Seven students participated in the 2018  on March 23. Each speaker applied the Christian peace position to a contemporary concern in a short speech (8-10 min):

4:35–Kyle Good, Food as Conscientious Objection, junior, English & Peacebuilding and Development major

11:47–Amanda Williams, Mother Earth’s Plea for Her Prodigal Children to Return, senior, Biology & Environmental Sustainability major

22:08–Katrina Poplett, When Silence is Betrayal: Climbing the Hill, senior, Peacebuilding and Development major

34:15–Lydia Haggard, Is it Black or White? Exploring Race and the Mennonite Church, junior Bible and Religion major

44:53–Winifred Gray-Johnson, Finding Forgiveness: A Path toward Healthy Relationships, junior, Peacebuilding and Development major

55:02–Caleb Schrock-Hurst, Is This a Bonhoeffer Moment?: Asking the Right Questions in Trump’s America, senior English major

1:03:20–Fabiana Espinal, Creativity as a Path to Healing and Connection, senior Liberal Arts major

2017 Speeches

Hear portions of student-prepared speeches highlighting many forms of peace as part of the . The full speeches can be heard TONIGHT – Friday, March 23 at 7 p.m. in Martin Chapel (Seminary Building).

Fabiana Espinal
“Creativity as a Path to Healing and Connection”

Kyle Good
“Food as Conscientious Objection”

Winifred Gray-Johnson
“Finding Forgiveness: A Path toward Healthy Relationships”

Lydia Haggard
“Is it Black or White?: Exploring Race and the Mennonite Church”

Katrina Poplett
“When Silence is Betrayal: Climbing the Hill”

Caleb Schrock-Hurst
“Is This a Bonhoeffer Moment?: Asking the Right Questions in Trump’s America”

Amanda Williams
“Mother Earth’s Plea for Her Prodigal Children to Return”

Hear from a volunteer “Peace Team” member visiting Harrisonburg today. Their shared work is the celebration and defense of life and all that’s beautiful – addressing the stuff of decolonization, our grappling with white supremacy and patriarchy, our journey together with regards to race, gender, and many other constructions and expressions tied to our identities.

We hear from Christine Nobiss of Indigenous Iowa and Ethan Hughes of the Possibility Alliance of Missouri.

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The Peace Team (for lack of a better name), shares a vision of a multi-layered, decentralized movement rooted in integral nonviolence — a comprehensive way-of-life-nonviolence that balances self-transformation, social and cultural transformation, and bold, direct resistance to the domination system. We find unity, spiritually and politically, through a shared calling to defend life, to express radical love for the earth and all its inhabitants, and to honor an unshakable commitment to work at the intersections of race, class, gender, sexuality, et al. At this stage, we hold two interconnected strands of the struggle as primary: protecting life in the face of climate catastrophe, and initiating bold, concrete expressions of atonement and reparations to those most impacted by white supremacy.

We believe that a team modeling bold, direct resistance to forces of domination and plunder will be best suited to catalyze and pull together the other elements of the integral nonviolence movement we long to be a part of. For that reason, we are beginning this effort by bringing together those of us who feel called to that particular strand of our vision. We do not wish or intend to somehow bend the macro-movement for justice to our way of doing things. We simply wish to create a space in the larger movement ecosystem where serious, disciplined nonviolence practitioners can show up as their full selves, shoulder to shoulder with their co-workers, in order to bring a unique gift to the struggle. We long to be of service to life and all that’s beautiful, and we are committed to doing so with loving, generous, and courageous hearts.

Matthew Hunsberger takes us on a musical journey through the weeks of advent and Christmas in a single University Chapel.  Other participants include Brian Martin Burkholder (candle lighter); Elizabeth Resto and Anali Martin (readers); David Berry (piano); Sara Halteman (violin); and Katie Derstine, Ranene Schrock, Selah Shenk, and Jessica Hostetler (women’s vocal quartet).

