wfn.org | In case of war, UCC provides resources of comfort and activism

[powellb@ucc.org]

March  18, 2003
Proclamation, Identity and Communication Ministry
United Church of Christ
Ron Buford, press contact
(216) 736-2180
<bufordr@ucc.org>
web <www.ucc.org>

REPORTERS AND EDITORS -- The leaders of the United Church of Christ (UCC)
stand with most religious groups in
opposing the war with Iraq. "While we remain hopeful," says UCC
spokesperson, Ron Buford, "if war comes, <www.ucc.org>
will have resources to help individuals and congregations on a variety of
spiritual journeys." The website also
links a variety of religious and secular statements concerning a war with
Iraq. It also has links that anyone can
use to communicate with the President and Congress.

"On Sept. 11 we learned that the web can be a 'first resort' for people
seeking comfort and community," says UCC
web coordinator, Andy Lang. "Some people are not active in a local church,
others are active, but at times of crisis,
they all need a place to turn. There is a place for all who pray for peace
at <www.ucc.org>."

The UCC will place a lighted candle in its Amistad Chapel, located in the
UCC's national offices at 700 Prospect Ave.
in downtown Cleveland. The candle will burn continuously from 6 a.m. until
10 p.m. on weekdays for the duration of
the war. UCC staff and downtown workers are invited to gather in Amistad
Chapel for prayer at noon each weekday. The
candle is a symbol of the ongoing prayers of the UCC's 1.4 million members
and 6,000 congregations who pray for all
those in harm's way, the people who love them and for the millions of
prayers for peace all around the world. UCC
staff has listed in Amistad Chapel the names of their family and friends in
the armed services or otherwise in harm's
way. Each morning and evening, a UCC staff person will read the daily
scripture reading posted on www.ucc.org, read
names and offer prayer as the candle is lighted or extinguished. (Photo
opportunities may be arranged.)

The UCC offers the following prayer from its General Minister and
President, the Rev. John H. Thomas, should there be
a U.S.-led war in Iraq:

Prayer Occasioned by War in Iraq

We come to You in silence, O God, entering once again a Way of Sorrow. We
can only weep --

for the people of Iraq, burdened by years of oppression, by a decade of
sanctions, and now facing death and destruction,

for those in flight, joining refugees throughout the world in a journey of
profound uncertainty,

for soldiers and their families facing dire threat and days of anxious
waiting,

for Jerusalem and for all it represents throughout the Middle East-would
that they, and we, knew the things that make for peace,

for those who are poor, whose needs are set aside while we pay the costs of
war,

for ourselves, despairing that we could not turn hands and hearts from the
way of violence.

Allow us our silence, O God, but do not leave us alone. Receive our tears,
but also gather them together to remind us
that as we have been baptized into Christ's death, so we are also baptized
into Christ's resurrection. Thus may our
journey with Jesus on the Way of the Cross be filled with hope, that in
these days we might not lose heart. Amen.

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March 2003