Independence Mall Vigil for Peace

Report #9: 4 June 1999

On Sunday, May 30th, about 25 people, including some passers-by, joined together for our ninth prayer vigil for peace in the Balkans on Market St across from the Liberty Bell. It was a hot day, with direct sun on us. In addition, because of a Memorial Day press release that had been sent out in advance, we had television cameras photographing our silent vigil for much of the time. We were happy to be joined by a group of Friends from Salem Quarter, New Jersey.

In his weekly vigil report, Henry W. Beck of Gwynedd Meeting wrote:

"Today's worship felt like a test for me. Before coming, I prepared myself with a new hat, a bottle of ice water, and sunglasses, but I was not in the mood for loving prayer. I had read a Reuters news report that NATO was planning to ignore Yugoslavia's willingness to go along with demands of the Group of Eight. Furthermore, Sandy and I had had a disagreement over something trivial that left me disproportionally angry. How could I work for peace in Kosovo when I was failing to create peace at home, or within myself? ... By 5:50, the sun had retreated behind a tall building and I noticed that a greater sense of peace had begun to take over my mood. Is that what prayer is about, discipline, consistent "showing up" to undertake the work?"

Caroline Wildflower wrote to tell about a demonstration in Seattle at which Judy Brown of University Friends Meeting spoke and challenged those of us who believed in nonviolence to put our bodies on the line. The group filled the street for a city block. Edward Sargent wrote to us that he and his wife, Pat Stewart, stood outside the US embassy in Moscow last week, holding up a sign—in Russian—from Benjamin Franklin: "There is no such thing as a good war or a bad peace." American guards tried to move them away, but Russian police were helpful and some Americans coming out from the embassy expressed their agreement with the sign.

We close this report with some reflections by Jorge:

Having prayed fervently during my childhood and adolescence, then ceasing to pray later, at least consciously, I have found in recent years how hard for me is to pray, especially for others with whom I don't feel closely connected. This series of prayer vigils has helped me to face the obstacles for my prayer, to reckon with the smallness of my aims and to open myself, in prayer, to the growth of the divine.

At the closing of the vigil on Sunday I expressed my hope that it won't be necessary for us to meet again. This brought up questions that have been asked: Why now? What is so special about the Balkans that I/we are moving to express our testimony? Why didn't we show up during the genocide in Rwanda and Burundi or at the beginning of the ongoing genocide in Sudan? Or during or in the aftermath of the war with Iraq, including an embargo killing four to five thousand children every month? What were we doing when NATO was expanded or the US military buildup continued to grow in the last years? Will we stay home after the hostilities cease in the Balkans?

I believe that we have a very heavy responsibility for our silence about the violence and the wars ravaging the planet now. And I feel that I cannot just stay home even after the war ceases in Yugoslavia. Possibly this war touches us in the US closer than the others because of its European location or the massively destructive US and NATO intervention. Still, it has been a rude, painful wake up call on our conscience.

May we pray for courage to wake up, and respond.

(As we put this report together, we heard news that a peace accord might be signed in Yugoslavia. At this point, we still feel moved to maintain our prayer vigils and wait. In case the war and the NATO bombing do stop, we would like to invite those Friends who have been participating and or supporting our prayer vigils to come together and worshipfully consider what God might be calling us to do.)

For more information about the prayer vigils for peace in the Balkans, held each Sunday from 5 to 6 PM on Market St. between 5th and 6th, contact Jorge or Marcelle at cityquake@aol.com.

Love,
Jorge and Marcelle

BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON THE Independence Mall Vigil for Peace

Please join us at our weekly prayer vigils for peace in the world, held in front of the Liberty Bell on Market St. between 5th and 6th, every Sunday from 4 to 5 PM. For more information, contact cityquake@aol.com. In our reports, participants share their experiences of the prayer vigils and explore beliefs related to their participation. Reports reflect the experience of each author and do not necessarily represent the beliefs or practice of all vigil participants. We welcome your responses, which are forwarded to the individual authors (when possible). We sometimes include part of a response in a future report, unless you ask us not to. It is meaningful to us that you share in the vigils by reading these reports and in other ways, such as joining us in prayer.

Last modified: Wednesday, February 18, 2004 at 08:18 AM