Peaceful Ventures

Issue 9, Spring 2010

A newsletter from Shalom House -- a community of proactive Christian peacemakers started by Circle of Hope
Dear friends, Year. Training ourselves in practical tools in If we confront
nonviolent peacemaking and saturating
The end of 2009 closed with some map- militarism, close
ourselves in the histories and stories of people
making around here and 2010 began with a down seedy gun
the world over, are also crucial things we will
sense of direction. When November comes shops, or shop
seek out this year. And alongside of this
around each year, we set aside time to look locally but
preparation, we will create teach-ins on the
back on the year, as well as to pray and cannot look at
Gospel of Peace for Circle of Hope folks and
discern where God is leading is in the coming
other friends. Anchoring our lives and work in glossy
year. We call it our mapping time. By the
beginning of January we have identified Jesus’ call for peace must be at the heart of recruiters, flag-
what we are about and what we do. waving counter-
aspects of our life and work that need to be
adjusted and we have written down our goals We also continue to set aside time in our busy protesters, and
for the next year. Here are just a few of things lives to retreat. Most recently we retreated corporate CEOs
we’d like to be about and do in 2010. together right here at home. We spent 24 with deep love
Cultivate peacemaking among people of hours making curtains for a dinning room, for them in our
eating Eritrean food, hanging out, praying and hearts, we are
Circle of Hope by developing more ways
chatting. In this set a part time, with a leisure missing the point.
people can connect with us. In Feb. we
pace, an openness to the present, the ideas Let’s tear down
hosted a pot-luck with the people in our
started to flow and we received the inspiration the gates of hell,
church who are the Circle of Peacemakers.
for the theme of our 2nd annual Shalom House
We largely connect with them through our but with
festival. In May, we will celebrate
peace listserv (which you can sing up for on constant
Peacemaking as Vocation with our friends and
our website at www.shalomhouse.us). We let checking of
family of Circle of Hope. There will be more
them know about upcoming events. We have ourselves in
songs written about the living out of
online discussions about things like, the U.S. humility and
peacemaking. There will be awards given out
military’s role in providing aid to Haiti after the
to real, life peacemakers who we’ve come prayer that we
earthquake or how to respond to “flash mobs”
of young people in our city who are either across in our journey. There will be plenty of may fully take on
good food and the message of hope, which the true
gathering to hang out or cause trouble,
we must carry with us in the daily struggles peace and the
depending on who you talk to. So we invited
and suffering the world goes through. In our good news that
our larger Circle of Peacemakers to take our
next newsletter, we’ll let you know how it went! Jesus has to
conversations offline and bring them face-to-
face. We celebrated Emily’s one-year mark in Secure a place among God's world-wide bring.
her 2-year commitment with Shalom House peace movement. This summer Shalomers
and thanked God for her passion and will go on an international learning delegation -Josiah Lash,
dedication. We shared with them our 2010 to both, learn of the extent of U.S. militarism Shalom House blog
map and asked how people wanted to engage as the default response to international Feb 23, 2010
in peacemaking with us. We’ve got folks conflicts, and to meet nonviolent peacemakers
interested in everything from helping us with in a place of daily, extreme violence. We will Shalom House
our website to traveling with us abroad this come back to our church community with
summer. lessons learned and stories to share that will is going
Do the societal peacemaking work of help us as a community in Philadelphia live paperless!
out the Gospel of Peace. We plan to make
Shalom House as a community through a
these international learning delegations a We need your email
thought-out focus that the community
yearly habit!
members develop together along with the address! We have begun
guidance team. Right now we are working So, we’re excited and energized by the vision distributing our quarterly
together as a community on Encountering that was developed out of our time of
Militarism. You’ll read more about it in this mapping. We know that it is through the newsletter in electronic
newsletter. presence of God and the turning over of our format. To update your
work, vision and lives to God, that we are information, please email
Move to the rhythms we are establishing to
sustained.
sustain us, build community, carry out our us at:
work and prepare ourselves as Peace be with you, peace@shalomhouse.us,
peacemakers. We are continuing our monthly
discussion times, which took on the new
Mimi and Emily with “Newsletter” in the
name, Peace Talks, with the start of the New subject line.
