{"id":3789,"date":"2017-05-31T16:23:22","date_gmt":"2017-05-31T20:23:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/?p=3789"},"modified":"2017-12-20T11:56:25","modified_gmt":"2017-12-20T16:56:25","slug":"life-service-award-michael-j-sharp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/2017\/05\/31\/life-service-award-michael-j-sharp\/","title":{"rendered":"Life Service Award: Michael J. Sharp"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Michael

M.J. Sharp is the first recipient of EMU’s Life Service Award. This honor will be presented on a periodic basis to recognize an alumnus who has given their life in pursuit of service and peace. (Photo by Zaida Catalan)<\/p><\/div>\n

Seven candles were lit at an April 29 memorial service in Martin Chapel: one for Michael Jesse \u201cM.J.\u201d Sharp ’05<\/strong> and one for each of his colleagues, some like Sharp confirmed dead, others still missing, in the Kasai-Central province area of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.<\/p>\n

Sharp was on a UN mission when he was kidnapped March 12, 2017. He was collecting information about the use of child soldiers and massacres of unarmed civilians. The group also sought dialogue \u2013 as Sharp had in his previous position as Eastern Congo Coordinator for Mennonite Central Committee \u2013 with stakeholders to promote peaceful solutions to the country\u2019s long conflict. The information would help the UN Group of Experts on the Congo advise the UN Security Council.<\/p>\n

EMU will honor Sharp, his commitment to peacemaking and his life of service with a special recognition during the 2017 Homecoming and Family Weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cMJ was remembered for his sharp wit, keen mind, restless spirit, tenacious belief in nonviolent means for resolving conflict, and for following Jesus in being fully with the people with whom he was living or visiting,\u201d said Brian Martin Burkholder<\/strong>, EMU campus pastor. Burkholder attended Sharp\u2019s memorial service in Hesston, Kansas, in mid-April and hosted EMU’s service during Commencement weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe knew his work held danger,\u201d said Burkholder. \u201cHe was willing to take risks because he was convinced that working toward facilitating the resolution of conflict would build capacity for peace in the midst of violence. In short, he embodied peacemaking as a faith-informed ethic and a way of life both personally and professionally.\u201d<\/p>\n

The recognition will memorialize an EMU alumnus who fully answered a call, said his former professor Judy Mullet ’73<\/strong>, a person \u201cwhose life invites us to do the same, to step into complexity with full acknowledgement of the risks, but also with faith and with every resource at hand in the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the April ceremony, Mullet shared the last email she received from Sharp. \u201cI want to work in crisis zones,\u201d he told her. \u201cMy experiences in Iraq, Afghanistan and Israel\/ Palestine over the last couple of years have made it clear to me that this is where I need to be.\u201d He planned to work on a doctorate so that he could teach \u201cafter the need to work in war zones subsides.\u201d<\/p>\n

She noted the tension in his life \u2013 and in all of our lives \u2013 \u201cbetween where you want to be and where you need to be,\u201d between a calling and the risks of that calling.<\/p>\n

After graduating with a degree in history and a minor in German, Sharp worked for three years with the Military Counseling Network in Germany. He then earned an MA in peace studies and conflict resolution at Philipps-Universit\u00e4t Marburg in Germany. From 2012 to 2015, he worked for MCC in the Congo, and became a contract employee as an Armed Group Expert for the UN later that year.<\/p>\n

His home in North America was in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He is survived by parents John and Michele Sharp, and two sisters.<\/p>\n

The Michael J. \u201cM.J.\u201d Sharp Peace and Justice Endowed Scholarship has been established to support students from Africa in graduate studies in conflict transformation at EMU\u2019s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding<\/a>. To contribute in MJ\u2019s memory, contact devoffice@emu.edu<\/a> or call 540-432-4581.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Seven candles were lit at an April 29 memorial service in Martin Chapel: one for Michael Jesse \u201cM.J.\u201d Sharp ’05 and one for each of his colleagues, some like Sharp confirmed dead, others still missing, in the Kasai-Central province area of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Sharp was on a UN mission when he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":196,"featured_media":3790,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,918],"tags":[714,739,733,936,935],"class_list":["post-3789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-magazine","category-springsummer-2017","tag-alumni","tag-conflict-resolution","tag-justice-and-peacebuilding","tag-life-service-award","tag-michael-j-sharp","issues-current-issue","issues-spring-summer-2017"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/196"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3789"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3789\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3793,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3789\/revisions\/3793"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}