MONROVIA – Liberia’s leaders and churches must not mistake the end of the war for the arrival of peace. That was the charge Rev. Dr. Samuel Reeves delivered from the pulpit of Providence Baptist Church on Sunday.
By Rodney D. Sieh
“Listen, church, listen, Liberia, the first generation after conflict must not be satisfied merely because the guns became silent,” Reeves said. “Silence is not the same as reconciliation. Stability is not the same as justice.”
In a sermon billed as “A Message for the Nation,” Reeves went further, singling out the economic yardstick the country has been using to measure progress. “Economic growth, and raising 1 billion dollars in revenue is not the same as human flourishing,” he said. “Institutional survival is not the same as institutional excellence.”
“A nation can rebuild roads and still need to rebuild trust”
Preaching from Philippians 3:9-11 on the theme “The Power of Resurrection Living: Living Beyond Our Fears,” Reeves framed Liberia’s recovery from civil war as a story of death and resurrection. He said the country “knows what it means to pass through a Friday.”
He pointed to the 2003 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, which called the nation toward reconciliation, democracy and good governance. “That is resurrection language,” he said. But he warned that resurrection “does not mean pretending the grave never existed. It means refusing to let the grave have the final word.”
“Healing is not amnesia. Reconciliation is not denial. Peace is not the absence of memory,” Reeves told the congregation.
He laid out what he called the nation’s unfinished work. “A nation can rebuild roads and still need to rebuild trust. A nation can construct buildings and still need to construct character. A nation can hold elections and still need to deepen citizenship.”
A call to ordinary citizens
Reeves credited Liberia’s peace not to any single leader but to many hands: women who pressed for negotiations, faith and traditional leaders, teachers who returned to classrooms, and health workers who served through crisis. “God rarely raises a community through spectators,” he said.
He painted a picture of what he called “faith with skin on it.” He described a teacher telling children their circumstances do not determine their possibilities, and a young entrepreneur creating jobs rather than waiting for them. He also pointed to “a civil servant refusing corruption because righteousness matters more than personal gain.”
He also challenged the church itself, calling for “a church that refuses to compete for influence while communities struggle for hope.” He urged universities to teach young people “not simply how to find employment, but how to think, serve, lead, create, and rebuild.”
“Resurrection requires participation”
Reeves closed with a message aimed at both the nation and individuals in the pews. “Your history is real. Your wounds are real,” he said. “But your history is not your destiny.”
“God may open the tomb, but somebody has to walk out of it,” he said. “God may give the vision, but somebody has to build.”
His final words were addressed to the country: “So stand, Liberia. Stand in righteousness. Stand in grace. Stand in truth.”