I receive news from a person that I have a very high respect for.  She was a generous donor for our last ARK Summit and she was completely moved by who you are and what you are doing as the ARK FAMILY.  LOOKING BACKWARD was a statement made in her last newsletter, THE MARSH MONTHLY.
 

“Let us look back and recall our feelings during the recent Great Eclipse. We were proud, united, in awe, feeling small and humble in a big Universe, grateful to be together…all under the same sun and moon…connected.”  Ruth Stricker

And, perhaps, that is how we should  journey into September to learn to see the mystery of the universe, so large, and we humans, so small and humble, yet connected. 
 
Now, LOOKING FORWARD, September embraces one of the most important events that our world unites in celebrating: THE INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEACE, SEPTEMBER 21.
 
What does this global celebration mean as we learn to live in a threatening limbo of fright, anger and hostility in our world? Being engaged as an active peace builder, peace maker, peace creator, in concrete actions, has never been more important. To work for peace is to work for life.  More than ever we are unfolding a history surrounded by the powers of destruction. The escalating arms race burdens our thoughts. The ugliness of racism makes us look inside ourselves and ask, “am I a racist, am I only for white people, as I divided and a divider of people?”
 
Peacemaking is not an option any longer. It is a holy obligation for all people whatever their nationality, profession, economic or family situation. Peacemaking is a way of living that involves our whole being all the time. Inner and outer peace must never be separated.  Peace work is a spectrum stretching from the hidden corners of our innermost selves to the most complex international deliberations.  Our resistance against the powers that seek to diminish peace and destroy human dignity and hope must be deep and wide as the meaning of peace itself.  And this can only be addressed as each one of us looks in the mirror and into our hearts, minds and actions.

As THE INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEACE dawns, may each one of us as a FAMILY OF ARK take time to be silent and remember the awesome mystery of two huge planets crossing paths to connect and to amaze us with a spectacular display of Gods wonder, creation and order. 
 
Take time to be silent and be grateful for the many gifts we have been given as human beings.
 

AND THEN…
ALLOW THE ENERGY OF PEACE TO WORK IN YOU, YOUR COMMITMENT, YOUR DAILY WALK.  And know that you WALK WITH A COMMUNITY OF PEACEMAKERS.  PEACEMAKERS WE LOVINGLY CALL THE ARK FAMILY. Know that we are joined by so many others who walk this path with us. Seek them out in syour community, country, school and home. Then, and only then,  will the joyful work of peace become visible.
 

During my visit this August, 2017 to Minneapolis, some ideas came to mind.

Do I Count? and Am I Important?

When I saw Minneapolis from the airplane before landing with all the beautiful nature, buildings, highways, bridges, rivers and countless lakes. All these appear in a very organized shape. The question that came to my mind: Does the Holy Land count to begin with? There are in the US famous universities, museums, national parks, and companies, while back home, there is a fierce conflict between two peoples still getting worse & worse.

My second impression was how huge the outside world & the US is. The moment I went on the boat, how big the Mississippi river. And the whole little town of Bethlehem can be shipped on one of the ships there and can just disappear in the middle of nowhere. 
 
Nevertheless, there are some lessons learned: 
1. The Israel - Palestine conflict as structured between two nations and among three monotheistic religions attract discussions among intellectuals & religious leaders worldwide. 
2. The famous saying on Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results...Also, as someone suggested: "Don’t alter your existence completely, but understand that eventually you need to smarten up if things you are doing aren’t producing the results you desire." 
 
This is an invitation to all people residing under occupation in our modern age. Don't be dragged to the cycle of violence as this is the intention behind the evil powers, and occupation must be an evil power. The intention is to keep the cycle of violence running and running so fiercely that it smashes completely all those running into it.  We should not forget that God created us as human beings on His Image. While the intention of those evil powers is to distort that Divine Image. God gave us our brain to use and use creatively. In Arts & Music so we can introduce our culture and our people's need and struggle for permanent peace. During my visit to the Minneapolis Art Institute, a Cambodian music attracted our attention, then we entered the show room and an attractive short movie about life in Cambodia was on display. We couldn't leave before watching it all. 
 
The Chosen People is not a privilege that one can receive by inheritance. The Chosen People were chosen to deliver a message to the rest of the world. It's the message of peace. By not doing so cannot be justified in the eyes of a just and faithful God. Whereas the intention of God is to make the Holy Land a rich country not in oil or gold, but to be the source of peace to spread to all other countries worldwide. 
 
What is happening nowadays is contrary to God's original plan. The Holy Land is full of hatred, violence, evil powers stealing others’ rights. In other words, the conflict in the Holy Land has become a major source for instability in the Middle East and thus for Europe and the rest of the world. Let's then pray, that the world leaders’ eyes are open on this day of peace and start taking practical measures to establish peace on the land of peace. 
 
Last, but not least, please when you pray in your churches and sing for the victory of Judah conquering please, remember the Arab Christian Community in the Holy Land and strengthen the existence of this community that has been carrying the message of peace for over 2000 years.

