The celebration (our ninth annual) will be focused on the United Nations’ theme for this year – “The Right to Peace – The Universal Declaration of Human Rights at 70”. Similar to the 2013 World Council of Churches General Assembly in Busan, we expect to have program elements featuring Human Rights for the Earth, its peoples, the marketplace, and the community.

The program will include brief presentations by peacemakers about their work, performances of music, dance, song, and poetry, and activities for children. It will conclude with the reading of a list of recent local victims of violence. We will then walk to the nearby Garden of Peace to pray for peace among stones engraved with the names of local victims of violence.

Please help us celebrate peacemaking and nonviolence at the local UN International Day of Peace gathering. We are hoping you will attend this program.

It is time to end the cycle of violence we have experienced for far too long. We call on all to put down weapons, open up our hearts, loosen our tight fists, and start to build a united community based on peace with justice for all. We see the celebration of the UN International Day of Peace as an excellent opportunity to take a step along this path.