Peace. Salaam. Shalom.
On Thursday, April 4 at the First Baptist Church, the Jamaica Plain Interfaith Clergy Group in partnership with the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute held an enthusiastic Rally for Peace with singing and powerful speakers. Together we are gearing up to participate robustly in the Mother’s Day Walk for Peace, the biggest fundraiser for the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute whose mission is growing peace in our city.
For 25 years, in response to the worst tragedy imaginable, the Peace Institute and its executive director, Clemntina Chéry, have tended a space for all those who suffer the effects of murder, trauma, grief and loss to heal and move towards peace while also teaching the essential principles and skills of peace-making to children, youth and adults to interrupt the cycle of violence in the first place. At the April 4 Rally, Tina witnessed to her journey as our featured speaker, a story of loss and renewal and the sacred work of seeking peace. She challenges every one of us to show up when violence manifests in our neighborhood and to seek peace for all.
The Reverend Darrell Hamilton of the First Baptist Church, marking April 4 as the anniversary of the violent death of Dr. Martin Luther King, called us to recall the powerful words of Coretta Scott King and recognize poverty is violence, discrimination is violence, violence comes in many forms and if we would pursue peace, we must confront racism and pursue justice.
The Reverend Laura Ruth Jarrett of Hope Central challenged us to make Jamaica Plain a community of peace, where we care for one another, no matter the risk, and where we see any child suffering violence as our child suffering violence.
The good and right work of the Peace Institute is sustained by its biggest fundraiser, an annual Walk for Peace through the streets of Boston on Mother’s Day, which this year is May 12. This year will be the 23rd Walk. As it seeks to expand its work in our city, the Peace Institute has set an ambitious fundraising goal for the 2019 walk. You can sign up to join the walk or make a direct contribution at their website: https://www.mothersdaywalk4peace.org.
We members of the J.P. Interfaith Clergy Group invite and encourage you, our neighbors and friends, to join the Mother’s Day Walk for Peace, Sunday, May 12. Together, we can partner with the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute to make our neighborhood and our city a more peaceful, compassionate and just home for us all.
Peace. Salaam. Shalom.
Rev. Ashlee Wiest-Laird
Rev. Laura Ruth Jarrett
Rev. Darrell R. Hamilton II
Rev. Courtney Jones
First Baptist Church
Hope Central Church
Rabbi Victor Reinstein,
Rev. Elizabeth Bukey
Nehar Shalom Community Synagogue
First Church, UU
Carrington George Moore, M.Div.
The Rev. Dr. Ted Cole, Jr.
Bethel AME Church
St. John’s Episcopal Church