Three thousand faces of American military casualties. Is the world safer yet. Our prayers for the families of the dead of all nationalities.
Quaker Ranter
A Weekly Newsletter and Blog from Martin Kelley
Tag Archives ⇒ prayers
For something completely different…
October 2, 2006
In the news front, I’m no longer working at FGC. Reasons are complicated, as is often the case. In eight years I did some good work with some great people. I’ll be missing the hard-working and faithful colleagues and committee members I got to serve with over the years. I’ll be working on building my tech career and look forward to new challenges. Transitions are always a bit scary, so hold us in your prayers in this time.
A time of sadness and prayer
March 11, 2006
Sad news coming over the internet: after 100 days of captivity, Christian Peacemaker Tom Fox was found dead yesterday in Iraq, the status of his three companions unknown.
The Christian Peacemaker Teams issued an elegant and heartfelt statement beginning “In grief we tremble before God who wraps us with compassion.” Fox knew the risk he was taking going to Iraq unarmed. But he also knew that this witness would mean more to the Iraqi people than a hundred tanks. He knew the war we Friends wage is the Lamb’s War, a war won not through strength but through meekness, our only weapon our humilty before God and our love of neighbor. My prayers are with his family and friends, may Christ’s comfort continue to hold them through these aching times.
More history and resources on my “Christian Peacemaker Team Watch”:http://www.quakerquaker.org/christian_peacemaker_teams/
Bandaging our wounds, mourning our dead and loving our enemies
July 7, 2005
I’m away from my usual haunts on work-related duties but the news sites have plenty of articles about the horrible bombings in London; there is no need for yet another list.
It is always tragic to see the cycles of violence, terrorism and state-sponsored war feeding one another to new acts of violence. Our prayers that the new round of heartbreaks in London don’t lead into a kind of retaliation that will only harden hearts elsewhere. We need to envision a new world, one based on love and mutual respect. It’s impossible to negotiate with the kind of terrorists that would bomb a packed bus but we can be a witness that hate can be confronted with love. We must bandage our wounded, mourn our dead and continue to build a world where the occasions for all war have been transcended.
Excitement outside fgc
June 21, 2005
The offices of Friends General Conference are across the street from the Pennsylvania Convention Center, which is this week hosting a biotech convention. The streets outside are hosting a bit of a counter-convention led by a group named “BioDemocracy 2005”:http://www.biodev.org/. Here are some shots from a melee outside our front door a few minutes ago.
*Update:* apparently one of the police officers at the center of this scuffle “suffered a heart attack and has since died”:http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/business/special_packages/bio2005/11949070.htm. I’m not even sure how to comment on that. From my vantage point it certainly seemed like the police officers were using undue violence. But while I was ten feet away I don’t know who threw the first punch and what exactly happened in that sea of bodies. Whatever happened, it’s quite appropriate to hold him and his family in our prayers.