Sometimes a few words can change the way you see the world around you.  Our morning worship focused on the theme “Peace, Justice, and the Integrity of Creation."  Herb Anders, a Baptist pastor here in Italy was talking about how water is bought and resold for profit, and the poor are denied water.  He said the privatization of water is the “privatization of life.”  Those words opened a door in my mind and heart.  When we make a necessity of life a commodity to be bought and sold, we are making life itself a commodity to be bought and sold.  Those with resources have what they need to live.  Those who cannot purchase the necessities of life perish.  The prophet Jeremiah wrote:  “You buy and sell the poor for a pair of shoes.”  He was talking about the “privatization of life.”

People from Zimbabwe, the Republic of Georgia, Nagaland, and Morocco shared stories of their efforts at peace and reconciliation.  Norman Kember, the Englishman who was taken hostage in Iraq spoke about his experience; he had gone there as part of a Christian peacemaking team.   Twenty-four different seminars were offered.  Among the topics were:  The Nonviolent Teachings of Martin Luther King, Jr.; Practices for Peace, Justice, and Compassion in the Parables of Jesus; Forgiveness Among the Unforgiven; and Muslim Christian Relationships.  We have an evening worship experience of music and then evening prayers.

The variety of the participants is the wealth of the conference.  We are hearing “voices from below.”  These are the voices of people who live and minister in places of war, poverty, violence, and oppression—voices that usually are not heard on the news or in the paper.  It is amazing how God is bringing reconciliation and healing in the most difficult of places.