The Easter message of Jesus rising from the dead is simply the greatest message of hope there has ever been. Nothing else in this world can ever provide a hope like that. A hope that can be shared by everyone. And this world could certainly do with some hope right now. With the Covid 19 Pandemic and the suffering and fear which that is causing. The Poet Shirley Murray died earlier this year. HONOUR THE DEAD, A Hymn for Anzac Day, is one of her finest poems. Here I reflect on the words Were our Churches still to have been open I would have been preaching about the raising of Lazarus on Passion Sunday 29th March. I was really looking forward to sharing the message of this story from the pulpit. To me, next to the Easter Day Resurrection accounts, this must be one of the most thrilling passages in the Gospels, this amazing story of Jesus beating death in the face and raising Lazarus from the dead. At the start of this year none of us could imagine the world we are in today Night after night it seems we have watched on our television screens the tragedy which has been Syria for the past 9 years. Since 2011 there have been over 200,000 casualties, 25,000 of the children. So what can we do? Working for APF challenges and changes me. Spending a day with the Bargn Nuri Community from South Korea was another one of those experiences. Truth, real news, is often a casualty of conflict. In this account of the birth of Jesus nothing is quite as we would expect. For those involved, even if there were precedents or prophecies, the actual happenings were uniquely, and often uncomfortably, out of the ordinary. In 2001, as the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks continued, I became uncomfortably aware of the approach of Christmas, and wondered whether it would be especially difficult this year to sing carols about peace and goodwill, as anger and aggression seemed to have the upper hand. During December I wrote "Carol for the world", to draw myself and others back to the implications of Jesus' birth. Some people are evidently puzzled by the wearing of white poppies; this piece offers an explanation. The work of peacemaking starts with the fact that God is Love and that His love has been poured out into the world. All over the world people are demonstrating on powerful issues. Causes and ideals that shape people’s hearts and mind, focuses their prayers and action. But so often a commitment to a cause can be exhausting and demoralising. It can be divisive and you can be left feeling disillusioned and powerless. The Sermon on the Mount contains three small word pictures that have become part of our every-day language; ‘Turn the other cheek, give them your coat also and go the extra mile.’ Yet I suspect quite a lot of the people using these phrases have no idea that they are the words of Jesus. The headline on CND’s Facebook page was enough to stir my commitment: “No thanksgiving for nuclear weapons at Westminster Abbey…Voice your opposition to this morally repugnant event.” Signing the petition was not going to be enough. The MOD puts a dummy in its mouth and Westminster Abbey sucks. The trouble with peace is that it is not spectacular enough. Peacemakers have difficulty in making the news headlines... But what about Jesus? A poem for Good Friday - My God why have you forsaken me? A Reflection on the cycle of revenge knife crime What is it worth, a saviour’s birth
about this time of year? We hate being helpless and vulnerable, and we spend much energy, time and money on building up our defences, even though we know that the Blessings are given to people poor in spirit and meek, to people who are mourners and peacemakers. Reclaiming a situation for its proper purpose is a redemptive constituent of peacemaking. Shall we feed Syria? After all, it is biblical! Each year on Remembrance Sunday I remember the cemetery at Salerno, I remember the uncle I never knew except through photos, I remember the sadness, the pain that war leaves in its wake. And I remember the words on his grave stone: It is sad to pen a memorial for one we loved so dear. God is the author of peace and the giver of peace. How should that challenge us today? I’ve been looking at all the posts on social media around John McCain - those lifting up his good points and those lifting up his bad points - and I’ve found myself asking, when is enough, enough? How can we honour the good while not discounting the bad, even when it is repugnant to us? Anglican Peacemakers across the UK are looking to the Centenary of the Armistice as a time in which we view ‘remembering’ as one stage in a continually journey towards peace. So how will you remember? On Sunday, General Synod will debate nuclear weapons. APF welcomes this opportunity for the Church to take a lead in removing these weapons of mass destruction. Our government prepares to launch missiles,
because we are inerrant.
