"Living Letters" Delegation Highlights Festival of Peace

“We want to salute and commend you in your work for peacemaking,” proclaimed the Reverend Edwin Makue, general secretary of the South African Council of Churches, at the Fellowship of Reconciliation’s (FOR) Festival of Peace. “Your wonderful commitment to building peace and justice is an inspiration to us.”

Makue and ecumenical colleagues from four other continents represented a “Living Letters” delegation formed by the World Council of Churches, traveling to four U.S. metropolitan areas from September 15-23, 2007. They visited FOR’s national headquarters in Nyack, New York on Sunday, September 16th for its third annual national festival, which drew 400 attendees.

Attending the festival was renowned writer and long-time FOR member Walter Wink, the author of Jesus and Nonviolence: A Third Way and numerous other titles. “It was a true honor to meet him,” said Brazilian theologian Marcelo Schneider. “Wink’s writings on the theology of nonviolence have informed our own efforts at peacemaking in Latin America.”

“I remember when Wink came to South Africa in 1988,” added Makue. “He snuck into the country to lead nonviolence workshops. His efforts 20 years ago helped us overcome the apartheid system, and have been formational for my generation of new leadership in South Africa.”

The Living Letters also expressed appreciation for the opportunity to speak with everyday U.S. citizens, particularly young families with children. “In a world expanding as rapidly as ours, we are moved by the personal connections that emerge in these ordinary conversations,” said Mark Johnson, FOR’s executive director. “Our hopes and fears are the same.” Echoed Schneider, “The peace you seek is the peace we seek.”

The Festival was also highlighted by an international peace award ceremony. Mel Duncan, executive director of the international Nonviolent Peaceforce, received FOR’s 2007 Pfeffer Peace Prize. The Peaceforce was formed in 2002 to build a trained global civilian corps to serve in conflict regions around the world, and now has teams working or forming in Sri Lanka, Guatemala, Uganda, Colombia, and the Philippines. Samina Faheem Sundas, executive director of American Muslim Voice, received FOR’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Peace Prize for her organization’s work to bridge the religious and racial gaps between communities and unite all under the umbrella of our common humanity.Following in that spirit, Deborah DeWinter, program executive for the WCC-USA, presented the WCC’s Blessed Are The Peacemakers Award to FOR “For inspiring, courageous and faithful efforts to build a just and more peaceful world.” The award was given on behalf of the WCC’s 2001-2010 Decade to Overcome Violence: Churches Seeking Reconciliation and Peace initiative.