Seven students participated in the 2017  on March 24. Each speaker applied the Christian peace position to a contemporary concern in a short speech (8-10 min):

4:00–Molly White, Ruth’s Activism: Christianity, Identity, and Justice, senior Peacebuilding and Development major from Louisville, KY

13:58–Diego Barahona, Toda la sobra de lo que se llevaron:What was left over from what they took, senior,Biochemistry major from Tegucigalpa, Honduras

22:47–Kat Lehman, Diverse but United, Imperfect but Beautiful, senior, Biology major from Dover, OH

32:28–Hannah Mack-Boll, What is Your Intention, senior Peacebuilding and Development major from Lancaster, PA

43:22–Lydia Haggard, The Silent Treatment, sophomore, Bible and Religion major from Norristown, PA

53:27–Grantley Showalter, Hygge and the Mennonite Moderate, senior Peacebuilding and Development major from Waynesboro, PA

1:03:40–Joel Wheeler, A Participation Trophy for Millennials:Why Millennials Don’t Suck, and Why Society needs their Participation , senior Social Work major from Hudson, MI

Hear the Women’s Choir and portions of student prepared speeches highlighting many forms of peace as part of the . The full speeches can be heard TONIGHT – Friday, March 24 at 7 p.m. in Martin Chapel (Seminary Building).

Diego Barahona
“Toda la sobra de lo que se llevaron” (What was left over from what they took)

Lydia Haggard
“The Silent Treatment”

Kat Lehman
“Diverse but United, Imperfect but Beautiful”

Hannah Mack-Boll
“What is your intention?”

Grantley Showalter
“ ‘Hygge’ and the Mennonite Moderate”

Joel Wheeler
“A Participation Trophy for the Millennials: Why millennials don’t suck, and why society needs their participation”

Molly White
“Ruth’s Activism: Christianity, Identity, and Justice”

Catherine Barnes and Lisa Schirch first met as students at George Mason University’s Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution. Their peacebuilding careers have since intersected in higher education and in the field. Part of their work has involved providing leadership and support for the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC), which in 2005 brought approximately 1,500 people from across the globe together and united civil society actors and their governments in an unprecedented way. In this podcast, Lisa and Catherine discuss their entry into the academic field of peacebuilding and some of their views on the development of civil society-focused peace initiatives. We recorded this conversation in April 2016 at ��ݮ���� as part of an e-journal series, A Genealogy of Ideas, written by Jayne Docherty and Mikhala Lantz-Simmons.

Seven students participated in the 2016  on March 18. Each speaker applied the Christian peace position to a contemporary concern in a short speech (8-10 min):

2:55–Stephanie Toth, Humans and Technology, senior Digital Media major from Youngstown OH

13:28–Elisabeth Wilder, Make Change, Not Hashtags, junior Social Work major from Hesston, KS

23.05–Grantley Showalter, The Wisdom of Doubt, junior Peacebuilding and Development major from Waynesboro PA

33:03–Katrina Poplett, To Be at War with Yourself, sophomore Peacebuilding and Development major from Plymouth MN

45:28–Hannah Chappell-Dick, Beyond Fight or Flight: Becoming Mennonite in an Adrenaline-Soaked World, senior Biology major from Bluffton OH

54:28–Ethan Herman, Active Pacifism and Using Conflict as a Tool, first-year Biochemisty and Computer Science major from Waynesboro VA

104:27–Bethany Chupp, Standing at the Door, senior Psychology major from Canby, OR

Hear students speaking for peace  in preparation for the C. Henry Smith Peace Oratorical Contest to be held Friday, March 18 at 7 p.m.

Hannah Chappell-Dick – “Beyond Fight or Flight: Becoming Mennonite in an Adrenaline-soaked World”

Bethany Chupp – “Standing at the Door”

Ethan Herman – “Active Pacifism and Using Conflict as a Tool”

Katrina Poplett – “To be at war with yourself.”

Grantley Showalter – “The Wisdom of Doubt”

Stephanie Toth – “Humans and Technology”

Elisabeth Wilder – “Make Change, Not Hashtags”

Ayhubrhan Yifru – “Fighting Injustice with Love”

, peace building missionaries commissioned by Peace Mennonite Church and administered through , are are assigned to the Philippines to lead a team of Peace and Reconciliation (PAR) Specialists called .

The comes to a rest each year with the “Leipzig Service.”   This year’s homily was offered by , Asst. Professor of History and Mission at .  His message was titled, “When There Is No Peace,” and his remarks here were made more poignant by the shooting deaths of nine African-American churchgoers gathered for prayer at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, SC this week.

Senior Jacob Landis preaches on the Advent theme of peace – “Comfort, comfort O my people” – but not too much or displaced comfort! Readings for this second week of Advent include (God comforting the people in exile) and (John calling people in the wilderness).

