“They will beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.”
Isaiah the Prophet
How is your soul as you enter into this Advent Season?
Do you feel the effects of a violent culture wearing you out?
Are there practices and people in your life that nourish and heal?
Almost 17 years ago our lives changed forever when a family member was murdered by gun violence. Aside from that unique kind of grief, survivors of this horrific crime must deal with the monster of anger and what could follow that anger. We know that deciding to beat our swords into plowshares rather than living blind, with an “eye for an eye” mentality, was the only way to move toward healing.
Years ago, we were given the opportunity to hold a garden tool that was made from a weapon of violence. Founded in 2013, an organization called RAWtools, started collecting unwanted guns and turned them into gardening tools (hand plow below.) Holding this tool was a prayer to end violence in our world. Not just gun violence, but the violence we are doing to one another’s souls through unconscious living and words that wound us.
In this political/spiritual/relational culture of “sword words” We seek to spend time with people who beat their swords into plowshares. We long to be in the company of those who have tools to cultivate rather than weapons that annihilate. With this 24-hour news and social media war-zone, we need those who help us find a compassionate, empathic way to live together under one sky.
Maybe you would like to join us in this Advent breath prayer:
breathing in… Prince of Peace breathing out… Welcome
Take this prayer with you to school, work and dinner parties. Watch how breathing these words might keep you from saying something unhelpful.
We close with the words of Dr. Martin Luther King. May we discover the passion for peace he modeled for us.
“Lord help me to accept my tools. However dull they are, help me to accept them. And then Lord, after I have accepted my tools, then help me to set out and do what I can do with my tools.”
Choosing a plowshare for Advent and beyond,
Clare and Scott
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