A Movement of Love and Liberation

Thursday, January 9, 2025

Theologian Sallie McFague (1933–2019) centers compassionate change in a passionate love for God:  

At the center of Jesus’ message as prophet and wisdom teacher is the vision of a world as an egalitarian community of beings, not a hierarchy of individuals. His parables and aphorisms disorient our conventional expectations and suggest a way of being in the world where all are valued, especially the vulnerable and outcast. He shows us how to live this message by doing so himself: his unsettling parables and sayings are embodied in his own practices of living among the marginalized and siding with those considered inferior by conventional standards. He tells us also when and where to do it: now and here.…  

This evangelism or good news, however, is not offered as an imperative or as an accomplished fact, but rather as an invitation: it is … inviting us to live differently. It does not appear to be principally a matter of the intellect or the will, but of the heart. The alternative to the conventional hierarchical, dualistic paradigm of life is, according to Jesus, the way of death to the old life and rebirth to the new. At the center of this new life is love to God and others: not just a moderate or “sensible” love, but God-intoxication and compassion for others that knows no limits.…  

Those who have followed Jesus most radically, regardless of their other errors and failings—people like Paul, Augustine, Teresa of Avila, Julian of Norwich, John Woolman, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Dorothy Day, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Sojourner Truth, Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Teresa, and many others less well known—passionately loved both God and the world (and everything in it).… These people seem to know no limits, either in their outrageous intimacy with God nor with their borderless love for all living things. [1]   

Rev. Dr. Carter Heyward writes of the liberation offered by the Jesus movement:  

In the context of massive suffering and violence—which is the context of our common life—the JESUS movement is constantly generating the revolutionary and holy Spirit of freedom and liberation; in the same moment and place, it offers “a balm to heal the sin-sick soul” of each and every one of us, oppressor and oppressed, in whatever ways we ourselves are broken—in wrong relation, that is, with one another, ourselves, and the Spirit that connects us.… 

We cannot enjoy the spirituality that truly is of God unless we are enjoying the struggle for justice-love, compassion, nonviolence, and forgiveness in the world. And we cannot stay in the struggle unless we are drawing personal strength from God whom JESUS loved, however we may experience and image this sacred power.  

Liberating oppressed peoples and creatures— 
Healing personal wounds, ours and others’— 
Liberating us from fear, greed, and lack of confidence— 
Healing peoples, nations, tribes, and earth— 
It all goes together in God. [2] 

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Jesus Calling: January 9th, 2025

Sara Young; Jesus Calling: January 9

I am with you and for you. When you decide on a course of action that is in line with My will, nothing in heaven or on earth can stop you. You may encounter many obstacles as you move toward your goal, but don’t be discouraged–never give up! With My help, you can overcome any obstacle. Do not expect an easy path as you journey hand in hand with Me, but remember that I, your very-present Helper, am omnipotent.

     Much, much stress results from your wanting to make things happen before their times have come. One of the main ways I assert My sovereignty is in the timing of events. If you want to stay close to Me and do things My way, ask Me to show you the path forward moment by moment. Instead of dashing headlong toward your goal, let Me set the pace. Slow down, and enjoy the journey in My presence.

RELATED SCRIPTURE: 

Romans 8:31 NLT

Nothing Can Separate Us from God’s Love

31 What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us?

Psalm 46:1-3 NLT

Psalm 46

For the choir director: A song of the descendants of Korah, to be sung by soprano voices.

1 God is our refuge and strength,

    always ready to help in times of trouble.

2 So we will not fear when earthquakes come

    and the mountains crumble into the sea.

3 Let the oceans roar and foam.

    Let the mountains tremble as the waters surge! Interlude

Luke 1:37 NLT

37 For the word of God will never fail.”

A Church That Imitates Jesus

Wednesday, January 8, 2025

Jesus said, “People do not put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the skins burst, the wine spills out, and the skins are ruined. Rather, they pour new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.” —Matthew 9:17 

Drawing on Jesus’ teaching about the importance of new wineskins, Richard Rohr reflects on how difficult it is to be truly open to something new:  

Christians have often preached a gospel largely comprised of words, attitudes, and inner salvation experiences. People say they are saved, they are “born again,” yet how do we really know if someone is saved? Are they actually following Jesus? Do they love the poor? Are they free from their egos? Are they patient in the face of persecution? 

