The newly completed Corhaven Graveyard site

Before over 150 people showed up for the dedication ceremony of the Corhaven Graveyard, I took a quiet walk through the newly completed site. The day was damp, grey, a little chilly, and very still.  There was a carpet of white violets blooming around a few of the headstones. The grounds of the pathways were soft and forgiving beneath my feet. Forgiving ground.

Over 150 people gathered.

A ground where people can now stand (or sit) and be in the presence of an enduring problem where much forgiveness is needed. Soon after, the north pasture of Corhaven’s property was full of cars and lawn chairs littered the ground near the Graveyard.  Families came together, little ones scampered through the grass, picking flowers and giving chase to their parents. Many had come together from all over the Shenandoah Valley and throughout Northern Virginia to take part in the day’s events. Even International Justice Mission was represented, to highlight the importance of the connection to the Corhaven Graveyard to the fact that modern slavery is a bigger problem today than ever before.  (Read more in Gary Haugan’s Letter for Corhaven Graveyard.)

Our time began with a few words from Bill Haley, and his prayer: “…Our very presence is a prayer to you, a lament and a hope. Our very presence is a prayer to you, an act of grief and an act of faith. Our hearts are open, our hands our open to whatever you want to do here today, and to that end we ask that you would fill this space again with your Spirit.” The arc of the day was gathering to remember, to lament, and to re-emerge into hope together. So we were walked through the local history and the specific story of the Corhaven Graveyard and its surrounding properties, with historians, archivists, and other knowledgeable participants in the project. Stories of how people had become connected through amazing circumstances underscored the power of the project to draw people together.

barbed wire in the tree

Tyler Hinkle, from Stonewall Jackson High School, who has worked hard with other members of the History club from the school on the graveyard’s clearing and research, remarked that “where once there was only black and white, there is now a vivacious green”. Near the headstones, you could see where barbed wire fences (dated back to the late 1800s) were once wrapped around trees to mark off the burial grounds.  With time, the tree trunks grew around and absorbed the barbs, but you can still see the scars in the trunk where the lines were. Jesus’ hands still bear the scars of the cross, even as he provides healing to those who trust in his name.

Urban Doxology sings

We lamented together. Psalm 13 was read by Mark Bowyer, “How long, O Lord….How long will you hide your face from me?”.  It was easy to envision that poignant Psalm being ever-present in the hearts of those buried in the cemetery we gathered around. Urban Doxology sang, among other songs, Come, Ye Disconsolate, and we heard, “Here speaks the Comforter, tenderly saying, ‘Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot cure’”.  David Bailey spoke eloquently about the importance of lamenting in the process of reconciliation saying, “trying to fast forward to hope without lamenting, we cheat reconciliation”.  Grief is a real part of this process.  The Corhaven Graveyard stands as a place to remember, to focus, however uncomfortable, on the cause of that grief for so many people, from hundreds of years ago all the way through to today.

Wreath and memorial plaque

And then we were brought back up into the Lord’s promise of healing, and hope.  We heard Psalm 66, a psalm of rejoicing. “Come and see what the Lord has done”.  He had brought us all, all of us gathered there that day into that time and place, to be together at the beginning of something much larger. We heard the names we know of those buried at the Corhaven Graveyard, we prayed together concerning their legacy, their dignity, and that of all others they represent.  We closed in song, singing of God’s Amazing Grace and we marked our time by placing stones on the memorial sculpture in the garden just outside the burial ground.

I don’t yet know all that God said to me on Saturday.  I know he spoke words clearly to many of us there, however: remember, embrace, lament, heal, engage, enter in.  Thank you all for your prayers. It was a memorable day for all.   We hope you will continue to journey with us in this unfolding project, and take part in what God has for us all in it.