On Sunday, May 14, 2000, three of us gathered on a sunny afternoon to maintain our weekly prayer vigil for peace in the world. It was the same day when thousands of mothers and children of mothers had gathered in Washington to plead for ways to control the guns epidemics.
One of us brought a new set of signs on large poster boards. One of the new signs read:
Turn to God
Love Your Neighbor
ReuniteThree or four school buses pulled up in front of the Liberty Bell and out came a large group of high school students. We later learned that they had come from New England to Philadelphia to be part of a musical competition, and that their band and some individual members of their group had won awards. They responded to our small vigil with cautious curiosity and then with friendly enthusiam. One asked if he could take our photo. When we nodded yes, many gathered with their cameras and others joined the vigil, proudly holding up the extra signs. One of them shouted out "Praise Jesus!"
Later they emerged from their tour of the Liberty Bell pavillion just as the vigil was concluding, and one young man asked if he could take one of the signs as a souvenir. He chose the Turn to God/Love your Neighbor/Reunite sign. Another chose a sign that read:
Seek, Live,
Truth, Justice, Peace, Love
Turn to God, PrayOn the other side it had, attached to it, the sign in Spanish that Jorge had created while he was maintaining the vigil in Quito, Ecuador, in April.
At the end of the vigil a man approached us who was wearing a sandwich board with messages about the impending Second Coming and warnings to live righteous lives.
"I see you are also preaching the gospel," he said, or something similar. He told us that he had come to this country in 1950 as a refugee from his homeland — Estonia, Latvia, or Lithuania. After conversing with him, reading his messages carefully, and looking at a photograph of him in 1960 wearing a sign on a sandwich board much like the one he wore today, we were left to ponder the similarities and differences in the ways that he and we preach the gospel.
Friend Lynne Phillips sent us the following message a while ago in response to John Gallery's report about sowing seeds generously, even while knowing that not all of them will grow:
When I was active in the peace movement in the 50s during the darkest days of the cold war, nuclear bombs were being detonated in the atmosphere; people were being executed on accusations of spying; communists, peace, and social justice workers were being harassed, fired from their jobs, and imprisoned. The hysteria about the evils of the Soviet Union had to be experienced to be believed. The power of the military never seemed greater and the willingness of both superpowers to risk nuclear war was terrifying. At that time I took comfort in a quotation from William the Silent, a ruler in the 17th century in the Low Countries in Europe:
"It is not necessary to have hope in order to undertake a task, or to succeed in order to persevere."
BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON THE
Independence Mall Vigil for PeacePlease join us at our weekly prayer vigils for peace in the world, held in front of the Liberty Bell on Market St. between 5th and 6th, every Sunday from 4 to 5 PM. For more information, contact cityquake@aol.com.
In our reports, participants share their experiences of the prayer vigils and explore beliefs related to their participation. Reports reflect the experience of each author and do not necessarily represent the beliefs or practice of all vigil participants. We welcome your responses, which are forwarded to the individual authors (when possible). We sometimes include part of a response in a future report, unless you ask us not to.
It is meaningful to us that you share in the vigils by reading these reports and in other ways, such as joining us in prayer.
Last modified: Wednesday, February 18, 2004 at 08:18 AM