Our nuclear capacity is a God given,
mandated deterrent. Nuclear warfare is different, as those who survive the first blast are never freed from it’s consequences. When you see how many of these ‘tests’ have been carried out you have to ask, what could we possibly need to know about nuclear weaponry that we did not find out at Hiroshima and Nagasaki? This is not a game. We are asking our leaders to 'play' god and we are doing it to satisfy our own need. A Year on… It’s a year since the United Nations decided to adopt a Treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons but so far the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council are showing no signs of being willing to renounce their nuclear weapons. Deterrence is generally understood to mean: “Dissuasion of a potential […] Some years ago Shirley Williams had arranged to give a lecture for the Movement for the Abolition of War, and I was aware that her mother was Vera Brittain, author of Testament of Youth and other books, and a strong anti-war campaigner. I read Testament of Youth and it inspired this song Vera, which I later sang at the […] When we discovered that our own University had no issue allowing arms manufactures to recruit on campus we knew we needed to do something! A couple of years ago I took the opportunity of visiting a command centre for launching Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) and here are my thoughts. Over the past weekend Anglican Pacifist Members joined other peace groups (FOR and MPF) in Leeds for their annual conference; Letting in the Light: Positive Steps for Peace in a Turbulent World. Although she was unable to attend, former APF Chairman, Mary Roe sent this wonderful reflection. Greetings to all conferring peacemakers! Although I […] Lessons from the Cross; what the Truth and Reconciliation Commission can remind us this Good Friday. The Sin of the Nuclear Arms Race The Nuclear Arms Race is beginning again. A race in which there are no winners, and all will be losers if the stadium is destroyed. So once more two great nations and some seedy little ones are enslaving themselves to an evil deity – Wotan, Mars, Sopona […] Call for a change of heart by American citizens? The Church of England Article 37 (of the 39 Articles of Religion, 1562) ends with the sentence; “It is lawful for Christian men, at the commandment of the Magistrate, to wear weapons, and serve in the wars.” The Second Amendment of the Constitution of […] The Outstretched Arms God is Love God send Love in Person a tiny helpless trusting BABY arms outstretched to his mother Jesus Emmanuel. And at the heart of Love a cross agony darkness and on that cross arms outstretched to the world Jesus, Saviour. Love triumphant glorious Easter light empty tomb “Go,” he said “Be […] Why did God choose Mary, a stable and all the suffering and risk that the birth of Jesus came with? The answer can be found in the air conditioned suite at St Mary’s Hospital London The Risk There is another royal birth on the way and Princess Kate can expect it to be the […] The Evangelical Case Against War and For Gospel Peace I have seen a few media reports that criticise the white poppy as disrespectful. I desperately don’t want to be disrespectful, so I’m explaining why I feel the need to wear one this Remembrance. New APF member Azariah France-Williams reflects on APF's 80th Anniversary Celebration and the future of the peace movement. Consider the question - Can we justify evil if the end intention is good? As we remember the atomic bombs that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6, 1945, we can’t help but ask, how far have we come in 72 years? Throughout history, The Old Testament has been used to justify violence, but read the bible this way, and see that a peaceful story and challenge emerges “I read in a newspaper about a woman who crossed Europe on foot to find her husband, and I was so moved that I made the sculpture. Then I thought that it wasn’t only about the reunion of two people but hopefully a reunion of nations which had been fighting”, said Josefina. 'I took the wood from a refugee boat that sank in the Mediterranean Sea and made a cross. Here's what it reminds us.' Donald Reece's remembers the Assumption story of Bernard Mizeke this Easter One of the functions of our little Society is to encourage people to put peace first and remember previous battles last. So would naming the Sunday before Easter, Donkey Sunday, be a tiny step in the right direction? Want to know how an EU immigrant feels living in the UK these days? In a world full of violence and suffering, motherly love has a great deal to teach us about the true heart of God. Oh, yes? Well, maybe… Have you ever stumbled across something that made you stop and think? The other day I was de-cluttering my attic, home to the accumulated junk of many years, and I came across an old sticker. I can’t remember where I got it from, or how long I have had it. In […] I don’t know if you have ever thought,
About the meaning of Christmas time,
So I sat right at my desk last night
and wrote out this little rhyme. At Christmas let us remember the name Emmanuel and celebrate its miracle in our lives. APF Member Meg Hartfield is a talent poet. Here she combines her passion for peace-making with her poetry. He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train […] On the back of his hand he carried a mark,
dark and deliberate, not done for a lark.
