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The small West African country of Liberia experienced 14 years of devastating civil war from 1990 through 2003. St. Mark's Lutheran Church in Gbarnga was taken over by one of the warlords who used it as central command for his rebel forces. The church building was eventually shot up and looted. Today, on the altar is a parament that declares "In Everything Give Thanks." Their hardships, like that of the Israelites in Egypt and in the wilderness, prepared them to thank God when better times came their way. They did not become bitter. Their first fruits were not the produce from the ground but the harvest in the spirit as their liturgical response was woven into that altar parament for future generations to see.
