Coming Up:

September 21

is the

International Day of Prayer forPeace.

This was developed by the World Council of Churches, after the declaration of the International Day of Peace, a hopeful call for a 24-hour cease fire. Churchesand communities around the world will be observing thisday and calling for peace in many ways. Shalom House ishelping to organize a prayer vigil in Philadelphia, to beheld in front of Colossimo’s Gun Shop. We believe our continued presence and continued pressure speaks truthand hope to the injustice of the gun violence in our city.The vigil will be held on Monday September 21 from4:45-5:30 pm.-

Saturday, November 14

. Shalom House is organizinga training for skills in non-violent responses andinterventions to the violence we witness in our lives. Wehave heard a desire for such skill building from folks atour festival in the spring, discussion times, and personalconversation. We believe that in order to act and reactnon-violently, we need to prepare ourselves continually.Mimi and Emily are working closely with Daniel Hunter,of Training for Change, to tailor a training that willspecifically meet the needs of the Circle of Hope andsurrounding communities. It has been an energizing process, tapping into the psyche of the church to provideskills and knowledge that will be relevant and useful, andhopefully will spawn further action within our neighborhoods.

Peaceful Ventures

Issue 7, Fall 2009

A newsletter from Shalom House -- a community of proactive Christian peacemakers started by Circle of Hope

Greetings Friends!

The summer has been a season of refreshment and reflection on God’s blessing. With the transitions inJune, Mimi and Emily are the onlytwo community members currently atShalom House. This, combined withthe generally slower pace of summer,has given us an opportunity to re-center on the work we are doing, our direction, and our focus. Wecontinue to ponder, discuss, and prayabout new and deeper endeavors thatShalom House could undertake.The guidance team continues toaccept applications for communitymembers, and has interviewedseveral people. While twoinvitations have been extended, wehave no new Shalomers among us,yet.Our thanksgiving this season hascome most notably as a result of our community supported agriculture(CSA) share. Every week we journey about a mile across theneighborhood to our pick-up locationto retrieve our share of fresh fruitsand vegetables. Susan is the hostessfor our pick-up site. She and her twodaughters are regularly spendingtime on their front porch, greetingCSA shareholders, ready with a smileor a story.As another step in our work toward ending gun violence in thecity, we have invited the cell groupswithin Circle of Hope to join us for one of their weekly meetings. Cellgroups are small groups within our network of congregations that meetfrom house to house throughout theweek. Their purpose is to grow andnurture the Church, the body. Bymeeting with cells, Shalom Househopes to offer a more intimateenvironment to discuss the difficultissues around gun violence, and toallow for deeper exploration of thefactors contributing to this issue. Wehave been offering the freeMennonite Central Committee(MCC) packet on Gun ViolencePrevention as a resource we well. Inthis way, we hope to educate andmobilize Circle of Hope within our city, to restore the Shalom of our cityin this way.Shalom House’s discussionnights have continued. June’sdiscussion, facilitated by Mimi, was“What’s the deal with non-violence?”We discussed many of the familiar tenants Jesus calls us to, such asturning the other cheek and walkinga second mile. In July we looked atthe complicated relationship between peace and justice. In July we alsohad a guest writer on our blog, our friend Jonny Rashid, discussing thistopic. In August we invited a specialguest, Mary Wade, to our discussiontime. She is a friend we’ve madethrough our work around ending gunviolence. Mary spoke from theextensive work she has doneregarding spiritual grounding in thework of advocacy and peacemaking.We would like to welcome JohnLondres as the newest member of our guidance team. John is part of theCoH congregation in Camden. Welook forward to John’s experienceand heart for the church in buildingthe Shalom House community, andnetwork of Peacemakers.As we have had some time toreflect this summer, over weekend projects and afternoon hikes, wehave talked about the future and thecontinued formation of ShalomHouse. What does it look like?What does it mean to work within thecommunity, the neighborhood?What does it mean to truly

lead

Circle of Hope in peacemaking? Wehope that you will pray with us, aswe continue on this journey.

- Shalom, Emily & Mimi

Pray with us for:

- New community members, from within Circle of Hope or beyond!- Some movement in the work to end gun violence inPhiladelphia- New skills to be learned at the November training onnonviolent responses & interventions to everyday

Rejoice with us for:

- Continued employment in jobs that pay our bills.- The generosity of friends- The bounty provided through the CSA

Shalom House is Looking for Community Members

Shalom House is an endeavor in common living and common mission. We work to support each other in our personal journeysof faith and peacemaking. We work together to compliment each others’ strengths and weaknesses, seeking to bring thepeaceful Kingdom of God to our home, our community, and our world. Through our conflicts and our fellowship, our transportation and our consumption, our work and our play we hope to realize the peaceful and loving ways Jesus calls us tolive.Is it time for you to live differently? Is it time to try a new approach to living out the faith that calls you to build and foster peace? Are you ready to join with others in a supportive community to build up the shalom of Philadelphia and the world around us?Do you want to use your skills and gifts to engage others and spread the message of peace?Shalom House is looking for four new community members to join our work and share our lives as we seek creative ways touse our gifts and meet our call. Please call, write, or email us with any questions or to arrange a time to talk further about thepossibilities of becoming part of Shalom House. We are praying for you.Would you like to join us? Do you know someone who might?