It’s not enough to talk about some kind of new inebriating wine, some new ideas. Without new wineskins—changed institutions, systems, and structures—I would argue that transformation cannot be deep or lasting. As Dorothy Day wrote in her inimitable style, “We need to overthrow … this rotten … industrial capitalist system which breeds such suffering.” [1] Personal “salvation” cannot be divorced from social and systemic implications. 

It’s easier to talk about the wine without the wineskins, to talk about salvation theories without any new world order. Unfortunately, Christianity has not always had a positive impact on Western civilization and the peoples it has colonized or evangelized. So-called Christian nations are often the most militaristic, greedy, and untrue to the teacher we claim to follow. Our societies are more often based not upon the servant leadership that Jesus modeled, but on the common domination and control model that produces racism, classism, sexism, power seeking, and income inequality. 

That’s not to say our ancestors didn’t have faith, that our grandparents weren’t good people, or that the church hasn’t done much good. But, with notable exceptions, we Christians didn’t produce radical change in culture or institutions or operate all that differently. Christianity has shaped some wonderfully liberated saints, prophets, and mystics. They tried to create some new wineskins, but often the church itself resisted their calls to structural reform. Take, for example, Saint Francis of Assisi, the father and founder of my own religious community. He was marginalized as a bit of a fanatic or eccentric by mainline Catholicism, as illustrated by no Pope ever taking his name until our present Pope Francis. 

Even today many Christians keep Jesus on a seeming pedestal, worshiping a caricature on a cross or a bumper-sticker slogan while avoiding what Jesus said and did. We keep saying, “We love Jesus,” but more as a God-figure than as someone to imitate. It seems the more we talk about Jesus, the less time we have to do what he said.  

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Sara Young; Jesus Calling: January 8

Softly I announce My Presence. Shimmering hues of radiance tap gently at your consciousness, seeking entrance. Though I have all Power in heaven and on earth, I am infinitely tender with you. The weaker you are, the more gently I approach you. Let your weakness be a door to My presence. Whenever you feel inadequate, remember that I am your ever-present Help.

     Hope in Me, and you will be protected from depression and self-pity. Hope is like a golden cord connecting you to heaven. The more you cling to this cord, the more I hear the weight of your burdens; thus, you are enlightened. Heaviness is not of My kingdom. Cling to hope, and My rays of Light will reach you through the darkness.

RELATED SCRIPTURE: 

Psalm 46:1 NLT

Psalm 46

For the choir director: A song of the descendants of Korah, to be sung by soprano voices.[a]

1 God is our refuge and strength,

    always ready to help in times of trouble.

Romans 12:12 NLT

12 Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying.

Romans 15:13 NLT

13 I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.

People Change the Church

Tuesday, January 7, 2025

Rev. Dr. Elaine Heath writes a letter to the church today:  

Dear church, God’s one holy, catholic, and apostolic church: … 

Let’s get on with our work. You know the parable of the wineskins [see Luke 5:37–38]. For goodness’ sake, you taught that parable to me! We are in a time of wineskin change. Let’s celebrate that instead of wringing our hands. Let’s thank God for the old wineskin and the grace it carried to us. And let’s celebrate the new wineskin with its expansive fermentation. Let’s do both. We don’t have to choose.  

So what if we are losing our privileged place in society? We never did our best work there anyway. We’re always our best on the bottom or the edge. This is a great time to remember the saints and mystics who founded our traditions, the ones who did their work from the margins.  

Because—and I say this with more love than I can name—we can’t afford to keep squabbling about things like buildings, budgets, pews, stoles, handbells, praise bands, and carpet…. We must stop that at once. God needs all hands on deck. We cannot continue operating as if we are a private club with members, dues, and privileges. Why? Because Jesus never acts like that. Our neighbors need us. God needs us. We need us too.  

