In the workshop

Lily Cathcart November 27, 2022 0 0

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Isaiah 2: 3-5 (NRSVA)

3     Many peoples shall come and say,
‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
    to the house of the God of Jacob;
that he may teach us his ways
    and that we may walk in his paths.’
For out of Zion shall go forth instruction,
    and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
4 He shall judge between the nations,
    and shall arbitrate for many peoples;
they shall beat their swords into ploughshares,
    and their spears into pruning-hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
    neither shall they learn war any more.

5 O house of Jacob,
    come, let us walk
    in the light of the Lord!

I love this image of God teaching people how to make peace. Not just to feel peaceful, though that is important, but to craft peace with their own hands.

When I was in my teens I spent a lot of time in a workshop, taking a course called 3D Art. Nowadays a generic ‘Art’ course is often a bit of clay and papier-mâché but this one gave us a unique permission to create new, exciting and often weird things in the big workshop with whirring metal saws, huge solid tables which could take a hit, sanders flinging up sawdust and always, always, the smell of someone burning their fingers with too much hot glue.

I loved it in there. You could walk in with a lump of wood and walk out with a new way of seeing the world.

Thats what I imagine when I think of these nations learning to beat their swords and spears into unusual looking but serviceable ploughshares and pruning hooks. I imagine God alongside them, flecks and shavings in the hair and sweat on the brow. The effort it would take to change those shapes would be immense, it would require time and focus and teamwork. Just like peace.

PRAYER:

Dear God of change

Thank you that you see not only what is but what can be.

Lead us as we try to sculpt our own lives into ones which bring your peace.

Give us strength to see the transformation through, no matter how much effort it takes.

Amen