(photo by Vic Reinhart)

“A More Excellent Way”:

Active Love in a Time of War

We are deep in a time of keen remembrance and action.

This month we mark five full years of war and occupation in Iraq. This past week Iraq war veterans have been speaking on Capitol Hill as part of what they have dubbed the Winter Soldier Hearings. On March 12 war resisters were arrested in the US Senate. Next week, on the actual fifth anniversary of the invasion – March 19 – over 550 events are scheduled across the US, including numerous activities in Washington, DC sponsored by United for Peace and Justice, Declaration of Peace, and many groups.

Interfaith Peace Witness for Iraq

On March 7, people of faith and conscience launched this period of remembrance and witness by taking part in the Olive Branch Interfaith Peace Partnership in Washington, DC. Twelve hundred Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Unitarians, Christians and members of other faith communities prayed for an end to the war in noon religious services across the city, following a series of workshops and nonviolence trainings, including two led by Janet Chisholm and Kolya Braun-Greiner.

Then – as the heavens opened and unleashed a relentless downpour — we processed to Upper Senate Park for a powerful convocation of religious leaders from across the United States.

The gathering began with the Musical Gathering and Call to Intention by Sharon Abreu, Michael Hurwicz, Mary Shapiro, Hawah Kasat, Native Deen. They performed throughout the gathering.

Speakers included Samina Faheen Sundas, Executive Director, American Muslim Voice; Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon, General Secretary, National Council of Churches; Rabbi Arthur Waskow, Director, The Shalom Center; Bishop Roy Sano, Secretary, Council of Bishops, United Methodist Church; Sammi Moshenberg, Director of Washington Operations, National Council of Jewish Women; Rev. Bill Sinkford, President, Unitarian Universalists Association; Rev. Bob Edgar, President and CEO, Common Cause; Chris Montone, Director, Shambhala Center, Washington, DC; and Rev. Dr. James Forbes, Distinguished Senior Minister Emeritus, Riverside Church, New York City.

Fr. Joe Nangle, OFM read a letter that Fr. Louie Vitale wrote for the occasion. (At the time Fr. Vitale was still serving a five month federal prison sentence in the Imperial County Jail in California following a nonviolent witness for an end to torture training at Ft. Huachuca, Arizona. He has since been released.)

As part of this event, an Olive Branch delegation was commissioned and sent off to meet with the staff of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. (A similar delegation had met with the staff of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi earlier in the day.)

After the gathering in Upper Senate Park ended with Musical Closure and Departing to Witness by Sharon Abreu, Michael Hurwicz, and Mary Shapiro, One Common Unity/HawaH and Native Deen, we participated in a solemn procession to the Hart Senate Office Building, where we prayed for a concrete plan to end the war and create the conditions of a just and lasting peace.

Forty-two of us prayed by forming a circle in the atrium of the building. We sang softly, calling on the nation and its leaders to set a new course for peace. Eventually, we were arrested by the Capitol Police and held for several hours.

A More Excellent Way

The most moving part of the day for me was attending the “emergent service” at New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, a few blocks from the White House. The Cobalt Season – a faith-based music group from California – led a scintillating cascade of sound and music, returning again and again to St. Paul’s phrase (when speaking of the primacy of love over any other kind of spiritual work): “I will show you a more excellent way.”

With this as a backdrop, we were led in a meditation by theologian Brian McLaren on what it means to be a witness (observer of crime; giving a testimony or even an alibi). Then we heard heart-wrenching testimony from “witness to war” Gilda Carbonaro, whose son Alex was killed in Iraq in 2006. She shared a sheaf of emails that she and Alex traded before his death. Her spirit, her words went into my very core. It was at that moment that I decided, finally, to engage in nonviolent civil disobedience that day.

“A more excellent way”: we are all called, in so many forms, to the great spiritual practice of putting love in action.

This month we have the opportunity to join the ever-expanding circle of those in Iraq and across the world calling for “the more excellent way.”

People across the US created “Rope of Hope” used during interfaith gathering
(photo by Vic Reinhart)

Rev. James Forbes (left) and colleague at interfaith witness (photo by Mark Johnson)

Gathering outside the Hart Senate Office Building (photo by Ruby Sinreich)

Rev. Osagyefo Sekou (Former Coordinator of Clergy and Laity Concerned
about Iraq; with bullhorn) and friends outside Hart (photo by Ruby Sinreich)

Joan Nicholson arrested in atrium of Hart Senate Office Building
(photo by Vic Reinhart)

Rev. Paul Swayer arrested and handcuffed (photo by Vic Reinhart)

Pace e Bene’s Ken Butigan arrested as part of prayer circle
(photo by Vic Reinhart)

Prayer for a just and lasting peace (photo by Vic Reinhart)

Circles within circles

Continuing the call for peace (photo by Vic Reinhart)