The Practice of Hospitality, Care and Welcome of the Stranger

The Reverend Will Scott was raised by a teacher and a social worker in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and became fascinated with San Francisco after discovering Beat poetry in high school. Will graduated from Bard College at Simon’s Rock in 2000, during which he also studied in India, Tibet and Nepal. Will entered Virginia Theological Seminary in 2001. His seminary fieldwork site, the ecumenical Church of the Savior in Washington, DC, still inspires him. Will came to Grace Cathedral following two years as Associate Rector at St. John’s Episcopal Church in McLean, Virginia. This spring, as part of his role at Grace Cathedral, Will was invited to serve
St. Cyprian’s as Cathedral Missioner.

Will’s work at Grace Cathedral includes facilitating group discussions and organizing public events focused on the church’s witness for peace and justice. He helped found Dinner with Grace, a growing ministry in the Tenderloin. Will is also a regular at the Cathedral’s Sunday at Six contemplative service.

Forgiveness & Reconciliation: a formula for peace

Paul Andrews is the Executive Producer of Improbable Pairs, a film about people making peace in the face of extraordinary odds.

Between 1996 and 2000, Mr. Andrews was part of the founding staff of the United Religions Intiaitive, a global interfaith organization. During that time, he was the manager of the organization’s annual global conferences, and managed the 72 Hours Program, a coordinated social action program involving over 300 projects in 60 countries.

Along the way, Mr. Andrews has also been a carpenter, cabinetmaker, choral conductor and teacher. He graduated from Yale University in 1970 with a degree in Political Science.

In Death We Do Not Part

While in their twenties Marshall Kent and his wife Gail had a spiritual experience that changed their lives. Subsequently for forty years they studied and practiced various spiritual systems which became their core philosophical structure. Marshall presented workshops for the Rosicrucians, the Theosophists and Association for Research and Enlightenment (ARE), a group dedicated to the study of Edgar Cayce. His favorite subject was problem solving using the spiritual laws.

Five years after his wife passed away he was surprised to find her communicating extensively with him as he was writing a book about grieving. It was hard to believe at first but it soon became apparent that she wanted to write the book with him and expand the subject to include insights gained from her perspective on the other side of death. He published their book, In Death We Do Not Part. Doing presentations of what she has written is now his favorite subject.

He began his career as a contractor and building designer, building what he designed. Fifteen years later he sold his business and became involved in sustainable timber harvesting, served on the Bay Area Air Quality Maintenance District and the Board of PSI a non-profit agency for
the training and employment of mentally handicapped adults.

CROSSING LINES: Dialogue as entry to relationship and change

Lionel “Len” Traubman has for 25 years published on war and peace from personal experience with Soviets and Americans, Armenians and Azerbaijanis, and Jews and Palestinians. With his wife, Libby, he co-founded the 17-year-old Jewish-Palestinian Living Room Dialogue, preparing for its 207th meeting. He co-produced two documentary films: DIALOGUE AT WASHINGTON HIGH, and PEACEMAKERS: Palestinians & Jews Together at Camp. After 35 years practicing Dentistry for Children in San Francisco and holding positions of leadership in dental organizations, he received the 1998 Distinguished Alumnus Award of the University of California School of Dentistry for whom he gave the school’s 2006 Commencement Address on individual responsibility for transforming enemies into partners at home and globally.

We experienced an authentic Dialogue with it’s new quality of listening-to-learn, for a new spirit in our daily lives and globally.

Let go ... but hold on to Joy!

As a peace activist, Steve Nakano has participated in two international peace walks: in 2007, with the Nipponzan Myohoji Buddhist sect (Hiroshima to Mount Aso, Japan); and in 2008, with the American Indian Movement Longest Walk 2 (San Francisco to Washington D.C.). He is also a member of the 500 mile American Indian Movement Spiritual Marathon Northern California Running Team that runs to spread the message that all life is sacred, to save Mother Earth, and to save Native American Indian Sacred Burial Sites.

Steve is a Congressional District Organizer for the National Peace Alliance that supports the creation of a U.S. Department of Peace, Nonviolence and Restorative Justice (H.R. 808). The bill will also create a U.S. Secretary of Peace in the Presidential Cabinet.

As a lawyer and community server, Steve has received the 2002 Santa Clara County Bar Association Minority Access Committee, Unsung Heroes Award for his work. He also helped initiate two residential alcohol and drug rehabilitation programs. Recently, Steve obtained the release and reversal of the conviction for a client who was convicted and who had served 11 years and 10 months of a 25 year to life sentence for a crime that he did not commit.

Create Inner Change To Find True Purpose & Create Outer Change in the World

Jared Paul is the Founder and Executive Director of the SanFrancisco nonprofit A Good Idea. A Good Idea’s mission is to be a vehicle for people’s positive social change ideas and to help bring those ideas to life. The goal is simply to help as many people in need as possible. A Good Idea is very focused on empowering people to begin the inner change transformation while at the same time connecting community.

The organization meets every Tuesday at the Red Vic Peace Cafe in the historic Haight district to bring like-minded people together who are going through their own transformations to discuss spiritual topics and social change ideas. A Good Idea’s first project is to bring a high school/village for homeless youth to San Francisco and then eventually a full-scale homeless rehabilitation village to the city as well.

Jared is originally from Atlanta, GA and prior to starting A Good Idea had a successful career in sales and business development.

Society & Sustainability: A Holistic Approach

Dr. Kumar Mehta is Professor Emeritus in Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of California at Berkeley. On his retirement in 1993, after 30 years of teaching and research in concrete technology, he was awarded the Berkeley Citation - the highest camus honor for contributions to his field and to the University. In 2006, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Coal Combustion Products Partnership in recognition of his
outstanding research for decades on the use of fly ash in structural concrete. He was also elected an Honorary Member of the American Concrete Institute. He is a member of the ACI Committee on Sustainable Development.

In response to the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC’s) effort to find solutions in reducing atmospheric build up of green-house gases from man-made sources,
Kumar Mehta will present, on Septermber 20, 2009 in Santiago, Chile, a roadmap and will discuss the tools by which the carbon emissions attributable to the concrete industry can be cut by half in the next 20 years.

Dr. Mehta is also credited for the foundation design of the Iraivan (Shiva) Temple in Hawaii, the first all-stone Hindu temple in America.