Sun, rain and wind wore down the peace witness of Crest Manor Church of the Brethren's peace poles, planted in 1998.
We rededicated ourselves to witnessing for peace as we planted new peace poles, and celebrated our new community: not only has Crest Manor changed in 21 years, we now share our building with First Baptist Church.
With a peace pole at each entrance, our congregations walked, prayed and sang together on Sunday morning, Sept 22, celebrating the International Day of Prayer for Peace with both grief and hope for God's beloved world.
We prayed "peace" in each of the eight languages on these peace poles, for example: We pray with Spanish-speakers in our community and throughout this hemisphere and beyond, especially the Baptist and Brethren Spanish-speakers worshiping this morning, for paz. We pray for paz, peace on earth.
May our own prayers and testimonies and actions for peace withstand the years and the weather that our poles do! May our shared community support the witness of each one of us, in the way of Jesus.