Right now my mind is very much occupied with thoughts about the need for peacemaking in a world where so much violence and injustice goes on daily. We heard this morning about a gunman in a Colorado school who yesterday killed a teen age girl, shot a police officer and killed himself.

Too many Americans, too many members of the human race, seem to believe that they can personally do nothing to be effective peacemakers, but opportunities abound for anyone who is willing to take a stand. No one of us can change the world but together the collective impact of our actions for peace can and will make a difference.

Last week I was part of a group of religious leaders who held a press conference in support of the National Campaign Against Torture. I am proud that there were at least four Presbyterian Clergy that were part of this group including the Rev. Bob Evans from Plowshares Institute who spoke, and the Rev. Dana Lindsay, our Presbytery Executive. Also (although she did not proclaim it) Heidi Hadsell, President of Hartford Seminary, who also spoke on behalf of the campaign is also a Presbyterian.

John Humphries, who was also a part of this group, will be speaking on the campaign to our Adult Forum this Sunday October 1, 2006 at 9:15 AM. (First Presbyterian Church, 136 Capitol Ave. Hartford, CT)

This Sunday is World Communion Sunday, and we and many other Presbyterian Churches will receive an offering for Peacemaking this Sunday.

The bill that congress seemed poised to pass authorizing military commissions to try "enemy combatants" is a terrible step backward on human rights and human decency. I just sent a FAX to Senator Lieberman urging the addition of the Specter amendment which would restore for these people the basic American right to habeas Corpus.

Finally I was proud to read that the most recently retired moderator of the Presbyterian Church, was arrested, along with a number of other Presbyterian Clergy, in protests against the war in Iraq earlier this week. You can read the story at http://www.pcusa.org/pcnews/2006/06489.htm.