Jacob is a major, x-c runner extraordinaire and also serves as a pastoral assistant with campus ministries. Next semester he’ll be on Cross-Cultural to the Middle East.

“A Conversation for Peace and Resilience”
Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish, MD, MPH
Seminary Chapel Gathering led by Matthew Bucher, Maria Hosler Byler, Eric Trinka

Dr. Abuelaish is a prominent Palestinian Muslim physician form Gaza who wrote, “I shall not Hate” about his life, the tragedy that befell his family, and his vision for a peaceful future between Israelis and Palestinians.

In this chapel sampler, consider various perspectives on peace as students offer portions of their speeches for the C. Henry Smith Peace Oratorical contest.  The speeches will be given in their entirety on Friday, March 28 at 7 p.m. in Martin Chapel (Seminary Building).

Jordan Luther “Are Y’all Listening?: An Apology”

Chris Yoder “The Scaffolding of our Existence”

Chris Parks “Dreaming a New America”

Sara Caitlin Neubert “We’re not ugly, we just stink!”

Seth Stauffer “The Danger of MCC’s own Single Story”

Ted Swartz and Tim Ruebke open with a sketch pointing toward a need for the gentle yet persistent way of peacemaking employed by Mennonite Central Committee, the relief and service arm of Mennonite Church USA and other Anabaptist denominations. Krista Johnson shares, representing MCC.

offers a presentation on her 12-13 sabbatical entitled, “The role of Music in Peace and Conflict.” Griffing chairs EMU’s Music Department where she teaches violin and viola, coaches chamber music and conducts the EMU orchestra.

In University Chapel, Dr. Jay Parrish, a professional Geo-physicist, talks about the moral/ethical questions and harmful effects of drones, and elaborates on the idea of possible peaceful uses.

Eight students participated in the 2013  on March 22. Each speaker applied the Christian peace position to a contemporary concern in a short speech (8-10 min):

3:32—Taylor Waidelich, Restoring Justice to Educational Discipline,  Junior Elementary Education major from Stryker, OH

13:00–Jossimar ��í����-�䲹���ٰ���, A Christian, Democratic Immigrant Witness & Participation Today, Senior Philosophy and Theology major from Harrisonburg, VA

26:00–Emily Harnish, Lessons from the hymnal in an election season” Senior Biochemistry major from Strasburg, PA

35:55–James Souder, Redistributing Food, An Opportunity for Peace, Senior Environmental and Social Sustainability major from Harrisonburg, VA

46:07–Josh Kanagy, Molding Peace Within: Reflections of a Recovering Workaholic, Senior Psychology major from Timberville, VA

54:41–Corben Boshart, Seeking Unity in the Mennonite Church, Senior Biblical Studies and Peacebuilding & Develoment major from Wellman, IA

1:04:10–Mariah Elliott, Are You Who You Say You Are?, Junior Social Work and Peacebuilding & Development major from Rockville, VA

1:13:31–Bekah Enns, Language as Lived Reality: Developing a Discourse of Peace, Senior History major from Winnipeg, Manitoba

Is it possible to bring to light the realities of gun violence in the U.S. and to humanize the crisis by people telling their stories of how they have been impacted? The Gun Violence Prevention Storytelling Tour provides a time to reflect on ways that Christians in America are responding. Why this issue? We believe Jesus calls Christians to confront and expose the idolatry and violence of the gun culture in America today.

The Gun Violence Prevention Storytelling Tour, with Curtis Book and Fred Kauffman, is sponsored by the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) East Coast. Curtis serves as Coordinator for Peace and Justice ministries and Fred serves as Philadelphia program coordinator for MCC East Coast. They are both deeply involved in an ongoing weekly Christian protest/presence at a Gun shop in Philadelphia that sells handguns that are used in many of the crimes in the Philadelphia region. Come find out why.

, associate professor of organizational studies offers a presentation on his 2011-12 sabbatical experience. His presentation is entitled A Tale of Two Countries: How “Peace” Came to Mozambique and Angola and the Role of Religious Peacebuilders.

Carolyn Stauffer is Assistant Professor in the Applied Social Sciences Department.

Doug Hostetter serves as the Mennonite Central Committee Representative to the United Nations and is a EMU alumnus. Doug is the 1966 class president.

Leymah Gbowee is a social activist and alumnus of the EMU Center for Justice and Peacebuilding. She is the 2011 EMU Alumna of the Year and was recently awarded a .