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Home | News > On Peace and Justice Sunday

On Peace and Justice Sunday

04-26-2010
Peace and Justice Sunday, May 30, 2010
By Connie Baker
NIC Peace and Justice Coordinator
 
Earlier this month, I went to the Peace with Justice Coordinator’s meeting in Washington D.C. where we met at the United Methodist Building on Capitol Hill.  The building is the only non-governmental building on the Hill.  In 1923, United Methodist Women raised 70% of the $650,000 it cost to build it.
 
Around the rotunda are two scriptures from the Book of Micah: “They shall beat their swords into plowshares” and “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God.” At the time the building was constructed, there were two powerful social movements involving people of faith: the Temperance Movement and the Labor Reform/Social Gospel Movement.  Most of us know about the temperance movement, and the United Methodist Women’s involvement in it, but many are not aware that the Social Creed of the Methodist Episcopal Church came out of the Labor Reform/Social Gospel Movement that lead the church to declare its support for:
  • Abolition of Child Labor
  • One day off in seven for workers
  • A “living wage” in every industry
Coincidentally, C. J. Hawking, co-author of the book, “The Fight for a New American Labor Movement” and Pastor of Outreach at the Oak Park: Euclid Avenue UMC was giving a presentation on the subject of organizing for a living wage for all in the building one day during the week of our conference.  More than 100 years after the 1908 Methodist Episcopal Church adopted the Social Creed we are still struggling with these issues.
 
We celebrate the outstanding work being done in Northern Illinois Conference churches year after year.  An excellent example of that work was the Creation Care conference offered this April at Downers Grove First UMC. They answered the call of the Council of Bishops for God’s Renewed Creation, Call to Hope and Action. The Pastoral Letter states,
God’s creation is in crisis. We, the bishops of The United Methodist Church, cannot remain silent while God’s people and God’s planet suffer.  This beautiful natural world is a loving gift from God, the Creator of all things seen and unseen, God has entrusted its care to all of us, but we have turned our backs on God and on our responsibilities.  Our neglect, selfishness and pride have fostered:
    •    pandemic poverty and disease,
    •    environmental degradation, and
    •    the proliferation of weapons and violence.
 
United Methodists across the Northern Illinois Conference are asked to accept the bishops’ call to action by phoning our senators and ask them to ratify the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) calling for the U.S. and Russia to take concrete steps toward a world without nuclear weapons.
 
As we come up on Peace and Justice Sunday, May 30, 2010 (or at another date this spring)  I hope the churches of the Northern Illinois Conference are planning an event and to collect a Peace and Justice offering to help fund local justice ministries and continue our discipleship rooted in scripture.  “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8)