wfn.org | A Call to Prayer for Captured Peacemakers

["NCC News" <pjenks@ncccusa.org>]

A Call to Prayer for Peacemakers

Four members of the Christian Peacemaker Team (CPT) in Baghdad were kidnapped
recently and are held hostage in Iraq. CPT is an ecumenical peacemaking
agency associated with the Church of the Brethren, Mennonites and Quakers.
Its members are deeply committed to non-violent peacemaking and are willing
to put their lives on the line to make it happen.

The four hostages are: Tom Fox, 54, Clearbrook, Virginia, Norman Kember, 74,
London, James Loney, 41, Toronto, Canada, Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32, a
Canadian. More information on them are found at the Christian Peacemaker
Teams website: www.cpt.org

Tom, Norman, James and Harmeet are in Iraq for the sole purpose of bearing
witness to the love of God as it is expressed through the sacrificial
presence of the Prince of Peace. Because of their lifelong commitment to
Jesus and the holy calling of peacemaking, these our brothers live to bear
witness to the fact that violence is a sin against God. Indeed, they have
consistently carried that message to the Coalition forces, first by
condemning the political decisions to make war and later by expressing horror
at the degrading violence the war begets. Long before the media reports, they
were the first to protest the torture of prisoners in Abu Ghraib Prison.
Their message of peace was also expressed to those whose attacks on Coalition
forces escalated the violence and whose suicide bombs took the lives of
thousands of innocent human beings.

In consultation with CPT, and in view of the delicate nature of the
situation, we have refrained from making a statement about this situation and
discouraged other American religious and peace groups from doing the same.
Alternatively, we have leaned on international groups, particularly Arab
Muslim leaders to express their support for CPT. 

On Wednesday, Jerusalem Post reported that leaders of Palestinian political
factions gathered in Hebron to issue a statement in Arabic about their
experiences of seeing the CPT working in Palestine, and their personal
knowledge of the three kidnapped members and their important work on behalf
of the Palestinian people. Read their statement is here:
http://www.cpt.org/iraq/response/palstatement.htm

The World Council of Churches also made the following statement:
http://www2.wcc-coe.org/pressreleasesen.nsf/index/pr-05-73.html

Today we call on our churches to take time in their Sunday worship services
to offer special prayers for the peacemakers. We invite other religious
communities meeting for worship this weekend to similarly offer prayers, and
encourage friends wherever possible to remember our brothers in interfaith
vigils.

Contact NCC News: Philip E. Jenks, 212-870-2252, pjenks@ncccusa.org; or
Leslie Tune, 202-544-2350, ltune@ncccusa.org