I know it’s hard to play and be creative when we feel fearful. Anxiety takes the spring out of our step…. We don’t have to be afraid. That is the wonderful news. God’s love casts out fear. God is with us. With us! God orchestrates systems change. Change happens all the time so that every generation, every community, every person can experience God in their world, their context, their time. 

Heath imagines the possibilities on the other side of our anxiety: 

Beloved church, can we agree to let God have our anxiety? God knows how hard it is for us to let go. We simply have to be willing to be made willing. Just a tiny degree of openness allows God to work with us—like dandelion seeds. They blow on the wind, fall into every crack … and before you know it a parking lot is in full bloom. Church, do you realize we are on the cusp of a new Great Awakening? And it looks like a spiritual dandelion explosion as far as the eye can see. God’s new thing is networked, exponential, Spirit-breathed, decentralized, a vast planting of small communities of faith…. It is very much the work of laypeople, and it is emerging as a natural progression out of the church that used to be….  

I know if we will say yes to God, we can rely on God’s already having said yes to us. So let’s go together, all of us, in the direction that God leads. When that happens, the world will know that Jesus spoke the truth, that God’s love is for everyone. People will encounter the real tradition, the tradition behind the tradition, because they will experience it in us.  

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Sara Young Jesus Calling

It is impossible to praise or thank me too much. As it is written, I inhabit the praises of My people. Sometimes your adoration is a spontaneous overflow of Joy, in response to radiant beauty or rich blessings. At other times your praise is more disciplined and measured–an act of your will. I dwell equally in both types of praise. Thankfulness, also, is a royal road to draw near Me. A thankful heart has plenty of room for Me.
     When you thank Me for the many pleasures I provide, you affirm that I am God, from whom all blessings flow. When adversity strikes and you thank Me anyway, your trust in My sovereignty is a showpiece in invisible realms. Fill up the spare moments of your life with praise and thanksgiving. This joyous discipline will help you live in the intimacy of My Presence.

RELATED SCRIPTURE: 

Psalm 22:3

New Living Translation

3 Yet you are holy,

    enthroned on the praises of Israel.

Psalm 146:1-2 NLT

Psalm 146

1 Praise the Lord!

Let all that I am praise the Lord.

2     I will praise the Lord as long as I live.

    I will sing praises to my God with my dying breath.

1 Thessalonians 5:18 NLT

18 Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.

A Transforming Moment

Monday, January 6, 2025

Retired Episcopal Bishop Michael Curry describes the early “Jesus Movement”: 

Jesus did not establish an institution, though institutions can serve his cause. He did not organize a political party, though his teachings have a profound impact on politics. Jesus did not even found a religion. No, Jesus began a movement, fueled by his Spirit, a movement whose purpose was and is to change the face of the earth from the nightmare it often is into the dream that God intends….  

There’s no denying it: Jesus began a movement. That’s why his invitations to folk who joined him are filled with so many active verbs. In John 1:39 Jesus calls disciples with the words, “Come and see.” In Matthew, Mark, and Luke, he asks others to “Follow me.” And at the end of the Gospels, he sent his first disciples out with the word, “Go…” As in … “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation” (Mark 16:15).   

In Acts [1:8] he uses even more movement language: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” If you look at the Bible, listen to it, and watch how the Spirit of God unfolds in the sacred story, I think you’ll notice a pattern. You cannot help but notice that there really is a movement of God in the world.  

Curry calls for a revitalization of the Jesus Movement in our time, offering farmer and theologian Clarence Jordan (1912–1969) as a model of courage: 

We need people who will proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ, who will love justice, live mercy, and walk humbly with God, just like Jesus.  

