On Tuesday morning I was arrested again at Beale Air Force Base while dancing at the main gate.  Eight others were arrested with me, while demonstrating peace through the Dances of Universal Peace. We were cited and released.

Two other demonstrators had been arrested the day before, on Monday:  John Auer, another ordained United Methodist minister, and my husband Guari.   Guari had pushed John’s wheelchair one mile onto the base to the guard booth at the Wheatland Gate, where John delivered a letter for the base commander related to a resolution passed by the California-Nevada Annual Conference supporting “A Call to Stop Drone Killings,” a statement signed by many religious leaders around the country.  The two were arrested, cited, and released.

Both of these actions were coordinated with Campaign Nonviolence, through which over 230 nonviolent actions took place around the country at the end of September.  The focus of the Campaign Nonviolence actions was to call for an end to war, poverty, and climate change.

Why did I risk being arrested again at Beale?  I answered that question in Why I Crossed the Line at Beale,  when I crossed the line at Beale the first time, almost two years ago.

This time, however, we have just begun another war, this time against ISIS, as if bombing and killing people could somehow lead us to security and peace.  We are told that we are targeting terrorists, but we are also killing innocent civilians, including children, in Iraq and Syria.  Have we learned nothing from our endless pursuit of endless war?  Have we forgotten the roots of the current crisis, and the U.S. role in it?  We are sowing ill will and creating future terrorists by terrorizing people through war.  Meanwhile we are spending billions on weapons of destruction, billions that could be used to meet human need and to heal the natural systems of the earth.

Insanity has been described as doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results.  As a nation and as a culture, our priorities are wrong.  It is time to repent, to change direction, to turn around.  It is time to focus on peacemaking, on feeding the hungry and welcoming the stranger, on healing the earth.  This will take a major shift in values, in investments, and in systems of power.  It will take a great awakening of the earth’s people, sustained resistance, and ongoing demonstrations of peace.

This transformation is already taking place, and I am certain that God is with us in this struggle.  This is a struggle worth living and dying for.  We need you.  Wherever you are, there are kindred spirits nearby.  I invite you to join us.

I wrote more about the Monday (September 29) action with Rev. John Auer and Guari in my previous post, Campaign Nonviolence Arrests at Beale.

 I wrote about the three interrelated evils of war, poverty, and climate change in Campaign Nonviolence:  A Call to Transformation.

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