Part of Hopedale’s weekly spoken affirmation is “to dwell together in peace.” Our new Peace Pole is a reminder that we seek peace not only among our congregation, but throughout the world. Thanks to everyone who gathered for Sept. 4’s circle worship “On Love’s Side,” and on 9/11 for Bruce Beisner’s service on “Peacemakers in a World of Violence,” which culminated in the pole’s dedication. Hopdales’s Peace Pole was dedicated on September 11, 2011, a day of Faith, Hope and Healing.

Our pole was purchased from the Dayton International Peace Museum. Dayton is where the peace accords were reached in 1995 ending the conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina –– and explaining why one of the eight languages on out pole is Serbo-Croatian. The others are English, French, Arabic, Hebrew, Spanish, Russian and Myaamia.  (Daryl Baldwin of Miami University supplied us with the Myaamia phrase for “Let’s Live in Peace.”)