Celebrating peace at Afton Presbyterian Church

by Eugenia Peters

The Afton Presbyterian Church in Afton, N.Y. (population about 1000), has held an evening worship service celebrating peace on International Day of Peace since 2003. A freewill offering is taken. The offering is divided into thirds and dispersed into local, national and international peacemaking efforts. Our intentions are pro-peace, not anti-war. This year we also devoted the entire day to celebrating the idea of peace.

In the morning, we set up balloon-decorated tables on Main Street for distributing articles on achieving peace, particularly inner peace, and materials for making peace pinwheels. Many people visited the tables to receive literature and talk. Display staff made pinwheels and, combined with pinwheels pre-made by committee members, there were enough to line the march route from the church to a local park on the Susquehanna River.

At noon, we set up the pinwheels and moved the balloons and remaining literature to the park, where we served drinks and light refreshment and enjoyed music and games for the children. We decorated the park shrubbery with a large number of origami peace cranes. At 3 p.m., the church bell tolled and a group of about 15 holding a banner proclaiming “peace” walked about five city blocks from the church to the park. The group was divided about equally between church members and people from the community.

At the park, we dedicated and planted a rose named “Peace” with a marker commemorating the occasion. At 5 p.m., we released white homing pigeons (in lieu of doves) from the bridge over the river and launched a flotilla of 100 origami paper boats. The boat launch was particularly popular with a group of fourth, fifth and sixth grade boys who attended.

International Peacemaker Mr. Mamo Wejedga Karjo arrived at the airport in Binghamton, the nearest large community to Afton, around 5 p.m. for a visit to our presbytery. He was whisked out to Afton where he was the featured speaker at the evening service.

The church sanctuary was open throughout the day to anyone who wished to pray or meditate. Copies of the 12 Prayers for Peace were available on a table at the entrance to the sanctuary for anyone who wanted them and quiet music played in the background. The bell was tolled when the sanctuary opened, and again at noon, at the beginning of the walk to the park and at the beginning and end of the service. When the bell tolled at noon, it joined with hundreds of bells around the world to ring in peace.

The day drew quite a bit of attention and was talked about widely. We are hoping that there will be greater participation from the community in the years to come. We feel this international holiday is a great opportunity to join with our local and world communities to pray for, learn about and celebrate peace on earth.