wfn.org | "World Peace Globe" Unveiled At Church Center For The U.N.

[CAROL_FOUKE.parti@ecunet.org (CAROL FOUKE)]

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA
Email: news@ncccusa.org  Web: www.ncccusa.org

Contact: NCC News, 212-870-2227

125NCC12/9/99
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

"WORLD PEACE GLOBE" UNVEILED AT CHURCH CENTER FOR THE U.N.

December 7, 1999, NEW YORK CITY - A smaller version of a World 
Peace Globe to be installed in Manger Square in Bethlehem was 
unveiled during a Dec. 7 ceremony at the Church Center for the 
United Nations.

Sponsored by the United Methodist Office for the United 
Nations and the Office of the Coordinator of Bethlehem 2000, a 
project promoting both millennial celebrations and economic 
development in Bethlehem, the event was marked by calls for peace 
around the world.

Levi Bautista, a United Methodist Board of Church and Society 
executive, called the globe-lighting ceremony "an exercise in 
remembrance and anticipation" - remembrance of Jesus Christ, who was 
born in Bethlehem, and his teachings and anticipation of  "a just, 
compassionate and durable peace."

Created of Plexiglas by Rebecca Nova of Wilmington, N.C., the 
16-inch globe is lighted from inside. Countries at peace are 
brightly lit; countries at war are dark, and countries with internal 
conflicts blink. A four-foot globe will be installed in the World 
Peace Center now under construction in Bethlehem.

Bethlehem 2000 is an initiative of the United Nations, 
nongovernmental organizations and other groups to support the 
Bethlehem 2000 Project of the Palestinian Authority.  Events are 
scheduled from December 1999 through Easter 2001.

The Rev. Joan Brown Campbell, general secretary of the 
National Council of Churches, welcomed the Bethlehem 2000 
initiative, and said, "We have before us a vision of hope, radical 
change and transformation to a new life."  She pointed out that the 
"communities of witnesses" in Bethlehem and the Middle East are even 
more important than the holy places. She hopes the 2000 celebration 
"will be an occasion for renewal" for those people.

The globe lit Dec. 7 at the Church Center for the United 
Nations will remain in the Tillman Chapel there for the next 18 
months.  More information is available at the Web site: 
www.peace2k.org.

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