ABQ, Ghost Ranch and Those Presbyterian Peacemakers

It’s been exactly one week since I blogged last. I wish that my break was because I am on a some kind of relaxing get-away, but alas, I am on Presbyterian Conference overdrive. Last week I was at the Presbyterian General Assembly in Pittsburgh, I then spent three days in Albuquerque and now I am at Ghost Ranch near Abiquiu for the 2012 Presbyterian Peacemaking Conference.

16 days on the road, at least I could be in a rock band 😉

I will probably blog about General Assembly later and, Thanks to the hospitality of New Life Presbyterian Church and my FB Family I had a lovely time exploring Albuquerque.

Today is the first full day of the Presbyterian Peacemaking Conference. An annual gathering of folks committed to peaceful pursuits and ministries of justice, this is a gathering that is organized out of the Peacemaking Program of the office of Compassion Peace and Justice. I have attended this event off and on over the past 10 years and always enjoy the blatant commitment that is expressed about justice, peace and compassion in the world.

This year’s theme is ‘Restorers of Streets to Live In’ based on Isaiah 58 and, last night as we began to listed the pain we know on our streets, I was reminded about why these Peacemaking Conferences are so important. As we named issues of gun violence, war, human trafficking, homelessness, personal pain, etc. there was no looking over the shoulder to see who might hear, no wondering if this was going to attract some political fight, no wondering if it was okay to talk about these things, etc. Yes, there are times we must be wise and guarded, but Peacemaking Conferences create a space where there is an unspoken understanding that these issues are at the heart of the call of the Gospel of Jesus Christ on our lives. So very grateful for those who have lived this for generations and for those who will do so in the future.

There are some great folks speaking and presenting this including: Margaret Aymer, Cláudio Carvalhaes, David LaMotte, Luba Kravchenko and more, so if you are interested in “being here” this week, here are the links that you can like and follow.

• follow on twitter: @presbypeaceprog,#pcpeace12 and the list of twittering participants.
• like on facebook: Presbyterian Peacemaking Conferences and Presbyterian Peacemaking Program

Just to give you a taste of some of the topics and projects that come out of the ministry of the Peacemaking Program, here is a trailer of a documentary, “Trigger: The Ripple Effect of Gun Violence” which will show on NBC beginning November 11. There will be more info to come, but again, just a taste. [Watch the Video].