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Grace UMC, Des Moines, Dedicates Peace Pole

6/30/2009

Grace Church Creates Peace Pole

Grace United Methodist Church, Des Moines, recently erected a peace pole on the church grounds. Commissioned by the Church and Society Committee, expresses the yearning for an end to violence as a solution to world problems. This pole was designed and carved by sculptor Rev. Bill Cotton in 2008. The wood-burning was done by artist Heather Haskins.

The use of stone columns or pillars, as a testament or memorial, dates from pre-historic times. In 1955, Masahisa Goi in Japan founded the World Peace Prayer Society and conceived the idea of placing the universal message “May Peace Prevail on Earth” on a vertical column. Since then, peace poles have been planted around the world, including the Hiroshima Peace Memorial, the tomb of Confucius in China, the pyramids of Giza, and the magnetic North Pole in Canada. There are now more that 200,000 peace poles in 190 countries

The pole exhibits vines reaching toward the heavens, symbolizing roots in Christ and yearnings for peace on earth. The pole is made from an aged butternut log, sometimes called wormwood because of the worm holes in the grain. The separate top branches are carved from basswood. The concept of a vine reaching toward the heavens seems natural for Grace Church because of the grape vines are everywhere present within the Narthex and Sanctuary. It’s said of the peace pole that “Just as the church is rooted and grounded in Christ and therefore able to produce much fruit, so let one of the fruits of our labor be peace on earth.