A tattoo ingrained there for life,
“Never again” it read,
Important to him, less so for his wife. Rev'd Donald Reece consider positive stories of Remembrance for Peace Building Is violence ever a sign of hope? Jo Inkpin reflects on the contemporary political pain struggles across the world and consider how we find hope. Happy Birthday Tony Bennett! Harry Belafonte, Dr. Martin Luther King, Tony Bennett On a recent visit to my local library my eye was caught by one of the books on display. The cover was a photo of the author, someone I admire – Tony Bennett. I heard Tony Bennett singing in my youth but […] “We cannot compromise on our national security, we cannot outsource the grave responsibility we shoulder for keeping our people safe, and we cannot abandon our ultimate safeguard out of misplaced idealism.That would be a reckless gamble; a gamble that would enfeeble our allies and embolden our enemies; a gamble with the safety and security […] JESUS says Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Matthew 5.44 And here are some of my favourite examples of that in action; In 1943 LEONARD WILSON, interned by the Japanese in Singapore, was taken to Changi prison and endured two days of torture. Bound to a table he […] This article has been adapted from chapter 8 of The Lives Around Us: Daily Meditations for Nature Connection by Dan Papworth. In this chapter, Dan Papworth seeks to discover what the Magpie can teach us about seeking peace and trust in the face of an uncertain world. Unanswered Questions She is, of course, another crow (Corvid) […] Here's a 5 step guide to building Peace across the dinner table! We may not know how to go on praying when we know about brutal injustice and countless victims of bombs and bullets, but Jesus does not have compassion fatigue. “War, as a method of settling international disputes, is incompatible with the teaching and example of Our Lord Jesus Christ” . Yet, throughout this century, the argument of ‘Realism’ has been used to justify war. In doing so the teachings of Christ have had to be side-lined, diluted or even ignored. Are you a pacifist? And if so, when did you realise you were one? Here APF Vice Chair, Sue Clayton tells the story of how she became a pacifist some 25 years ago. Today I realised a scary fact; that although we live in the most peaceful century in human history, in the last 7 years the world is getting progressively less peaceful. So where should we stand? In a world that is becoming divided by fear, gaining a greater understanding of each other’s beliefs seems vital. Here’s one man’s story of doing just that. “For we are not contending against flesh and blood but against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” Ephesians 6 verse 12 When President Dwight D Eisenhower gave a Presidential address to the American Nation on 17th January 1961 (https://youtu.be/8y06NSBBRtY) he warned them about the rise of the growing menace of the Industrial […] This Valentine’s Day we, at the Anglican Pacifist Fellowship, are launching our Peacemaker Blog because after all, our commitment to Christian Peace is all about our belief in love right?The Greatest Hope of All
Honour the Dead
A Peacemakers Reflection for Passion Sunday during Covid 19
Covid 19 -The world is changing and we can influence what it changes into!
Syria – What Can the Church Do?
Bright World
Bad news, Fake news, Good News
Shepherd’s and Angels – Luke 2
Carol for the World
I wear a poppy
Can God use me for Peace?
Letter to a Young Activist
A Bit of a Cheek: Matthew 5. 38 – 45
Nukes at Westminster Abbey: More questions than answers
The MOD puts a dummy in its mouth and Westminster Abbey sucks.
The Humility of Easter
Why have you forsaken me?
Break the Cycle of Knife Crime Revenge
Carol for the World
LIFTED UP.
Hanukkah – Reclaiming darkness to light
Feed Syrians
Remembrance & Healing
The Peacemakers
Love in the time of Trump
How should we remember?
‘We have a second chance to get it right…’
Nuclear Deterrents – A Poem
A bomb that keeps exploading!
They Have Not Kept the Peace
Are we asking our leaders to play God?
The Pitfalls of Nuclear Deterrence?
Inspired by Vera Brittain
“Neither shall they learn war any more”
Reflections on visiting a launch site for ICBMs in South Dakota
Conferring Peacemakers!
Lessons from the Cross – Truth and Reconciliation
‘Father’, said Jesus, ‘forgive them! They don’t know what they’re doing!’ Luke 23.34.
CofE Articles and USA 2nd Amendment
The Outstretched Arms
Royal Births
Warlike Christians in An Age of Violence
I mean no offence. Here is why I will also be wearing a White Poppy!
First World War to First World Peace
The Great Debate
What is the Truth and how far have we come?
A Drowned-Out Truth
The Wrong Trousers! – Lessons to be learnt from a sculpture of Reconciliation
The ‘Lampadusa Cross’
A Good News Story!
Palm Sunday? Why not Donkey Sunday!
“So how do you as a Christian EU immigrant feel in the UK these days?”…..
Mothers, Peace and The Heart of God
“WAR IS OVER. If You Want It.”
A little PEACE of Christmas
God With Us
Swords into Ploughshares
The Back of his Hand
Good Stories for Remembrance
Rediscovering Cinderella: finding hope in violent times
A Song we Should all Sing
Think we need Trident? You hypocrite!
Keep Calm and Love Your Enemies
Magpie: peace and trust in the face of uncertainty
How to Build Peace over Dinner?
Jesus Wept
The Temptation of “Realism”
My Road to Damascus
This is not an April Fool!
How did I get from being a composer to Scriptural Reasoning?
The Global Industrial Military Complex
Wishing you a Radical Valentine’s Day
