work not just for non-proliferation (which is clearly discriminatory), but for true disarmament. Without that, he says, we will continue to be threatened, and no number of wars such as the current one will do away with the threats.

Prof. Earl H. Tilford, Jr., of Grove City College, has sent his justification for the planned war against Iraq, arguing that it satisfies the criteria of a "just war."

MoveOn.org and other peace groups are planning a wave of candlelight vigils for peace, to circle the globe this Sunday evening, March 16.

Just since Tuesday 3,593 vigils have been scheduled in 108 countries. You can see what vigils have been scheduled in your area, and sign up for one, at:  http://www.globalvigil.org

The site will show you how many people are signed up to attend the vigils near you. Spread the word to your friends, have them sign up on the site, and we can all watch as the numbers grow.

Those who oppose war have an obligation to propose alternative paths to that of the Bush Administration. So far, the call for inspections has been an effective one, and they should be strengthened and continued.

Mary McClintock Ferguson, who is Associate Professor of Theology at Vanderbilt Divinity School, spoke at the conference under the title "Redeeming Obliviousness: the Church and the Challenge of Difference." Her central point was that diversity continues to challenge us, for our reaction to diversity in many cases is "obliviousness" - a more or less intentional choice to be unmindful of people who are different or marginalized. We maintain our obliviousness through a systemic pattern of privilege that allows our beliefs about the dominant group's world-view to go unchallenged.

Whether it's an attitude of "color-blindness" that claims simply to ignore race, or the pretense that lgbt people just don't exist in our churches and communities, this "obliviousness" keeps us from enjoying and serving the fullness of God's creation

We're still receiving expressions of support for Moderator Fahed Abu-Akel as he prepares for a "trial" because of his steadfast defense of the integrity of our church and its polity.

Chris Glaser -- writer, preacher, activist -- led worship on Friday and Saturday for the conference.

The Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, Stated Clerk of the Presbyterian Church (USA), was one of a small group of US church leaders who recently visited British Prime Minister Tony Blair to discuss alternatives to war. Their efforts to visit President Bush for a similar purpose have been rebuffed.

That group has now developed, from those discussions and subsequent conversations, a basic proposal for a "third way," an alternative to war.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports on a recent sermon by Kirkpatrick at the Collingswood Presbyterian Church in Camden County, NJ, in which he discussed the proposal.

Click here for the full text of the proposal.

Sojourners' editor Jim Wallis, who was also a member of the delegation, has posted the full proposal on the Sojourners website, with a link by which you can endorse the idea, and that your support will be communicated to various national leaders.

A little note of concern: Your WebWeaver sent his endorsement, but his e-mail to the White House bounced, returned with a note that the address was no longer operating. Hmmm.

To add your endorsement to this proposal, click here. 
Then scroll to the bottom of the page.

At least half a dozen friends have urged me, during the Witherspoon conference or by e-mail, to point you to a recent Washington Post article by Presbyterian pastor Fritz Ritsch, who ponders the piety of President Bush. Lots of people are doing that these days, but his analysis seems to be one of the best. The President's clear we're-good-and-they're-evil view of the world, his triumphalism which links divine power with American victory, his belief in the redemptive power of violence - all add up to a deification of American power.

He concludes:

This test consists of one (1) multiple-choice question (so you better get it right!) based on the following list of countries in which the U.S. has intervened militarily since the end of World War II, compiled by historian William Blum:

China 1945-46
Korea 1950-53
China 1950-53
Guatemala 1954
Indonesia 1958
Cuba 1959-60
Guatemala 1960
Congo 1964
Peru 1965
Laos 1964-73
Vietnam 1961-73
Cambodia 1969-70
Guatemala 1967-69
Grenada 1983
Libya 1986
El Salvador 1980s
Nicaragua 1980s
Panama 1989
Iraq 1991-99
Sudan 1998
Afghanistan 1998, 2001-2002
Yugoslavia 1999

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In how many of these instances did a democratic government, respectful of human rights, occur as a direct result?

Choose one of the following:
(a) 0
(b) zero
(c) none
(d) not a one
(e) a whole number between -1 and +1

This quiz compliments of Vietnam Veterans Against the War,
Ben Chitty USN 65-9 VN 66-7 68 NY/VVAW peaceCENTER
P.O. Box 36, San Antonio, Texas 78291
(210) 224-HOPE or 224-4673 FAX (210) 222-1097

Another way to let your voice be heard ... or seen! 

Another major group opposing the war, MoveOn.com, is circulating an emergency petition from citizens around the world to the U.N. Security Council. The petition's going to be delivered to the 15 member states of the Security Council on THURSDAY, MARCH 6.

They add: "If hundreds of thousands of us sign, it could be an enormously important and powerful message - people from all over the world joining in a single call for a peaceful solution. But we really need everyone who agrees to sign up today."

To add your name, go to http://www.moveon.org/emergency/

Marthame and Elizabeth Sanders are American Presbyterians working in the Palestinian Christian village of Zababdeh, near Jenin.

They share a close-up look at a West Bank community, and the Christians and Muslims for whom it's home. And they try to explain why, even now, they haven't left for the safety of the United States.

The answer? "We're still here because we believe. We came here out of a commitment to serve the Church in the land of its birth, to be in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Christ. What our American government says or does cannot change that calling, or pry us from this place. ... We're still here because we hope. We hope that war will be avoided, for nothing made by human hands is inevitable. ... We are still here, because we love. We love the people of this region. From Baghdad to Beirut, we have visited them, eaten with them, laughed and cried with them, worshiped and prayed with them. Having done so, it's impossible for us to think of them as the enemy - or as candidates for collateral damage."

So your WebWeaver wonders: Living out of faith and hope and love, how might we in the U.S. face the threats that our national poses to the world today?