Acting in Faith

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How a community heals: A conversation with Denise Altvater
(January 10, 2013)

Denise Altvater and siblings

Denise Altvater and siblings

Denise Altvater (far right)and siblings weeks before they were taken from the reservation and placed in a non-native foster home by the state of Maine.

Denise Altvater is a member of the Passamaquoddy Tribe and has worked for AFSC for eighteen years.  She has been instrumental in developing the first Truth and Reconciliation Commission between a sovereign Tribal Nation, the Wabanaki, and a U.S. state, Maine, to address hurts caused by the foster care system. The commission will be seated on February 12, 2013.

The Wabanaki-Maine Truth and Reconciliation Commission is also the first such commission in which the two parties have proceeded in unity about what needed to happen, rather than as adversaries....

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Working at the Root: An audio documentary
(January 3, 2013)

Nob Hill Market, May 2012

Farm trainee Joseluis Ortiz selling produce at farmer's market.

 

Hear the story of how AFSC partnered with local organizations in the South Valley of New Mexico to create the...

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Connected to creation: Addressing the spiritual roots of climate change
(January 2, 2013)

Religious leaders, Sri Lanka

Religious leaders gathered in Sri Lanka to discuss climate change.

by Madeline Schaefer

How do we—as Quakers, as humans—address climate change? It’s a broad question about a multi-faceted issue, I know—and one that I’m certainly not ready to answer in 500 words or fewer.  But Quakers around the country are gathering in their local meetings and churches to ask this question, consider answers, and work with others to speak about and advocate for the solutions they propose. 

Of course we’re addressing this issue as Quakers—climate change raises deep questions about the human condition. Our current environmental...

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Love all the children: Disarming our hearts after the shootings at Sandy Hook School
(December 19, 2012)

Candle

Candle

Candle

by Lucy Duncan

In the Liberian version of the Christmas story, “Every Man Heart Lay Down,” retold by author Lorenz Graham, God is frustrated.

He says, “The people no hear My Word, The people no walk my way, Nev mind. I going break the world and lose the people, I going make the day dark and the night I going make hot… And I going make a new country and make a new people.”

God’s son, “his one small boy,” hears his father and grieves for the...

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Another way of life is possible: Reflections on the shootings in Newtown, Conn.
(December 18, 2012)

The Peaceable Kingdom by Edward Hicks at the National Gallery

The Peaceable Kingdom by Edward Hicks at the National Gallery

"The Peaceable Kingdom" by Edward Hicks at the National Gallery

Note: I sent Max Carter a note about an unrelated matter and he sent me these reflections about the recent mass shootings in Newtown, Conn., which he posted on the Guilford College Friends Center Facebook page yesterday.  - Lucy

by Max L. Carter

"For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire.  For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called 'Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace...

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