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And they reported to the angel of the Lord who was standing among the myrtle trees, “We have gone throughout the earth and found the whole world at rest and in peace.” Then the angel of the Lord said, “Lord Almighty, how long will you withhold mercy from Jerusalem and from the towns of Judah…?” – Zechariah 1:11-12a
Zechariah has a vision of angels who have surveyed the earth and found it “at rest and in peace.” Rather than be overjoyed, the Angel of the LORD laments, calling this peace a withholding of mercy. It was a false peace maintained by violence, sustained through silence, coming at the cost of the oppression of God’s people. Disrupting this false peace would be a mercy that brings about true shalom.
Where might “peace” in your world actually be silence or injustice? Ask God for the courage to name it.
Red Letter Christians
Red Letter Christians is a non-denominational Christian movement founded in 2007 by progressive evangelical authors and activists Tony Campolo and Shane Claiborne. The movement emerged as a counter-cultural reaction to the American religious right, seeking to distance faith from partisan politics and shift the evangelical focus away from a narrow set of dogmatic issues toward Jesus’s radical lifestyle commands. Guided primarily by teachings like the Sermon on the Mount, Red Letter Christians emphasize active social justice—specifically advocating for the poor, ending capital punishment, promoting racial reconciliation, protecting the environment, and practicing peace and nonviolence.