A Journey Toward Peace and Justice – by Krista Kopchick

I recently came to realize that pursuing peace and justice is synonymous with being the church – or at least I would like it to be.  Before we go any further, allow me to explain what I mean when I use the words peace and justice.

Here are some words or phrases I associate with the word peace: unity, harmony, nonviolence, playfulness, respect, absence of hostility, healthy communication, healing of relationships (intrapersonally, interpersonally, and globally), seeking to understand and appreciate different cultures and belief systems, valuing diversity in community, beauty, honesty, empathy, consideration of those around us, and celebration of creation.

Justice: the pursuit of wholeness and reconciliation for all of creation

The word justice seems to raise eyebrows when it is brought up in conversation.  The more I talk to people about justice, the more I recognize the vast array of differences there are in how people interpret that word.  Therefore, it seems extremely important to articulate how I define justice.  Justice is the pursuit of wholeness and reconciliation for all of creation, treating others with dignity, love, and respect, and moving toward ending oppression in our world.

My husband, Mike, and I are in the planning stages of amping up our journey toward peace and justice.  Our conversation began back in February 2012 when Mike asked me what I thought about moving to a different part of the country for a while.  After hours, days, and months of processing and dialoguing about this, we decided to embark on an adventure.  We tossed around several ideas from staying in one city for a year to buying an RV and moving around the U.S., and we finally decided on something in between.  Our destination cities currently include Omaha, Denver, Boulder, Santa Fe, Pasadena, Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, Washington D.C., Boston, New York, with many stops in between.  In these different places, we will stay in peoples’ homes and experience a different way of living communally.  We know some of the people we will be staying with, others we don’t know at all.  Our hope is to get connected to leaders, both religious and nonreligious, in different communities around our nation.  The big question we would like to address is: “How are you pursuing peace and justice in your community?”

The questions we ask will certainly depend on the setting and the people with whom we are conversing.  We might include the following types of questions:

●     How do you define peace?  Justice?

●     What are you most passionate about and how are you engaging with that?

●     What are the strengths and needs/growth areas of your community?

●     How does your faith inform social action in your community?

●     How do you view the relationship between justice and peace?

●     What is the role of the church/religion in the United States today?  What would you like it to be?

One of our first stops will be in Omaha, Nebraska, where a community is pursuing a Tri-Faith Initiative where a synagogue, a mosque, and a church will all share one piece of land. They are in the building phase right now.  Each will have their own building and their own worship services, and they will share one building in the center of the campus called The Tri-Faith Center.  The following statements are found on their website at http://trifaith.org:

We, the members of the three Abrahamic faiths —

Judaism, Christianity and Islam —

impelled by visions of human harmony,

wish to share our grand and mutual heritage,

that is, the belief in, and worship of, One Almighty God.

Our Prayer

Our vision is to build bridges of respect, acceptance and trust,

to challenge stereotypes, to learn from each other

and to counter the influence of fear and misunderstanding.

Case Statement:

To foster and build understanding, respect and trust is a challenging and urgent task in our increasingly complex and global society. Promoting peaceful co-existence is a global priority in a world where the focus is often on fear. Accepting each other’s religious expression brings us together as a community and creates a voice for a hopeful future.

The Tri-Faith Initiative of Omaha, Nebraska, is meeting this challenge. Members of the three Abrahamic faiths — Judaism, Christianity and Islam are committed to promote mutual respect and uphold the right to proclaim one’s own religion and serve God in his/her own way.

To advance this mission, the Tri-Faith Initiative has set an ambitious course to build a Center to co-locate with Temple Israel, a new Episcopal church and the American Institute of Islamic Studies and Culture. These four buildings will form a multi-faith neighborhood of collaboration. The Tri-Faith Center will open its doors to all people in Omaha, the heartland and ultimately the global community. Mutual respect and acceptance is a vital and urgent need.

We are excited about this initiative and eager to learn more about it.  It seems to me that these types of pursuits will help us make our way toward peace and justice as we move toward one another with grace and understanding.

Krista Kopchick received her M.Div from Western Theological Seminary and her MSW from Grand Valley State University.  She is currently a licensed therapist at Wedgwood Christian Services in Grand Rapids, Michigan, working with children and adolescents in crisis.  Krista loves to learn and enjoys embarking on new adventures.  As noted in the blog, she and her husband are currently planning a trip around the United States to engage with different communities and dialogue about what it means to pursue justice and peace in our world