Pastor and biblical scholar Clarence Jordan was one of those people. In 1942, he worked with a team to found Koinonia Farm in Georgia, welcoming people of different races to live and work together, caring for each other and for the land. They called it a “demonstration plot” for the God Movement…. Jordan kept his eye on “the God Movement, the stirring of [God’s] mighty Spirit of love, peace, humility, forgiveness, joy and reconciliation in the hearts of all of us.” [1] 

Jordan once offered wise counsel to a young peace worker named Craig Peters. It is worth repeating today:  

I am increasingly convinced that [Jesus] thought of his messages as not dead-ending in a static institution but as a mighty flow of spirit which would penetrate every nook and cranny of [human] personal and social life…. I really don’t think we can ever renew the church until we stop thinking about it as an institution and start thinking of it as a movement. [2]  

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The Vitality of Movements 

Sunday, January 5, 2025

Father Richard Rohr summarizes a pattern of five stages of change that have taken place in religious and cultural institutions. He calls these stages the “Five M’s”: human, movement, machine, monument, and memory.  

It seems that many great things in history start with a single human being. If a person says something full of life that names reality well, the message often moves to the second stage of becoming a movement. That’s the period of greatest energy. The church is at its greatest vitality as the “Jesus Movement,” and the institution is merely the vehicle for that movement. No single person can ever control the movement itself through any theology, doctrine, or dogma. We cannot control the blowing of the Spirit. The movement stage is always very exciting, creative, and also risky. 

It’s risky because God’s movement in history is larger than any denomination, any culture, or any tradition’s ability to verbalize it. We feel out of control in this stage, and yet why would anybody want it to be anything less? Would we respect and love a God that we could control? Would we really respect a church that presumed it could predict and contain God’s actions? I don’t think so, yet that’s what so much immature religion seems to want—control over God by worshiping and talking about God “correctly.” So, we move rather quickly out and beyond the risky movement stage to the machine stage. This is predictable and understandable, even if unfortunate in some ways. 

The institutional or machine stage of a movement will necessarily be a less-alive manifestation. This isn’t bad, although it’s always surprising for those who see church as an end in itself instead of merely a vehicle for the original vision. When we don’t realize a machine’s limited capacities, we try to make it into something more than it is. We make it a monument, a closed system operating inside of its own, often self-serving, logic. By then, it’s very hard to take risks for God or for gospel values. 

Eventually this monument and its maintenance and self-preservation become ends in themselves. It’s easy just to step on board and worship at a monument without ever knowing why or longing for God ourselves. There’s no hint of knowing that we are chosen and beloved by God, who invites us to an inner journey. In this state, religion is merely an excuse to remain unconscious, holding on to a memory of something that must once have been a great adventure. I’m afraid that Christianity is no longer life itself, but actually a substitute for life or, worse, an avoidance of life. The secret is to know how to keep in touch with the human and movement stages without being naïve about the necessity of some machines and the inevitability of those who love monuments. We must also be honest; all of us love monuments when they are monuments to our human, our movement, or our machine.  

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Sara Young Jesus Calling

Jesus Calling: January 6th, 2025

Jesus Calling: January 6

I am able to do far beyond all that you ask or imagine. Come to Me with positive expectations, knowing that there is no limit to what I can accomplish. Ask My Spirit to control your mind, so that you can think great thoughts of Me. Do not be discouraged by the fact that many of your prayers are yet unanswered. Time is a trainer, teaching you to wait upon Me, to trust Me in the dark. The more extreme your circumstances, the more likely you are to see My Power and Glory at work in the situation. Instead of letting difficulties draw you into worrying, try to view them as setting the scene for My glorious intervention. Keep your eyes and your mind wide open to all that I am doing in your life.

RELATED SCRIPTURE:

Ephesians 3:20-21 NLT
20 Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. 21 Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.

Romans 8:6 NLT

6 So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.

Isaiah 40:30-31 NLT

30 Even youths will become weak and tired,

    and young men will fall in exhaustion.

31 But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.

    They will soar high on wings like eagles.

They will run and not grow weary.

    They will walk and not faint.

Revelation 5:13 NLT

13 And then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea. They sang:

“Blessing and honor and glory and power

    belong to the one sitting on the throne

    and to the Lamb forever and ever.”

