If a monument could talk
The Nine Partners Monument in Harford Township was placed in 1890 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the nine pioneers who first settled the area from Attleboro, Massachusetts, from a densely wooded area that had been Lenape hunting grounds. The Lenape (also known as the Lenni Lenape, the Delaware Native Americans, or ‘the people’) were known as peacemakers.
Ironically, there’s not a lot of peace when it comes to the monument, which was moved on July 29th from its historic site to the center of the village of Harford. Who owns the monument and who gets to decide if this pun-intended monumental piece of history should be moved are in conversation these days. These conversations are painful for some. They are sad for others. Then, too, there are a number who shrug, have moved on, see this as a done deal or wonder why this is significant or even arguable.
For 133 years, the obelisk-shaped monument rested on the very spot where the partners’ contract was signed on a hemlock stump. The stump was near a spring called Beaver Meadow.
The monument was moved to the center of the village so that it could be easily accessible. The historical marker had been at the end of what can be described as a logging road about a half mile long. No designated turnaround near the monument itself was maintained.
The reasons this story appears in my column are fourfold. One, I am a direct descendant of one of the Nine Partners. Two, the land around the monument is owned by my extended family. Three, the monument is close to my home. (It’s in the hood.) And four, speaking of home, those Nine Partners were integral to the building of the historic church where I pastor. These are big deals if you ask me.
But no one asked the monument about the move.
The monument should have been asked about the move, specifically its move.
I get it. Monuments don’t talk. But like the prominent and prestigious red, white and blue American flag, that monument represents something—community.
Give this a monument a moment. Maybe this old, well-carved rock does speak—or can speak—to our hearts, even if we are not associated with Harford, partners, logging roads or the Lenape.
How? We can all be participatory in what the Lenape were known for, and that’s peacemaking.
Peacemaking is not peacekeeping. Said simply, peacekeeping is maintenance. Peacemaking is walking into a troubling or even divisive situation with the intent of making all things well.
Perhaps this can be done well. In a letter to the editor printed in this paper last week, a concerned (and I will say disappointed) writer proposed the original monument stay put on what I’ll call sacred ground. The writer suggested a new monument—an exact replica of the original—be placed in the village.
It’s a solution. Maybe it will be the right one. Maybe it won’t. But speaking of sacred space, I will honor the sacred space I have as a Christian columnist here in this paper, not as an advocate for or against this monument move and speak from scripture.
Matthew 5:9 is part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Here Jesus says, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God (NIV).”
This text is explicit. Peacemakers are blessed (or will be blessed).
There is also something implicit about peacemakers, regardless of whether they are or are not monument moving fans. Peacemakers are all about the blessing of others. Peace to the peacekeeper is inclusive, not exclusive. Peace is something to be shared not by some but by all.
The monument in Harford can’t speak. But Jesus did. Peacekeepers can speak here, too.
President Lincoln said, “A house divided cannot stand.” Harford, like any other community, cannot (should not?) stand divided, either.
The expression “a house divided” was used by Abraham on June 16, 1858. In this address, which came to be known as “A House Divided Speech,” Lincoln references a verse in Matthew, Mark and Luke.
Matthew 12:25b, which is almost identically found in Mark 3:25 and Luke 11:17, shares these words from Jesus: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand.”
Peacekeepers, as children of God, hear and follow Jesus. Do not allow division. What has happened—or can happen—in Harford may or may not be your story, depending on where you live. But wherever you do stand, be monumental.
How? Do not be silent. Find and stand for what unites, not divides.
__________
July 2023: This picture was taken where the monument now rests, on the triangle in Harford.
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