 Encountering Militarism
2010 has found us running head- recruiting offices, fully equipped with over 30 networked
on into our new focus. With the computers and video game consoles, and 3 combat
connections and activities set in simulators. During our afternoon at the AEC some of our
motion last year with gun violence group were able to see the battle simulators of blackhawk
reduction in Philadelphia, Shalom helicopters, hummvees with life-like artillery, and faux-
House has transitioned its main missions and faux-enemies. The overall tone of our
focus to looking at militarism in our conversation following the experience was 1 - It’s no wonder
country and our culture. As young people are attracted to this and 2 - How did we, as a
Christians we are called to work society and the church, allow the military to become the best
out our conflicts nonviolently. As answer for a lack of opportunities (job training, money for
Christians who live in the midst of college, travel, community)? These are some of the
the most war-making, militarized nation in the world, we need questions that guide us as we continue working towards
to speak to this militarism, resist it and demonstrate peace.
alternatives.
The Truth Commission on Conscience in War, inspired by the
In January Shalom House participated documentary Soldiers of Conscience,
in an all-night vigil on the eve of the day and held at the historic Riverside
commemorating Dr. Martin Luther King "But I tell you who hear me: Church in Manhattan, presented
Jr. With others at Circle of Hope we testimony from war veterans,
spent the evening looking at the evils of Love your enemies, do good professionals and religious leaders
militarism, materialism, and racism. We to those who hate you, bless regarding the moral injury of war and
are encouraged by Dr. King’s witness for the right to selective conscientious
Christ in speaking out against the
those who curse you, pray objection. We organized a group of
exploitative violence of the Vietnam war. for those who mistreat community members from Circle of
We see many parallels between Dr.
King’s and our current resistance.
you.” - Jesus (Lk. 6:27-28) Hope to go to the truth commission to
add to our awareness the knowledge of
those who have stood firm in their
Striving to bring to light the reality of convictions against war and violence, and who have paid
militarism as our collective normative culture, we arranged a dearly for it. We are working with partners in the Philadelphia
film screening of the documentary Why We Fight. This film area to continue a deeper conversation on this topic.
looks at the development of the military industrial complex; it
dissects war-making as profiteering, and revisits President As we struggle with the questions of war and violence we
Eisenhower’s warning against the development of such have focused most of our conversations so far this season on
things, directly linking these trends and the US’s involvement raising awareness of the pervasiveness of militarism in our
in Iraq and Afghanistan. Over 70 people attended the film culture and the reality of war for all involved. With the spring
screening, and we held a lively monthly Peace Talk the we are shifting our efforts to digging up examples of those
following week to continue the discussion. We continued to who are finding alternative to war, those who have said “no
look at the varied and sometimes conflicting motives behind more!” in light of their roles in the military machine. We hope
creating and sustaining wars. to gather even more creative alternatives to provide
opportunities, to resist violence and war-making, and to show
The long awaited Shalom House the power of the love of Jesus for peace and true
book club found its footing and reconciliation.
has taken off this season as well.
The New American Militarism: Learning Delegation Opportunities:
How Americans are Seduced by - Witness for Peace (www.witnessforpeace.org) and Christian
War, written by Andrew Bacevich, Peacemaker Teams (www.cpt.org) are both organizations
is a look at how the military and that organize trips around the world to learn from those who
cultural perceptions of war have are working in areas of conflict learning from peacemakers
morphed to match political and and displaced peoples. There are a variety of delegation
corporate interests over the last through these groups to central and south America, as well
half-century. We have held two of as the Middle East. Please check their websites for more
the three discussions on this book information. Shalom House is considering a delegation with
so far. It is an important read for WFP that ties into our focus on militarism. We’ll be excited
anyone who wants a critical to share this experience with you.
account of how our massive
standing military came to be, and - Coalición de Derechos Humanos (Coalition of Human
how the entanglement of military, Rights) The Migrant Trail, May 31- June 6, 2010 is a 75-
civil society, and values have entangled themselves. mile journey from Sásabe, Sonora to Tucson, Arizona in
solidarity with our migrant sisters and brothers who have
As part of the resistance built into our encountering walked this trail and lost their lives. We bear witness to the
militarism, in February we took a group of almost 20 people lives that are lost, the families who mourn, and the
to the Army Experience Center (AEC). At $12 million, this communities that suffer the divisions that borders wreak on
state of the art technology center does the work of 7 regional all of us.
