Thursday, April 10, 2008

cpt letter

What would happen if Christians devoted the same discipline and self-sacrifice to nonviolent peacemaking that armies devote to war?

Greetings, Friends!

I have already let you all know about an exciting opportunity I have coming up (in an older post), but I finally sent out my support letter yesterday, so I'm posting it here for anyone I may not have email addresses for.

May 27-June 9 I will be going to Israel/Palestine with Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT), an organization that sends peacemakers to conflict areas to work with local groups and individuals to nonviolently resist oppression and injustice. I will be going on a preliminary event called a “Delegation,” where I go with a group of others who are interested in becoming involved in CPT, and we learn about the situation in Israel/Palestine and what CPT is doing to try to help. Hopefully the summer of 2009 I will take the next step and do CPT’s month-long training in nonviolent active resistance, and then I plan to be a reserve member of CPT, spending a couple weeks each year at one of CPT’s sites around the world.

I would greatly appreciate your support, through both prayers and financial assistance. You can make tax deductible donations through North Valley Friends Church by sending checks to:

4020 N College St
Newberg, OR 97132

Write “CPT – Cherice” in the memo line. Or you can donate online at www.cpt.org/participate/donate and put my name as the recipient. This Delegation costs about $2400 for airfare as well as food and accommodations.

To me, CPT is a direct response to the criticism that pacifists refuse to go to war but don’t do anything to prevent war. I have felt called to get involved in CPT for several years, but the timing wasn't right. Now it feels right. I'm excited to be involved in direct action to help empower communities to see options other than violence for resolving conflicts. Let’s work on stopping the causes of war together through showing Christ’s love in difficult situations.

If you would like to hear about my experiences with CPT, please join my e-group by going to http://groups.google.com/group/chericecpt and clicking on “Apply for group membership,” or send me an email and I can add you directly. I would love to have you on this e-group so I can let you know how the trip goes!

To learn more about CPT, look around their website, www.cpt.org, or you can contact me for more information. You can also learn more about CPT’s work in Israel/Palestine by visiting my friend Joy’s blog, http://inpalestine.blogspot.com (she's a Friend from Oregon).

Peace be with you,


Cherice

Photos are from CPT's work in Israel/Palestine and are courtesy of the CPT website

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

My prayers are with you.