Stilling, plus

Here's a bit of a mixed bag.

Thanks for the comment on being still, Drew. Very nice word picture.

Below are more thoughts on Psalms 46, and then after that a plug for a Friends Peace Team event that I hope some Friends from Denver can attend. I'm booked on that day and will have to miss it.

I’m continue to return to Psalm 46.
This week I visited a woman who told of a time several years ago when she went to the Emergency Room with classic heart attack symptoms. After the initial tests she began feeling fine. She sent her husband home to take care of the kids, while she continued to wait to be dismissed from the examination room. Eventually the nurse returned with the test results, “You have had a heart attack. Remain calm.” Then the nurse left here alone in the room again.
A heart attack?! Remain calm?! I need my husband here! Then God spoke to her heart assuring her that she wasn’t alone at all, and that she could trust Him. She did. She settled into a wonderful calm. She became still. She knew God was God.
That is precisely the gist of Psalm 46. I recommend reading it with this story in mind. - Or with Drew's story in mind. See his comment on my previous blog entry.


Peace Teams
The purpose of Friends Peace Teams is to invite, challenge, and empower individual Friends and Friends churches and meetings to participate in Spirit-led peace team work locally and internationally. Peace Teams are groups of people working together in places and times of conflict for reconciliation, justice, and the promotion of nonviolence.
I know this possibility captures the imagination of some of you reading this. An opportunity is at hand to learn more about Friends Peace Teams from a remarkable African woman, and possibly open the door to your participation.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo’s 14 year civil war has led to the deaths of more people than any other conflict since World War II. Zawadi Nikuze is a Friend working for peace in the midst of this ongoing tragedy. Since 2007 she has been the Coordinator of the African Great Lakes Initiative’s work in North Kivu. In this capacity she facilitates Healing and Rebuilding our Communities workshops and reconciliation with displaced persons who have fled the violence to refugee camps.
Zawadi is a member of the Religious Society of Friends in DRC, and speaks fluent Swahili, Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, French and English. She will be speaking on Sowing Hope Amidst War and Rape at Mountain View Friends Meetinghouse, 2280 S. Columbine St., Denver, 80210 on Saturday, June 5 at 3:00 p.m.
You can learn more about the African Great Lakes Initiative and serving on Friends Peace Teams at www.friendspeaceteams.org.
An opportunity to serve proactively as peacemakers is at our doorstep. Perhaps some from among can check out this opportunity. Let me know if you go. I wish I could join you, but I have a previous commitment.
Pastor Chuck