{"id":2390,"date":"2022-11-27T21:34:35","date_gmt":"2022-11-27T21:34:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/warapungamonday.wordpress.com\/?p=2390"},"modified":"2022-11-27T21:34:35","modified_gmt":"2022-11-27T21:34:35","slug":"a-vision-of-peace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/warapunga.ch\/?p=2390","title":{"rendered":"A Vision of Peace"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Chapter 48<br><br>Good Monday Morning to this week 48 of 2022 <br><br>Amid the pain and violence of our world, we hold fast to this hope. <br><em>Carolyn Arends<\/em><br><br>Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace\u00a0to those on whom his favor rests.<br>Luke 2:14<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2003, journalist Chris Hedges set out to determine whether there have been any sustained periods of peace on the human record. Defining&nbsp;<em>war<\/em>&nbsp;as any \u201cactive conflict that has claimed more than 1,000 lives,\u201d he reviewed 3,400 years of history and discovered just 268 war-free years. In other words, approximately 92 percent of recorded history is marked by active conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Of course, the people of ancient Israel did not need a journalist to tell them that human existence is plagued by wars and rumors of wars. They had plenty of firsthand, trauma-inducing experiences with conflict, violence, and oppression. What they did need was a prophet who could provide them with a vision of peace. Isaiah brought them\u2014and us\u2014just such a vision. All the nations come streaming together to the mountain of God. That\u2019s where they discover that the supposed dichotomy between peace and justice has been false all along. The Lord brings peace\u00a0<em>through<\/em>\u00a0justice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then watch what happens when humans find themselves in the presence of the Prince of Peace: The swords and spears they\u2019ve brought to the mountain\u2014weapons they\u2019ve long assumed were necessary to their survival\u2014seem suddenly out of place. The people lay down their arms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Isaiah is not naive. He has seen the brutality that can and does characterize the human condition. But he\u2019s also caught a glimpse of the verdant, vibrant, peace-infused future the Prince of Peace has planned for his creation. It\u2019s the sort of vision that gives a weary prophet hope\u2014a vision about the sort of prince who will one day cause angels to exclaim, \u201cGlory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests\u201d (Luke 2:14).<br><br>Wishing you a good start to this new week of the 1st Advent <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Philemon <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br><br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chapter 48 Good Monday Morning to this week 48 of 2022 Amid the pain and violence of our world, we hold fast to this hope. Carolyn Arends Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace\u00a0to those on whom his favor rests.Luke 2:14 In 2003, journalist Chris Hedges set out to determine whether &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/warapunga.ch\/?p=2390\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;A Vision of Peace&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/warapunga.ch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/warapunga.ch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/warapunga.ch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/warapunga.ch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/warapunga.ch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/warapunga.ch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2390\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/warapunga.ch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/warapunga.ch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/warapunga.ch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}