Guns to Gardens turns guns to garden tools

By Mary Stamp

Tom Robinson and Roger Hudson of New Story and Covenant United Methodist Church (UMC) recently invited folks to forge donated guns into garden tools at a "Guns to Gardens" event, and then they used the tools to plant garlic seeds in the church's community garden.

They are also forging their vision through the nonprofit they formed in 2022 called New Story, which sponsored the event.

"It's a way to express commitment to care for the planet and people," said Tom. "We live between the violence-of-now and the not-yet of swords forged into plowshares, driven by the promise that one day every man, woman and child will sit under their own vine and fig tree in peace and unafraid."

During the Guns to Gardens event held Nov. 22 at Covenant UMC, participants prayed in the Peace Cranes Chapel that honors those in the U.S. who died by gun violence in a mass shooting.

Brian Hewitt from Raw Tools in Seattle—raw is war backwards—brought his forge to cut guns into small pieces of metal and form tools.

Tom, who retired after 37 years of practicing law and 13 years of adjunct teaching two classes in American politics at Gonzaga University, said the experience of cutting up guns can be cathartic, especially for those who have lost someone to gun violence or suicide.

Tom also has found expression for political action by helping organize the Spokane Alliance in 1998 and serving on research action, teaching and lobbying teams. He grew up Catholic in Spokane and married a Baptist. He and his wife attend Covenant UMC near their home.

Roger came to the U.S. from South Africa after high school. After completing studies at Perkins School of Theology in Dallas, Texas, he was ordained. In 1989, he and wife returned to South Africa, where he started an eco-village on the Gqunube River. Fourteen years later, he returned and served churches in the Pacific Northwest—five years in Leavenworth, two at Manito UMC in Spokane, three at the Uniting Church in Wilbur and six at Covenant UMC, retiring in 2022. Since then, he has spent time in study and gardening.

Roger helped Covenant establish a memorial of 1,000 white peace cranes the congregation folded with the help of Patti Reiko Osebold, a Japanese American member. The cranes are suspended from the ceiling over a corner chapel. In the midst of the white peace cranes are 145 red cranes, each signifying a mass shooting in the U.S.

"When we put it up 10 years ago, we had just 30 red cranes. Every time a mass shooting has happened since then, we added a red crane," said Roger. "My successor, Megan Madsen, has continued the tradition. On each crane, someone writes the number who were killed and wounded, not counting the shooter, the place the shooting took place and the date."

Megan acknowledges the loss of each of the victims by name, inviting worshipers to say their names aloud to symbolize their value.

The Guns to Gardens event also belatedly celebrated the Martinmas feast to mark the end of the harvest and the start of winter. The feast remembers Martin of Tours' life as a soldier turned peacemaker, who chose Christ and left the Roman army to wage peace

"Connecting Guns to Gardens with honoring St. Martin of Tours reminds us that Christians are called not to the domination and violence of an empire but to the kingdom characterized by the power of love and nonviolence to redeem the world," said Roger.

"Many are prisoners to the conventional wisdom that violence redeems, but we say nonviolence and love redeem violence," he added. "We live in a society characterized by violence. Gun violence is a symptom. The faith community needs to lift up the alternative vision," Roger said.

The vision to turn guns into garden tools comes from Isaiah 2:4: "They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore."

"It's not just guns into garden tools but guns into gardens. The completion of the vision from that text comes with every man, woman and child sitting under their own vine and fig tree in peace and unafraid. It is about active compassion and helping people provide food for themselves by using garden tools to grow food in their yards," said Roger.

Guns to Gardens is hoping to partner with Johnny Edmondson of Growing Neighbors, which promotes people gardening in their community, turning their front, side and back yards into gardens.

Guns to Gardens, a national project initiated locally by New Story, is the first event. In the spring, participants may plant vegetables in other gardens to experience the peace and security of growing their own food.

The name "New Story" comes from the children's and adult's book, Cory and the Seventh Story by Brian McLaren and Gareth Higgins. Cory the raccoon and his sidekick, Owl, encounter the six old stories that don't work: domination, revolution, isolation, purification, accumulation and victimization.

Looking for a political, religious or economic messianic figure, Owl keeps asking, "Who's gonna save us?" until Swifthorse invites the animals to a banquet to say the six stories don't work.

"The seventh story is one of peace and love, where people move to the security of sitting under their own vine and fig tree.

"By turning a gun into a garden tool and creating a garden, we're inviting people to choose to be a part of the solution by telling a new story," said Tom.

The domination story leads to those dominated rising up in revolution that leads to chaos, out of which some animals establish their own village in isolation. The purification story arises from people living in isolation, blaming others for their problems. That leads to them wanting to oust immigrants. Next is the accumulation story that bases a person's value on how many things we have. The sixth story is victimization, or not taking agency, he summarized.

The seventh story invites people to choose to build the nonviolent society they want.

"Our differences aren't a reason for shame, punishment or exclusion but are marks of what make us lovable, so we form a new community," Roger explained. "The solution is to tell a new story, the story of nonviolence and care for the common good and the planet."

"From my 71 years of experiencing the six stories, I am convinced they do not work for everybody. They create millions of people without hope or equity," said Tom.

He pointed out that the new story is already happening through many nonprofits that take care of the world by putting aside land for wildlife habitat as the Inland Northwest Land Conservancy, taking care of the river as Spokane Riverkeeper and protecting birds as the Audubon Society.

"Our slogan is: Choosing to prosper together by caring for planet and people," said Roger. "That's an approximation of God's kingdom—a sustainable society creating equitable, sustainable economic, social and natural capital."

Roger and Tom are on the New Story board with Debbie Stempf, a retired physical therapist, and Jonas Cox, an associate professor of teacher education at Gonzaga and a member of the Spokane Friends Church, who has a forge, anvil and tools and plans to offer more Guns to Gardens events.

For information, email roger@newstoryspokane.org