Friends, the end of the summer is upon us, and it’s a been a summer full of peace prayers. Whether you’ve folded one crane or hundreds of cranes, or somewhere in-between, I want to thank you for your contributions to our total. If you haven’t been able to fold cranes, I want to thank you as well for all of the prayers, moral support, and good vibes you’ve added along the way. We have officially reached our goal of folding 1500 cranes each at First Parish Westwood and at First Congregational Norwood. In fact, we’ve gone zooming past our goal and ended up in the stratosphere and now stand at over 4700 cranes combined! I’ve heard stories of folding cranes in meetings, folding cranes while watching TV, folding cranes while on vacation around the country and around the world. And, with a prayer for each fold of our cranes, that’s over 117,000 prayers for peace this summer. You did that.
You’ve also been asking, “What’s next?” This week, I was able to meet with Pastor Michelle from Norwood, and we did some crane-stringing research. We’ve come up with a plan to string and hang our cranes so they can be displayed, but we need a few things first to make it happen.
First, we need a few more cranes. You’ve done such a great job with folding, why not fold just a few more? We’ve set a stretch goal of 5000 combined cranes so we can send four displays to other churches at 100 cranes apiece, plus an opportunity of our congregations to gift each other a display of 500 cranes, 1000 combined. So, in the next week or so, help us get those last few hundred to put us over the top.
Second, we need to practice our stringing and hanging. We have a plan, but we aren’t sure of the details yet, and we’ll have to learn and figure them out as we go. Therefore, we are scheduling a stringing session at First Congregational Norwood for Thursday, September 5th, from 6-8pm. This session is for those of you that might have some good sewing experience or are good at engineering and problem solving. We’ll have our supplies ready, as well as some pizza, while we figure out the best steps to take to make a display work.
Then, after church on September 29th, First Parish of Westwood will host our main stringing session. Again, we’ll have our supplies and pizza at the ready, and we’ll also have our plan ironed out, so we can set up the most grace-filled assembly line you’ve ever seen. This will be an event for all ages and abilities, a peace party filled with joy. I encourage everyone to be a part of this party, even if your best contribution might be as a conversationalist and cheerleader. As Paul writes, we are one body with many members, and each of us has a part to play.
Once our displays are finished, Pastor Michelle and I will deliver our cranes to their destinations: houses of worship in communities searching for peace. We would also like to propose sending along a small monetary donation to go with our cranes and notes of peace, love, and connection, that we might support these communities in their efforts to meet and worship safely. If you would like to be a part of making this step happen, please let us know.
I’m in awe of the work our congregations have done this summer. Through all the adventures we have taken as individuals this season, our collective thoughts of peace have come with us to bring us to this moment, and the moments to come. Though our crane project might be nearing its end, the work of making a peaceful world is not. In the words of our crane-folding inspiration, young Sadako Sasaki, “This is our cry. This is our prayer. Peace in the world.” As those words continue to echo through the decades, let us continue to let peace fill our hearts, let peace fill our world, let peace fill our universe.
Pastor JT
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