Just Peace Sunday 2026
The Thirtieth General Synod called on the congregations of the United Church of Christ to mark the Sunday preceding September 21 (which the United Nation recognizes as the “International Day of Prayer for Peace”) as Just Peace Sunday.
In 2026, Just Peace Sunday is Sept. 20
“God’s Economy: People Over Profit”
Further materials and resources will be announced and shared on this page, stay tuned and check back for updates!
We mark Just Peace Sunday in 2026 under the ongoing fog of war. The genocide in Gaza continues without end, and a war with Iran has killed hundreds of civilians and wreaked havoc on both the environment and global economy for over six months. The administration’s failed policy of “peace through strength” has shunned diplomacy and other peacebuilding measures, instead escalating military might and economic threats. The result is chaos and a less secure world.
The “cost of war” is not simply economic.
The human and moral tolls of these conflicts are incalculable. Woven through it all are the sinful ideals of American exceptionalism, unbridled capitalism, and the idol of military strength that all echo the “triplets of evil” (racism, materialism, and militarism) that Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. warned of in 1967. Those triplets are all too present in our political life today.
This Sunday’s lectionary scriptures challenge these systems and call on us to wrestle with the interplay of power, profit, people, and peace. God’s vision of shalom, a just peace economy, as envisioned in the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard. The parable illustrates a different system of economic relations that challenges systems of inequity, racism, colonialism, and any structure built to privilege some over others. In these passages, we glimpse God’s abundance and God’s extravagance breaking into, and confronting, our narrow human notions of “fairness.” Workers are valued not on the basis of their labor, but on the basis of their inherent worth as children of God. In Exodus, we witness God’s provision for all in the form of manna, God’s provision, raining down from heaven.
On this Just Peace Sunday and during the Season of Creation, we are called to live into God’s kin-dom on earth, seeking peace in all spheres of life: peace with the planet, peace among nations, peace among the people, and peace in the marketplace. We are called to build a world of just economic relations in which all have enough; a world in which God’s provisions are not squandered on ever more advanced weapons of war but instead bent into plowshares for the common good. May it be so!
-Rev. Michael Neuroth, Director of the Washington D.C. Office
General Resources
Download the Just Peace Handbook
In 2015, the 30th General Synod held in Cleveland, OH marked the UCC’s 30th anniversary as a Just Peace Church and called for a renewal of the UCC’s Just Peace witness. This booklet is intended to accompany this resolution and be a resource for all levels and areas of the church for further work and witness, especially to local congregations declaring or recommitting themselves as “Just Peace Churches.” This resource includes a summary of the historical and theological uniqueness of the Just Peace vision; the biblical and theological grounding for Just Peace values; and recommended steps for how to become a Just Peace Church. (Download.)
Find additional resources here.
What is Just Peace?
Just Peace is not a destination, but a path requiring awareness and constant vigilance to resolve existing and developing conflict in ourselves, our families, our communities, our institutions, and our world. This path requires non-violence when possible and even when impossible to engage in love and restraint. Just Peace envisions a renewed, vibrant, diverse, and sustainable world free of violence.
Just Peace is grounded in God’s activity in creation; God’s covenant patience and provision in the wilderness; in the reconciling activity of Jesus Christ; in the presence of the Holy Spirit; and in the community of reconciliation. Shalom is the vision that pulls all creation toward a time when weapons are made into ploughs and all creatures lie down together without fear; where all have their own vine, fig tree, and dwell secure from want. As Christians, we offer this conviction to the world: Peace is possible!