Peace For Earth Walk

On November 12, 2007, we, Ruah Swennerfelt and Louis Cox, began a 1,400-mile “Peace for Earth Walk” from Vancouver, B.C, to San Diego, Calif. During these six months, we are talking with Friends meetings and churches about how John Woolman’s call to live in right relationship with all of Creation is as relevant in the 21st century as it was 250 years ago. Like Woolman, we are traveling on foot and, as much as possible, staying with Friends along the way. See our itinerary.

Outreach to Friends

Although Woolman is best known for his witness against slavery and other social injustices, he also was increasingly concerned about the spiritual health of the Religious Society of Friends. He felt that many Friends had lost touch with their witness to Truth and were getting caught up in materialism, overwork, and insensitivity toward non-human creatures.

Integrating Peace, Justice, and Earthcare

Similarly, we are seeking to deepen and strengthen 21st century Friends’ work for peace, justice, and Earthcare by focusing on the unifying spiritual foundation of these concerns. We will show how reverence for life cannot be separated from maintaining the integrity and health of ecological systems.

Our growing understanding of right relationship has called us to make radical changes in our own lifestyles and to work for critical public policy changes. We hope that our words and actions during this journey will serve as a catalyst for others to take similar actions.

Woolman’s prophetic message about simple living is relevant today because so many wars are based on unjust and unsustainable use of nonrenewable resources. We also see many social and ecological disruptions stemming from overconsumption and population pressures.

Discerning together the path to right living

On our walk we are listening and sharing with others what we have learned about living simply, justly, and richly in a world of limited resources. We are facilitating discussions to discern what Woolman would advise Friends today about how they could experience greater peace, inwardly and outwardly, by living with greater simplicity and integrity.

Our Walking in the Light Study Guide

At each gathering we are leaving copies of our 32-page Walking in the Light study guide, which we have compiled to encourage Friends to continue learning from John Woolman’s words and example. For a pdf version for easy photocopying, click here for the study guide cover and here for the main body of the 5-1/2" x 8-1/2" booklet. (Viewing a pdf file this way requires having a copy of Adobe Reader installed on your computer, which is the case with most systems today.)

Videos, journal, and web-log

Continue visiting this website, <www.peaceforearth.org>, to follow our physical and spiritual progress while we're on the road. We are regularly posting short videos, journal entries, and web-log discussions. Click here to go to our On-the-Road Reflections . Click here to go directly to our Travel Pod web-log ("blog").

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