The Cross of Nails at Coventry

On the morning of November 15, 1940, the people of Coventry, England woke to find their beloved cathedral reduced to a smoldering shell. German bombers had leveled it overnight. Among the charred ruins, stonemason Jock Forbes found two medieval roof nails fused together in the shape of a cross. Provost Richard Howard retrieved them and, rather than cursing the enemy, inscribed two words on the blackened sanctuary wall: "Father Forgive."

What happened next would have seemed impossible to anyone standing in that rubble. Within two decades, Coventry Cathedral became the birthplace of one of the world's most enduring reconciliation movements. Leaders from Coventry traveled to Dresden, the German city Allied bombers had devastated in return, and extended the hand of peace. The Cross of Nails Community grew to span over two hundred centers in forty-five countries — former enemies sitting together, praying together, rebuilding together.

Isaiah saw a mountain where nations would stream not for conquest but for instruction, where the instruments of destruction would be reshaped into tools that nurture life. Coventry's nails of war became a cross of reconciliation. The very rubble of hatred became the foundation for a house of peace.

The prophet's invitation still echoes across the centuries: "Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord." Coventry answered that call — not by forgetting the devastation, but by refusing to let it have the final word.