Church to host event aimed at melting guns, creating gardening tools

There’s a Bible passage: “They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.”

At a Springfield church on June 25, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., that verse will be taken almost literally.

Gardner Memorial African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, 368 Bay St., will host Swords to Plowshares Northeast, a nonprofit aiming to reduce gun violence by melting weapons and turning them into tools for community gardens.

The event, which will demonstrate the process, is planned as a way to call attention to gun violence, according to MassLive.

On its website, Swords to Plowshares says, “The process allows us to find a creative way to make something inspiring and symbolic out of a weapon of death, something that will symbolize the transformation we believe is possible if Americans step back from the heated gun debate and try to listen to each other.”

In promoting the event on Facebook, the Massachusetts Council of Churches said, “May our hearts be forged for a vision of peace.”

Rosemary Ford

Weekend Editor

Rosemary Ford is a weekend editor at Boston.com. She has worked in journalism for more than 25 years.

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