 Community Living: Spirituality
We are in Holy Week right now,
walking with Jesus in his last days
before his execution on Good Friday
and his resurrection on Sunday.
During Lent, the 40 days leading up
these moments, we have been
taking this time trying to get rid of
obstructions that keep us from God,
so that we can get closer to God,
and be transformed and reconciled
to God.
We take the season of Lent quite
seriously around here at Circle of
Hope and Shalom House. There
are things to let go and to take on.
This requires the disciple of 40 days
of fasting and intentionality. It
requires changing our schedules
and daily routines. And the
beautiful thing about these
requirements is that they start to
turn into liberation. We free
ourselves from the things that
enslave us to ourselves and to the
things that tear us down.
Ash Wednesday, Emily and I met
with many others in the meeting
space of our Frankford and Norris
congregation. We sat in silence,
named our obstructions, burned
them and took on the ashes. As the
beginning of Lent came around
Emily and I were both expressing
the same desire. We needed more
balanced lives. So, Emily gave up
Facebook. She wanted a break We desire to know the power of his
from seeing the world through the resurrection.
lens of Facebook, and she wanted On Good Friday, Circle of Hope will
to redistribute the way she uses her walk, pray and meditate through the
time to create space for things like stations of the cross in our
reading and reflection. Mimi gave neighborhoods. On Sunday before
up “overtasking,” setting the limit of the sun rises we will gather on a
9 hours of work and tasking a day. hilltop in Fairmount Park,
Anything not done by then, had to overlooking the Schuylkill River and
wait until the next day, and the rest Philadelphia, to celebrate the
of the time was to be spent living life resurrection. It is the discipline,
in other ways besides work. intentionality, fasting, love,
We are now taking these togetherness of this season of Lent
obstructions, the fast from them, and that exemplifies the life we strive for
the moments we have met God over at Shalom House as a community of
the last 6 weeks and going through Jesus-followers seeking to reconcile
Holy Week with Jesus. We gather ourselves to God and to humanity.
each night with our larger Circle of
Hope community, in the upper
rooms of our meeting spaces.
One of our pastors explains Holy
Week in this way: We are following
along with Paul’s desire in
Philippians 3:10-11: I want to know
Christ and the power of his
resurrection and the fellowship of
sharing in his sufferings, becoming
like him in his death, and so,
somehow, to attain to the
resurrection from the dead. We are
deliberately slowing down and
turning toward Jesus. We want to
know Christ. We intend to share his
sufferings. We need to die with him.

Partnering with Shalom House

Shalom House is an endeavor in common living and the Guidance Team are faithfully awaiting those who
common mission. We work to support each other in our have yet to find our doors.
personal journeys of faith and peacemaking. We work
In the meantime we have taken this time of having few
together to compliment each others’ strengths and
community members to tap into the friends, partners
weaknesses, seeking to bring the peaceful Kingdom of
and resources that surround us. The people of Circle of
God to our home, our community, and our world.
Hope and our extended networks have worked with us
Through our conflicts and our fellowship, our creation
in planning events, writing for our blog, offering help
and our consumption, our work and our play we hope to
with our garden or our website, monetary donations that
realize the peaceful and loving ways Jesus calls us to
have allowed us to keep going with fewer community
live.
members than we expected. We are appreciative of all
We are continually seeking additional people to join us the ways the people around us have supported this
in this endeavor of living together and working together work and prayed with us over the past several months.
for peace, for God’s kingdom on earth. If you would like
If you would like to become more involved with the work
to learn more about living and working at Shalom House
of Shalom House, if you have a skill, time, or money to
or our application process, please do not hesitate to
give, please call us (215-474-1195) or email us
contact us. Shalom House community members and
(peace@shalomhouse.us) to let us know!
 If you would like to subscribe or unsubscribe to this newsletter, please email emily.kephart@shalomhouse.us or give us a call.
more information!
Contact us for
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www.shalomhouse.us
peace@shalomhouse.us
215-474-1195
Philadelphia, PA 19143
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Shalom House is a tool for proactive peacemakers to use to grow in their faith, to express the gospel of peace, to provide the option of reconciliation for people in
Philadelphia, and to secure a place for Circle of Hope among God’s worldwide peace movement.