November 20
Swords Into Plowshares
Year 1 ( 2022 – 2023 )
Text:
Isaiah 36:1-3, 13-20; 37:1-7; then 2:1-4
Summary:
Assyria threatens Jerusalem and King Hezekiah despairs. Isaiah says the city will be saved and nations will beat their swords into plowshares.
Call to Worship
(Based on Isaiah 2:1-4, and well suited to segue into Mark Miller’s “The Day is Coming.”)
One: The day is coming…
All: when all nations will seek out God’s ways.
One: The day is coming…
All: when God will bring about reconciliation and peace.
One: The day is coming…
All: when swords will be beaten into plowshares,
and weapons into tools for the garden.
One: The day is coming…
All: when nation shall not fight against nation,
and the word “war” will be long forgotten.
One: The day is coming…
All: oh, let it come.
Congregational Song Suggestions
“Down By the Riverside”
(various)
“For the Healing of the Nations“
GTG 346, VT 705
“O Day of Peace”
ELW 711, GTG 373, VT 787
“O God of Every Nation”
ELW 713, GTG 756
“Sword into a Plowshare”
VT 798
“Swords into Plowshares”
Mark Miller – Roll Down, Justice, Choristers Guild, 2015
“The Day is Coming”
Mark Miller – Roll Down, Justice, Choristers Guild, 2015
“We Dream of a Turning”
GTG 209
“When Hope Is Crushed”
Adam M. L. Tice, text
Mark Miller, tune
Available from Revolution of the Heart at giamusic.com
Beyond the Hymnal
“Somewhere”
from the musical West Side Story, by Stephen Sondheim and Leonard Bernstein