Denver, Colorado, USA - The Ambassadors for Peace of Colorado partnered with the United Nations Association-USA Colorado Division, Musical Missions of Peace, Los Lantzmun, and Soul Fully You to organize a rally and celebration in honor of the UN International Day of Peace, September 21 at the State Capitol in Denver.
The program began with remarks from Don Bossart, President of the UNA-USA Colorado Division. This was followed by a reading of an inspirational poem by Kim Conrad, “Being For.” We then called upon leaders representing diverse faith traditions to offer prayers for peace. This included Buddhist monks from the local Thai Buddhist and Chinese Buddhist temples, a Baptist minister, a Native American representative, a Hindu priest, and ministers of other local churches.
Following the prayers we had remarks from UPF-Colorado Secretary General Peggy Yujiri, who explained why UPF is a sponsor of this event with the theme “One Global Family Under God.” The program continued with intercultural performances. The audience was treated to a haunting Middle Eastern melody performed by Cameron Powers and Kristina Sophia, who regularly travel to Iraq and other Middle Eastern countries to bring a message of peace through music. We heard from Los Lantzmun, a contemporary Jewish band, and from the choir of the New Jerusalem Missionary Baptist church. Beautiful dances were preformed by young women of the local India Association and by the Christina Yeh Chinese dance team. The youth praise team of Rev. Calvin Kelly’s church also performed a stunning dance to a song of praise.
We ended the event by releasing white balloons, each with a message of peace attached, written by our participants. We took a group picture standing in the formation of a peace sign, each with a renewed commitment to practice peace in our daily lives.
To read UPF's Peace Declaration and reports of observances in other nations, click here.