PANA Institute for Leadership Development

Rev. Deborah Lee spoke at the Interfaith Peace March sponsored by the Sikh Center of San Francisco Bay Area on June 7, 2009.

I would like to offer our deepest thanks to the Sikh community for organizing this wonderful event here in Berkeley. On behalf of the PANA Institute for Leadership Development and Study of Pacific Asian North American Religion at Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, an Asian American and Pacific Islander religious leadership organization, we would like to express our friendship, solidarity and gratitude for the partnership with the El Sobrante Gurdwara.  Over the past several years, you have shared with us the stories and experiences of your community and your faith which have enriched the learning experiences for our students and shown us that our diversity is our strength.  I have been with you since this morning and am deeply moved by your spirituality of hospitality, warmth and peacemaking.  We commend you for organizing this important public event for peace.

Since the theme for today is about peace, I invite each of us to take a moment to pray and connect ourselves to some place in this world which is experiencing fear and conflict right now.  Some place that is in need of peace – this might be in India, the Philippines, Africa, Burma, or right here in Richmond, California.

We pray deeply for the expansion of our imagination for the possibility of peace – that another way other than violence is possible.  That religious conflicts, political conflicts, economic conflicts over resources, conflicts between races and colors, within the Family, and among friends – can be transformed and healed.  No longer by brute force and military might- but by the most intelligent forms of human engagement, compassion and truth seeking.

Imagine what it would be like  if  all the resources on our planet that go towards war and violence -  all the guns, military hardware, all the dollars, all the fuel, all the human bodies, human resources and brainpower-  instead were transformed and used here on the streets of Berkeley and on streets around the world -- for food, for sharing, for teaching, for creating art, for building trust and understanding.  How many plates of food would that be?  How many bars of ice cream? How many concerts? Conversations?  Walks for peace?

I recently learned of a small rural community in the mountains of Colombia called San Jose de Apartado, a village of 1000, surrounded by rebel and government groups fighting on all sides.  Amidst all this, this small community has declared itself to be a peace community.  Based on the belief that a civilian community has the right to live in dignity, they have declared their small community to be a humanitarian zone- where no arms or weapons are permitted.  As a peace community they resist the use of their communities and resources by either side of the armed conflict.  It has costs them the lives of 10% of their population, but they continue to stand strong- in their call for practicing peace and nonviolence.

Today’s peace walk is in that spirit of practicing peace.  We celebrate the gestures for peace and small actions of caring that have been displayed here.  The acts of giving and receiving food from a stranger; the possibility of walking side by side for peace.  These acts stimulate an imagination, a belief and a hunger for peace.   May we all create more of them- so that peace among religions, sharing among nations, and connection among neighbors will become our deepest desire and human practice.