Dear Friends:
On Sunday, July 25, 1999, a few of us who had attended annual sessions of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting at Allentown College, returned to Philadelphia to be present at our weekly prayer vigil for peace. Kaki Sjogren, a regular at the vigils, said she had been very refreshed by her time at Yearly Meeting and was now wanting to give back; she sees these vigils as one form of service.
There were five of us present at this vigil on a hot afternoon. Ten year old Renata, who had spent five days with us at residential Yearly Meeting, sat on the ground, leaning against a lamppost. She held a large sign that read: "Pray for peace in your heart and planet" — "heart" and "planet" were in images rather than words. She picked out one of the brochures about Quaker faith and testimonies that we had displayed beside the flyer which describes the purpose of our vigils. She held this pamphlet behind her sign and read it during the vigil. The four adults who were present prayed silently.
During the second half of the vigil, a group composed mostly of young people in their late teens or early twenties approached us, curious to know what we were doing and why. They carefully read copies of our flyer and then joined us in the vigil. At the end, as we made our closing circle, we learned that they were an international group who had come to Philadelphia to participate in a service project, building a computer training center for children in Kensington. They came from Serbia, Morocco, Turkey, and Barbados. Kaki, who leads AVP (Alternatives to Violence Project) workshops and related programs for young people, offered scholarships to any of them who were interested in attending the workshop scheduled for the next weekend at Gwynedd Meeting.
We are very grateful to Friends who have been posting our prayer vigil reports on the PYM and Chestnut Hill Meeting web sites. We will send them our flyer about the vigils and will let you know when it is posted and how you can access it on the Internet. Thank you for all the responses you have sent to our reports. They sustain us and help us deepen our search to hear God's call and be faithful.
For information, contact Marcelle Martin and Jorge Arauz at Cityquake@aol.com.
Love,
Marcelle and Jorge
BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON THE
Independence Mall Vigil for PeacePlease 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