At the early morning hour of 5:30 A.M. on Good Friday morning, Johnny Kashung and  Peter Ngong traveled an hour to attend the 30+year old vigil and Lawrence Livermore Laboratory to worship and bear witness to those who had come to engage in civil disobedience to protest the continuing development of nuclear weapons in that facility.  Accompanying BPMH Director, Rev. Sally Juarez, the three stood among the others who came to sing, dance, listen and pray.  This year’s reflection was offered by David Hartsough, peacemaker and social activist for 60 years.   David has just published his book, Waging Peace. The theme of this year’s vigil was ‘Beyong Neclear Weapons, Beyond Empire, Beyond Racism.

For Johnny and Peter, this was a first-time experience in seeing communities of faith joining together in support of the vision of reigning in the Kingdom of God through social action and the strategic use of non-violent protest. While the action at Livermore was strictly U.S. phenomonon, the development of nuclear weapons of mass destruction impacts everyone all over the globe.  Peter commented that he could not have been in a better place on Good Friday than at the Gates of the Livermore Lab.