They may not make the headlines. They may not be declared. But violence is very much the same, either way, to the people who experience it. We are grateful that war in Iraq is at least on hold. But war is still possible there.
Violence is still a reality, in many other places around the world.
The scriptures we heard this morning, all have to do with peace. We live in a world where war, and preparations for war, are an enormous reality. We can't get away from it. I was born in the first generation of children in the U.S. that came after the Second World War, soon after the armistice in Korea. My childhood was dominated by the Cold War.