mean time

Monday April 1^st. Isaiah 65: 23 They will not toil in vain or bear children doomed to misfortune; for they will be a people blessed by the LORD, they and their descendants with them. 24 Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear. 25 The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, but dust will be the serpent's food. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain," says the LORD. This is also the vision of the world in final vision in the book of Revelation. All things will be new. For now, we live in the mean time. It is mean as in “in between” and it is mean as in “nasty.” God calls us to keep our eye on the vision of God, that they will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain.  It is a call from the God of Abraham, Isaac and Ismael and Jacob and Esau to stop the settlements in Palestinian territories, to stop the suicide bombings, to stop the rocket attacks, to stop the closing off of Palestinian movement to and from work, play, hospitals and families, to stop the rationing of water and the random violence.  We are called to stop destroying the lands and livelihoods of all of God’s people, not just those in our political affiliation.  If it is God’s vision that the wolf and the lamb can feed together, surely Israel and Palestinian leaders can talk to one another.   And perhaps, just perhaps, they can find their eyes opened in the breaking of the bread, and perhaps, just perhaps the U.S. can find a way of using the several million a day we give as aid as a lever to hasten the process of peace, not war.