36 | MONDAY, AUGUST 18, 2008
AROUND CAMPUS
KANSAN FILE PHOTO
The Ecumenical Christian Ministries plays host to a variety of events for students to attend. This fall, Cloud Watching and Music Jam for Peace will be available for students to have fun at the ECM.
ECM contributes to vision of community, hospitality
Campus's Ecumenical Christian Ministries will play host to Cloud Watching and Music Jam for Peace, gardening growing this fall.
BY GRETCHEN GIER ggier@kansan.com
Shannon Gorres is the facilitator of the Social Justice Action Wing at her church in Lawrence. Gorres, New Ulm, Minn., graduate student, said for people to get up and do something, even if it's just riding a bike to church to save energy. Gorres said she believed that man isn't a
Lord over the Earth, but part of a large ecological system. She wants to live in harmony with nature, and figure out if she should become a pastor.
Gorres' dedication to social justice and environmental causes are creating a new direction for programs at the Ecumenical Christian Ministries.
"I'm the first ever intern to work with Rev. Thad Holcombe at the ECM," Gorres said. "I share my organizing skills and learn about campus ministry life while I consider seminary."
Scheduled to begin this fall is Cloud Watching and Music Jam for Peace. Once a week, people are invited to bring their blankets, drums and guitars, and watch the clouds roll by at they sing for peace. Making music for justice and world peace is part of the ECM's vision of hospitality it embraces to make the building a comfortable gathering place for all people.
Thad Holcombe said the hospitality vision was a result of the growing numbers of people who gathered to eat and drink at the ECM and used its space for community projects. The vision is also based on a message from the Center for Progressive Christianity, that states.
"We have committed ourselves to equipping one another for the work we feel called to do: striving for peace and justice among all people, protecting and restoring the integrity of all God's creation, and bringing hope to those Jesus called the least of his sisters and brothers."
There are also plans this fall to grow a garden on the front lawn of the ECM, to help feed the growing number of attendees to Veggie Lunch on Thursdays. The produce is another way to promote sustainability by eating locally grown food.
"Of course, we'll be doing regular programming like Eco-Justice, Sexuality, and Alternative Breaks," Gorres said. "But KU students should expect to see winter vegetables coming up!"
— Edited by Matt Hirschfeld
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