Guns to Gardens: Host a disarming event at your church

Guns to Gardens: Help disarm on Sept 4 This September 3rd - 5th in Houston, the NRA will celebrate its 150th anniversary and the achievement of its goal of "guns everywhere." We now have approximately 400 million guns in civilian hands. What else has 150 years of the NRA brought us? Over 100 people die every day from gun violence, with 200 more wounded. It is time for the church to say: Enough. PPF is asking you join with other congregations across the United States on Sept. 4 to host a disarming event at your church. Invite people in your church or community to safely surrender guns that they no longer want. Pray with or listen to the story of the person bringing the unwanted gun. You need a chop saw and an outside concrete area near a power source to disarm unwanted guns. Send the scrap parts to RAWtools to be made into garden tools or art. Spurred into action by the 2012 shooting at the Sandy Hook school, RAWtools has been implementing the vision of Isaiah by beating "swords into plowshares" and guns into garden tools for nearly ten years.   Sign up here to learn more about how to participate in this event. PPF will provide training resources and support. For questions, contact Rev. Deanna Hollas, new owner of a chop saw, and Coordinator of the PPF Gun Violence Prevention Ministry, at deanna@presbypeacefellowship.org Resist Line 3: Calls to action The Anishinaabe women of the RISE Coalition are calling everyone to northern Minnesota to protect the wild rice waters July 19-31.  Enbridge is 60% done constructing their proposed Line 3 pipeline, and on July 15 the last restrictions keeping them from drilling under waterways where wild rice grows lifted. We anticipate Enbridge attempting their final river crossings, including one under the headwaters of the Mississippi, in late July. You are invited to come hold space, stand in solidarity, and honor the treaty obligations we all share. Please pack light, and plan to camp and be self-sufficient: this means bring a tent, food, and clothing for hot, variable weather. Come to La Salle Campground starting July 19 and be ready to go where needed. Need a ride? Check the rideshare board or offer one up. Can't make it to the frontlines? Contact President Biden and tell him to Stop Line 3. Becoming a Peace Church What does it mean to be a Peace Church? Does everyone in the congregation have to be a pacifist? What do we do when there are calls for aid from people being attacked? Read responses to these and more frequently asked questions from the Peace Church Working Group. The FAQ's have just been posted to our website. Interested in talking with someone about engaging your congregation about becoming a peace church? Contact us. Tent of Nations: Call to Action The Tent of Nations is a peace project located on a farm located 6 miles southwest of Bethlehem in the occupied Palestinian territories. Since 2001, Tent of Nations has been a place where “people from many different countries come together to learn, to share, and to build bridges of understanding and hope.”   Recent events have raised the concern that the farm is at increased risk of destruction or confiscation. Your help is needed to exert pressure on Israel to stop issuing demolition and eviction orders and to complete the re-registration of the land. Here is what you can do:   1.    Sign this petition, which will be delivered to the U.S. Secretary of State and the U.S. Embassy in Israel.    2.    Contact your senators and representatives. Urge them to ask the State Department to question the Israeli government about the Israeli Military’s recent acts of destruction of Nassar property and the delays of the re-registration.  Click here for scripts to guide your phone calls and emails. Click here to download a one-page backgrounder on Tent of Nations that you can send on to your representatives and to others. Welcome Lucy! This month we welcome Rev. Lucy Waechter Webb to the PPF Staff as our Manager of Communications and Digital Organizing. "I am really energized to be joining this faithful and powerful group of Presbyterians who have been long dedicated to transformational work. I am eager to learn alongside you and to get into some good trouble together."  Learn more here. Presbyterian Peace Fellowship 845-786-6743 | presbypeacefellowship.org Instagram | Facebook | Twitter

Presbyterian Peace Fellowship | 17 Cricketown Road, Stony Point, NY 10980