the impulse to love

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Loving God, who in Jesus Christ

welcomes us as warmly as sons and daughters,

may we so rest in the riches of your unconditional love,

that our instinct to rival others

is transformed by the impulse to love them

as you have loved us.

Amen

                     Trevor Williams in “What Were You Arguing About Along the Way?”

                     Ed. Pat Bennet, Canterbury Press, 2021

________________________________________

 

it was no accident

that Jesus, when he was here on earth

created a community

 

perhaps it was not

from our perspective, much of a community

it was not large

the members were a motley crew

of men and women (yes there were women)

 

it was nomadic

and probably dependent upon the generosity of others

 

it did not have a name

it did not have a building

it certainly did not have a steeple

or a large screen

 

it did not (I suspect) have a praise band

 

but it was a community

because Jesus was all about community

 

Ok, let’s be honest

Jesus was all about Kingdom!

systems, if you want to think about it that way

 

he was about systematic poverty

systematic piety

systematic prejudice

 

he came not just to change individual hearts

but to change the world

 

his mother had it right!

when she insisted that through her child God

…has shown strength with his arm;

…has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.

…has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly;

…has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty.”

 

yes, Jesus came to change our hearts, and our minds, individually

but we individuals, transformed by love, are meant to come together

to change the world

 

we exist to confront the ills of the world

greed, racism, the need to dominate and control

and to change those systems that promulgate them

 

systematic racism

systematic greed (toxic capitalism)

systematic domination (authoritarianism and nationalism)

are pervasive and deadly

 

and it is the job of the community

those gathered around Jesus

to confront and change them

 

those ills come out of individualism

out of a need to win

to be the richest, the most powerful

the one with the most toys, the best toys

 

they can only be overcome when we let go of that sense of

self against others

and begin to embrace the way of

self for others

 

and we can only move to that place

individually and then corporately

when we trust enough in God’s love

and God’s abundance

 

so in the end it is all about trust

trust in divine love

and trust in the power of love

 

that is how we participate in

the irresistible revolution (Shane Claiborne)

we trust

in Sacred Love

and live accordingly