Swords into Plowshares

Read ISAIAH 2:1-5

FROM THE ARTIST | HANNAH GARRITY

What is God’s view of the world? What does God plan for this world?
This text is all about God’s vision for the earth becoming a reality. It’s
all about beating swords into plowshares. It’s all about building peace.
How does this vision come to be? In this image of hands, I imagine

how we might actually make God’s vision come to life.

I listen to Christian rock because it is the only station I can play in the
car that doesn’t play curse words for my children to hear. I change the
station, however, when the radio personalities come on because the
statements are often slanted heavily to a viewpoint that is judgmental
at its root. I find this to be an intriguing dichotomy. The music is
preaching the gospel, God’s vision; the commentary is perpetuating

division. Why do we do this? There must be another way.

There’s a song that often plays on my Christian rock station from
Matthew West’s album, Into the Light. The song is called, “Do
Something.” The songwriter sees the pain of the world and asks God to
do something. “I did, I created you,” God responds, suggesting that with
our hands and with our words, God has created us to act in God’s name.
Here, in acrylic on canvas, a man wields a grinder, burnishing the
edges of a sword that has been reformed into a plow. Growth, not
death; care, not fear. The simple analogy of the sword transformed
into the plowshare reminds us that peace is at the heart of all that

God envisions for this world.

How might you make God’s vision come into reality?

Prayer: Breathe deeply as you gaze upon the image below. Imagine
placing yourself in this scene. What do you see? How do you feel?
Get quiet and still, offering a silent or spoken prayer to God.