A little more about this process, and how to discern this possibility:

Think about it. A two-year commitment dedicated to deepening & applying your calling in Philadelphia and learning about andconnecting to God's worldwide community of peacemakers, just might be where God is leading you.*Pray and listen for God’s leading*Learn more about us. Give us a call or send us an email.*Fill out an application, which you can find on-line.*Meet with the Shalom House Guidance Team and House members*Once extended an invitation by the Guidance Team, move in!Shalom House welcomes young and old, single people and couples. Please be creative in helping us grow our community!We look forward to serving with you.

How you can help:

Be a prayer partner.

We are contributing to the formation of God’s network of peacemakers around the globe.

Be a local partner.

Sign up at our website:www.shalomhouse.us to be on the Circle of Peacemakers Listserve and participatein our dialogue and actions.

Find further partners.

We have a new cohort of house members who join each year.We are looking for those God has prepared for our community.

Be a contributing partner.

We need to raise money for expenses beyond our mutual sharing.

If you would like to share with us in this way, make a check outto Circle Venture and add “Shalom House” in the memo line.We are grateful for your financial support.

Please check us out online atwww.shalomhouse.us or on Facebook for information on upcoming events.

Community Living

DIRECTIONS

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.2. Meanwhile, spray cooking oil in a large skillet and saute red bell peppers,garlic and cayenne pepper over medium heat for 3 to 5 minutes.3. Stir in sour cream and broth; simmer uncovered for 5 minutes. Removefrom heat and stir in cheese.4. Toss hot pasta with sauce and season with salt and pepper to taste; serve.

Fettuccine with Sweet Pepper-Cayenne Sauce

from www.allrecipes.com

INGREDIENTS

•12 ounces dry fettuccine pasta•2 red bell peppers, julienned• 3 cloves garlic, minced•3/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper •1 cup reduced fat sour cream• 3/4 cup chicken broth• 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese• salt and pepper to tasteWe would like to share a recipe for the last days of summer. We used red peppers from our CSA share for this meal, aswell as a fresh cayenne pepper from one of the community gardens run by Circle of Hope’s Urban Farm Team. We alsosubstituted white cooking wine for the chicken broth. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did!Life in community has looked a little different over the past three months; that is, if you can ever call it “typical”.Shalom House waved good-bye to Adam and Brian at theend of June and since then, everyday life has consisted of Mimi and Emily. The work of coordinating two lives andtwo schedules is infinitely easier than 5 or 6, logisticallyspeaking. However, we do miss the life that comes withso many partners.A highlighted change that has occurred since our lastupdate has to do with our common fund as a community.Previously, the community had decided on a 100%common pot, which would be filled with the income of all community members, and meet all the needs of eachas well. After two years of this system, we have decidedthat with terms as short as two years, this approach maynot be the most healthy or sustainable. In the new systemwe have developed a common budget, and eachcommunity member contributes a set amount to commonexpenses and house emergency and activity funds aswell. Community members are now also expected tocover personal expenses that may vary greatly frommember to member (student debt, health insurance,transportation, etc). The hope and expectation remainsthat as a community we will continue to share our resources with each other as needed, however just not inas structured a fashion.Shalom House has had a number of visitors as wellthroughout the summer, including friends, family, prospective community members, and travelers needingsome shelter. We are blessed with the space andresources to share in this time.Part of the rhythm at Shalom House of work, prayer,contemplation, and action is the quarterly house retreat.This fall we will step away from our daily routines andhead to central PA for a weekend at Emily’s family’scabin in the Sproul State Forest. We’ll have time for more in-depth dialogue and reflection on the state of our communityand peacemaking efforts while coming closer to God in timesof prayer and meditation in the forests of PA.

The Common Cup & Art and Peggy Gish

In August a group from Lancaster visited us. They are in the process of starting an intentional community, calledCommon Cup. We had an opportunity to share a meal withour guests, as well as answer many of their questions as tohow Circle of Hope and Shalom House each operates.Along with the group from Lancaster came a couple, Art &Peggy Gish. You may be familiar with the Gishes from their work in the Middle East with Christian Peacemaker Teams.Art & Peggy have also lived in community for over 40 years.They shared with Circle of Hope some of their experiencesand lessons learned during a public meeting.With many CoH people living in community and wanting toglean wisdom from these experienced elders, Peggy & Artgot a lot of questions. When asked, “how did your marriagesurvive 40 years in community?” they replied, “prayer”.When asked how they navigated conflicts and different personalities, they ultimately answers, “prayer”. In their openness to share stories form their community living, of failure, kindness, blessing, and frustration, they showed our church community the realities and possibilities of thisancient way of Christians living together.