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GA06118
Liberian crosses symbolize hope for peace
By Eva Stimson
BIRMINGHAM, June 21 * For 14 years, the people of Liberia endured a vicious civil war. The conflict left some 250,000 people dead and thousands homeless. It ruined the economy of the African country and left it overrun with weapons.
But out of the devastation, a group of Liberian Christians has created an income-generating project that brought a note of hope to this year's General Assembly. At the end of its report this afternoon, the Assembly Committee on Peacemaking and International Issues, along with the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program, presented to each commissioner and advisory delegate a cross made by Liberian craftspeople out of empty bullet shells.
"In the spirit of Isaiah, who speaks of the day when, 'They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks,' people who have been touched and transformed by Christ have transformed spent shell casings into simple crosses," said Gretchen Graf, chair of the Assembly committee, in announcing the gift.
The crosses were crafted by Liberians Against Violence, an organization that includes some former soldiers, Mark Koenig, an associate with the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program, explained in an interview. "When these soldiers were transformed by the gospel, they said, 'We have to lay down our weapons.' "
Graf said she hopes the crosses will remind commissioners that Christ can bring peace out of conflict. "The hope of the Assembly is that we will be turning our dissension into unity as consistent with beating swords into plowshares," she said. "We hope the commissioners will take these crosses home as symbols of resurrection, of taking what’s at hand and using it to become a sign of hope."
In 2003, the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program set up a partnership with the Liberian group to help market the crosses in the United States. More than 7,000 crosses have been sold, Koenig said. The project provides a source of income for more than 40 people in a society plagued by 80 percent unemployment.
Crosses may be ordered online at Marketplace
(item #7027003028). (http://www.pcusa.org/marketplace)
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