I work for the Department of International Trade at the British Embassy/Council in Tehran. I am a trade adviser to the big British businesses that are interested in entering into the Iranian market. My responsibilities are to advise the companies on policies, market outlook and entry strategy. This position was created after the nuclear deal between Iran and the p5+1 was signed back in July of 2015. During Obama's presidency and the administration's policy of using diplomacy to solve international issues, the Iran nuclear deal was signed and it became a major foreign policy achievement of Obama. Unfortunately, times have changed drastically and at the moment Americans are faced with a racist, ignorant, and unprofessional president who has plans of killing the nuclear deal calling it 'the worst deal ever signed'. Trump and his advisers are working very hard to kill this deal, but the interesting fact about their approach of blaming Iran for not complying with the agreement is being countered with facts from the International Atomic Energy confirming Iran's full compliance with the deal. In return, the Trump administration is ruining the image of the USA by showing their lack of knowledge of the details of the Iran Nuclear deal. With that said, the USA is a big economic and military powerhouse and has many allies around the world that will support its efforts regardless of how ridiculous they might be. Killing this deal would only increase a nuclear arms deal in the middle east as Iran would not be able to trust the U.S and its policies toward it thus leading to a possible deadly confrontation. A program like ARK can be helpful by raising awareness of USA's current foreign policy efforts at killing this deal and how it can actually negatively affect the U.S. and the world and thus promoting peace. At times like this we as the ARK family and part of the bigger family of peace makers must stick together and support each other's effort in confronting those that promote hate, ignorance, and war. We should support other peace makers especially at times like this when the most powerful position in the world (USA President) is filled with a person that promotes hate and is surrounded by advisers that prefer military confrontation over diplomacy. Let's just hope that the peace makers are able to come out victorious in the face of Trump's administration's efforts at war.

What joy I can write to you again, and thank you for the effort you make to try to make peace reign throughout the world one day.  Incredibly, there is a lot of work to be done, for each member of ARK. In Guatemala at a general level, every day there are increasing cases of complaints to political officials who are part of the system of government immersed in corruption. Politicians who have become millionaires with money of the people, forgetting the common good, mainly of the people who every day struggle to live; unemployment, lack of awareness in the health, education and justice sectors; Thank God, within our country there are organizations that support the poor. A few days ago I traveled to Guatemala City, it took two hours from San Lucas to the entrance of the city, it took us two hours more in the city in an endless line, to enter, and I thought that 99% of the people who we lined up on the road, some for work and others for work. This is a the manifestation of the system of government, wanting to centralize everything and being in control. In this sense there is no hope for the people that are in the departments, municipalities, villages and hamlets of Guatemala. Thank God, God is great and good, with the people of Guatemala who still are alive, and somehow we have the responsibility to help from our homes, workplaces, to achieve someday the dream and live peace in a dignified manner. MAY GOD ALL MIGHTY BLESS YOU. HAVE A NICE DAY.  Leonel

Things in the world are not going well. How many days did the world have without war? Lithuania is full of NATO troops. Russia is sabre-rattling every day. 

The festival LAUKSOS is dedicated to objects of UNESCO intangible cultural heritage: arts, songs, etc. 
So many participants from different countries were representing their unique culture heritage: flamenco dancers and singers form Spain, polyphonic singing form Georgia, Croatia, Macedonia, Latvia, mugano singer and musicians from Azerbaijan etc.

Learn something unique about Dalia
"I do research on Kursenieku language which is an endangered Baltic language because of its users emigration at the end of IIWW. I have done a lot in this field, but it is just a small part of big research to be done. I am the only expert of this language IN THE WORLD! It is true, if it even sounds strange :) That is because the first scholars in this field were German linguists in beginning XX cent, and a famous linguist in Latvia before the IIWW. In 1995-96 Germany was interested to continue the research and gave me a grant.  I started collecting material, did some fieldwork, published two books and a lot of articles. My tutor, German professor and his colleague, who started a big dictionary, died. Now I am the only single person who can continue."  

At Covenant Church, I've tried to use the situations and news we are bombarded with as opportunities for spiritual growth and Christian understanding.  My last message was a reminder to the congregation to not return evil for evil. The Northeast was devastated by Hurricane Sandy and politicians in southeast Texas delayed aid in their less than compassionate response. Now that the situation is reversed, should we respond likewise? No. The enabling of evil, even for reasons we might consider just, is satanic. That is why Jesus say to his beloved disciple Peter, "get behind me Satan."  Evil should never be just as a weapon, especially since we are armed with and protected by God's love. Justice will prevail in the face of any evil. It will come in riding on a steed called L.O.V.E. In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., "Justice is love correcting that which revolts against love."  Encourage the folk to spread the love and the sit back and wait for the harvest of Justice throughout the world. Patience is hard, but it is a gift from the divine.  Love ya all!!!  Dr. Rev. Cornell