{"id":210,"date":"2016-09-26T16:30:59","date_gmt":"2016-09-26T16:30:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.presbyterianmission.org\/weekly-offerings\/?p=210"},"modified":"2016-09-26T16:30:59","modified_gmt":"2016-09-26T16:30:59","slug":"setting-table-peace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/weekly-offerings\/2016\/09\/26\/setting-table-peace\/","title":{"rendered":"Setting the table of peace"},"content":{"rendered":"\"Come\n

Come to the Table of Peace<\/h3>\n

Every day, we are witnesses to conflict. We read news stories of violence and supposedly irreparable divides. Angry rhetoric fills our airwaves, inboxes, and social media feeds. We see conflict tear apart communities, families, even people we know. Surrounded by this strife, it\u2019s easy to see the world through a dark lens of discord. We may even come to share the doubt expressed in Psalm 78:19: \u201cCan God spread a table in the wilderness?\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet our faith tells us despite our doubts, sins, distrust, or even anger, God not only sets a table, but invites us to join it and partake in an abundance of peace.<\/p>\n

The Peace & Global Witness Offering<\/a> challenges us to look at the world not as a place where conflict is inevitable, but where Christ\u2019s peace is possible. The programs supported by the Peace & Global Witness Offering to help bring people tables of peace, justice, and reconciliation even in the wilderness of war, violence, and division. In places of abiding conflict, the Peace & Global Witness Offering supports the work of Presbyterian mission co-workers to bring together former enemies and begin healing the spiritual wounds of war. In congregations closer to home, support from the Offering enables efforts to turn back the tide of gun violence that claims too many American lives. In other communities, it\u2019s facilitating a transformative dialogue about the difficult subject of race to find new common ground. And everywhere, this Offering supports witness, because by sharing the abiding love and mercy of Christ, more people can find their way to a seat at God\u2019s table.<\/p>\n

Your support of the Peace & Global Witness Offering acknowledges that a wilderness of conflict may surround us, but we are not abandoned there. If we open our eyes to the possibilities of peace, we see God has set a table for anyone willing to take a seat.<\/p>\n

Please give generously to the Peace & Global Witness Offering:<\/p>\n