I just got this press release from the organizers of The Children of Abraham Peace Walk:

The Children of Abraham Peace Walk is in its seventh year of building bridges of understanding in Brooklyn’s diverse communities.  Each year participants choose a different route for the walk, in order to visit local churches, synagogues and mosques in different Brooklyn neighborhoods.

This Year the Peace Walk will be in beautiful Sheepshead Bay. Local participants include such historic churches as St Marks Catholic Church, where the walk begins, and the First Methodist Church of Sheepshead Bay, who will host walk participants.  As in past years, prayers and story telling and food will help bring Jews, Christians, Muslims and all people of  good will together in spirit of peace.  The walk is modeled after a similar peace walk that was first held in New Mexico.  In past years we’ve walked across the Brooklyn Bridge, in Park Slope and Kensington.

“The Walk is not a political march but a walk together—at once a multicultural tour, a walking meditation and a movable block party,” stated Rabbi Ellen of Kolot Chayeinu/Voices of Our Lives, one of the founders of the annual event.

With heightened  tensions in the Middle East and a small group sparking local controversy around the building of the Sheepshead Bay Mosque, the Peace Walk seeks to bring people from different religious and cultural communities together amidst an atmosphere of mutual respect.

While religion is often times a source of division, the purpose of the walk is to harness religion’s capacity to awaken compassion and a sense of hospitality.   As neighbors within Brooklyn, we celebrate the opportunity to come together, to learn from each other, and to build a sense of community.

“The Children of Abraham Peace Walk is intended to promote dialogue and not provoke controversy,” stated Adem Carroll of Muslim Consultative Network, one of several sponsoring organizations. “Every community must work out its own issues, but the organizers of our Walk do see dialogue and trust-building among neighbors as essential to any community.”

Rev. Tom Martinez of All Souls Bethlehem Church, another organizer of the Peace Walk, explains that. “this year’s theme is hospitality.  All three Abrahamic faiths call us to welcome the stranger, to share what we have, to see all people as our brothers and sisters in the larger human family.  The Peace Walk gives us the opportunity to put these principles into practice.”

Route: we  will proceed south along Ocean Avenue from St. Mark Catholic Church, at 2609 East 19th St. (corner of Ocean Avenue & Avenue Z),  stopping at the First Methodist Church of Sheepshead Bay, proceeding south along Ocean Avenue to the water, making a left on Emmons Avenue, another left on Bedford Avenue and then a right on Voorhies Avenue (ending on Voorhies between 27th and 28thstreets at the site of the Sheepshead Bay Muslim Community’s new mosque).