Episcopal Peace Fellowship

A Brief Meditation On Good Friday, from Bishop Steven Charleston The dark has as much right to be here as the light. Sorrow needs a home as well as joy. Our spiritual lives are not a barrier against any one part of reality over another, but a full acceptance of reality as it is. We will cry. There is no defense for it. But our tears will be noticed by a loving heart. We will not cry alone and we will not cry forever. Comfort, strength, and renewal will come to us all, but sometimes after we pass through a time of shadows. This Friday is such a time. The grave is such a place. And life is the container that holds them both: the laughter and the silence, each more profound than words will ever be.

"Arizona’s splurge ($1.5m) on illicit execution drugs is all the more striking given that it was made in the middle of a pandemic when so many of its citizens were hurting. At the time the payment was made there were estimated to be almost 1 million Arizonans struggling with hunger, including more than 300,000 children."

Trinity Cathedral, Cleveland, Ohio, social justice ministries, such as Greater Cleveland Congregations, A Place at the Table and the Episcopal Peace Fellowship, have created a unique display of Stations of the Cross this Holy Week. Click below to share in this holy and moving experience.

We are not to simply bandage the wounds of victims beneath the wheels of injustice, we are to drive a spoke into the wheel itself. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, theologian and martyr, commemorated on April 9.

In how many other states is this also true? Look at the graphic -- county law enforcement agencies "opt out" of requirement to report domestic violence, and counties that will refuse to enforce federal gun safety laws! Press release from Nebraskans Against Gun Violence. 2021 - Law Enforcement in Nebraska opts out of Domestic Violence Law Lincoln, NE -- In Nebraska, local law enforcement is required by law (Statute 42-930) to submit domestic violence reports to the Nebraska C...rime Commission every month. This law has been in place for over 20 years. Instead of following the law, 52 agencies, choose to "opt out" between 2016-2019. Nebraskans Against Gun Violence has put together a map of every county with at least one agency that opted out. Most of them are county sheriffs and the most notable county is Douglas, with 4 agencies opting out, including the Omaha Police Department. You can see the full list in the Nebraska Firearms Report at www.nagv.org, pages 39-45. The latest trend in the gun anarchy movement is getting counties to pass a county resolution to opt out of firearm laws they don't like. They call it local control, except it's not. Local control would give greater authority to local officials, not opt out local governments from laws they don't like. It's time to hold domestic abusers and law enforcement accountable, not allow counties to opt out of basic requirements like firearm background checks and safety training. The Nebraska Firearm report is a comprehensive state focused data report that uses data gathered from Nebraska Vital Statistics, Nebraska DHHS, Nebraska Crime Commission, CDC, ATF, TSA, Gun Violence Archive, Violence Policy Center, and NICS. The report can be downloaded at www.nagv.org.

Relevant for organizing for effective change...

MAJOR WIN FOR GUN SAFETY: President Biden just announced a slew of life-saving executive actions to fight gun trafficking, city gun violence, the growing threat... of untraceable ghost guns, and more. This is huge. Each of these executive actions will begin to address the devastating crisis of gun violence that has raged throughout the pandemicand start to make good on President Biden’s promise to be the strongest gun safety president in American history. These much-needed executive actions will start saving lives right away, and we stand behind the president as he urges the Senate to follow his lead by passing background check legislation. Tell your senators to take action on background checks now: http://bit.ly/BGC_FB

It's not simply Boris Johnson (pictured) & the UK -- the US for-profit healthcare system won't stockpile PPE or ventilators, as it doesn't make sense for shareholders, even if it makes sense for healthcare. Because, what's the healthcare system for? Profit! Nor does the federal government keep enough -- though they stockpile plenty of means of destruction!

An opportunity for peace builders, below!

Draconian petty theft crime punishments need to go.

Wage Peace Wage peace with your breath. Breathe in firemen and rubble, breathe out whole buildings... and flocks of redwing blackbirds. Breathe in terrorists and breathe out sleeping children and freshly mown fields. Breathe in confusion and breathe out maple trees. Breathe in the fallen and breathe out lifelong friendships intact. Wage peace with your listening: hearing sirens, pray loud. Remember your tools: flower seeds, clothes pins, clean rivers. Make soup. Play music, learn the word for thank you in three languages. Learn to knit, and make a hat. Think of chaos as dancing raspberries, imagine grief as the outbreath of beauty or the gesture of fish. Swim for the other side. Wage peace. Never has the world seemed so fresh and precious. Have a cup of tea and rejoice. Act as if armistice has already arrived. Don't wait another minute. Judyth Hill https://conta.cc/3mQFOiV

An invitation to preach Palestine during Advent!

Behold the hour of the Spirit has come, moving through our history like a deep current, an underground river, flowing beneath the surface of our daily lives, changing the very ground on which we stand. Behold the power of the Spirit, lifting up the broken and the oppressed, breathing new hope into old souls, creating a garden in the desert for generations to come. We are called. Each one of us, all of us, we are called by name now, called to see what happens when history is ...made, called to put our own hands into the soft clay of creation, called to craft the shape of things to come. Behold the liberation of the captives, the freeing of the human spirit, as a new light contends with an old shadow, and the silence is broken by a shout of freedom. We will not forget this day. None of us will forget this day. And we will never be the same again. Thank you, Bishop Charleston.

In case you have a need on Election Day: Save the Hotline Numbers: Save the number(s) for the Voter Protection Hotline and call or text the number anytime on Election Day for real time assistance, specific to your state. ENGLISH 866-OUR-VOTE 866-687-8683... SPANISH/ENGLISH 888-VE-Y-VOTA 888-839-8682 ASIAN LANGUAGES/ENGLISH 888-API-VOTE 888-274-8683 ARABIC/ENGLISH 844-YALLA-US 844-925-5287 See more

Find prayers for an Election Vigil, and an invitation to join All Saint's-Loveland, CO and EPF's National Chair, Rev. Bob Davidson, for worship tomorrow evening. And please VOTE if you haven't already!

May God breathe new life into the soul of our nation...

Too often we work at finding reforms to existing problems, rather than looking further, to the root of the problem. The first 2 panels use boxes as reforms, the Justice panel thinks outside the box.

Read EPF's statement on the potential for gun violence on Election Day here: https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Statement-on-Election-V

First Amendment rights? "Lee Percy Christian III didn’t think Arizona law enforcement could stop him from protesting until they locked him up indefinitely. Christian, 27, was arrested for unlawful assembly after a Black Lives Matter protest in Phoenix and jailed without bond ... he could be released on bond if he didn’t participate in future protests. Christian was mortified, but agreed to sign away his right to protests so he could leave jail he had spent nine days locked up."

Say no to guns, especially on Election Day, when the future of our democracy is on the line

The huge increase in gun sales through the course of the pandemic is an indication of our fear, and our lack of a sense of community. Pray for us all.

Here's the plan for a coup attempt....