Source: James Brenner Sculpture
“I still have a dream today that one day war will come to an end, that [they] will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks, that nations will no longer rise up against nations, neither will they study war any more.” - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., “A Christmas Sermon on Peace”
Lead to Life invites you to participate in our live alchemy ceremony where together, we will, finish transforming weapons into 50 shovels. Our metal casting artist James Brenner and blacksmith Mike Martin (director of RawTools) will lead us in a live demonstration of making tools from weapons. 50 years after Dr. King’s assassination, we will fulfill the prophecy of turning “swords into plowshares.”
Community members from the Atlanta area who have been directly impacted by gun violence are invited to offer disabled weapons into the fire to be transformed. Other community members are invited to gather in solidarity and prayer to bear witness. The shovels we make together will be used two days later on Sunday, April 8th, 2018, as part of our tree planting ceremonies, where we will plant 50 trees at The King Center along with sites impacted by violence across Atlanta.
Join us as we gather in prayer, in grief, in praise, and in creative action to reimagine violence in our city, our country, and our world.
This ceremony is part of Lead to Life’s week of Healing Justice gatherings taking place April 4 - 9. Click here for information and registration for our other events: including The People’s Supper, our Tree Planting Ceremony, and Permaculture Action Day.