A Resistance Position

Friday, January 3, 2025

In this homily based on Matthew 5:13–16, Father Richard explores what Jesus meant by calling us to be salt and light:  

The great temptation of Christianity has always been to think that if we were in control, if we had power, we would “win,” but that’s exactly what Jesus warns us against. In Matthew’s Gospel Jesus tells us to be salt—not the meat, the potatoes, or even the vegetables—just the invisible but very effective salt. Salt is what gives zing and taste to food and Jesus is calling us to be people who give purpose, meaning, and desire to life. If we look at the history of Christianity, whenever we were “in charge,” that’s when we became the most corrupt. Christianity operates best in a resistance position, in a position where we can discern and choose how to be salt, how to be light.  

Likewise, the metaphor of light as Jesus uses it here is not controlling or forceful. As Alcoholics Anonymous says, it’s not moving forward by self-promotion, but by attraction. Just set the light on the lampstand and if it’s good, and if it’s real, and if it’s beautiful, people will come. This is very different than what we expect. We basically think we can only move the world by being in control. Yet both of the images that Jesus offers here warn us against wanting to be in control.  

That is so contrary to our common sense. We think “If only we had the power, if only we had the majority, we could create the kingdom of God,” but it’s never been true. I know from my years of traveling that when Christians are a minority in a country, and they have to choose and decide to be the salt of the earth, to be light on a lampstand, they make a real difference.  

Jesus calls us to give the world taste, meaning, purpose, direction, desire. It’s a humble position, isn’t it? We’d much sooner be in charge. But whenever someone or something has all the power, they mostly misuse power. Jesus warns us against power, because very few people can handle it. Most of us use it for our own aggrandizement, our own promotion and advancement in the ways of the world, which usually means more money and more power.  

Either we learn how to be the salt of the earth, a true alternative to the normal motivations and actions of society, or as Jesus put it very clearly, we might as well throw it out and trample it underfoot. We have to find our inner authority through Christ in us; we have to find our purpose in our love of God and neighbor, and actions of mercy and justice. Otherwise, we’re not offering anything that the world doesn’t already have or can’t find in other places.  

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Sarah Young Jesus Calling

Your needs and My riches are a perfect fit. I never meant for you to be self-sufficient. Instead, I designed you to need Me not only for daily bread but also for fulfillment of deep yearnings. I carefully crafted your longings and feelings of incompleteness, to point you to Me. Therefore, do not try to bury or deny these feelings. Beware also of trying to pacify these longings with lesser gods: people, possessions, power.
     Come to Me in all your neediness, with defenses down and with desire to be blessed. As you spend time in My Presence, your deepest longings are fulfilled. Rejoice in your neediness, which enables you to find intimate completion in Me.

RELATED SCRIPTURE:

Philippians 4:19 (NLT)
19 And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.

Additional insight regarding Philippians 4:19: We can trust that God will always meet our needs. Whatever we need on earth he will always supply, even if it is the courage to face death as Paul did. Whatever we need in Heaven he will supply. We must remember, however, the difference between our wants and our needs. Most people want to feel good and avoid discomfort or pain. We may not get all that we want. By trusting in Christ, our attitudes and appetites can change from wanting everything to accepting his provision and power to live for him.

Colossians 3:2-3 (NLT)
2 Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. 3 For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.

Being a Light for Others

Thursday, January 2, 2025

Jewish New Testament scholar Amy-Jill Levine focuses on Jesus’ exhortation to his disciples to be the “light of the world”:  

Just as salt is necessary for life, so is light. Without light, we have no plants, no warmth, no beacons. Next, just as salt can become so diluted that it loses its intrinsic character as salt, so darkness, as the Gospel of John puts it, seeks to overcome the light (John 1:5). “This little light of mine” can shine, but it can also be snuffed out. Thus light, too, is a precious commodity that must be preserved. And just as too much salt can kill, too much light can blind. Effective light does not call attention to itself; rather, it lights up the world….  

For the disciples, Jesus is the light of the world. Yet as he states in John 9:5, he is the light “as long as I am in the world.” The disciples therefore take up his role: acting as he instructs them.… They too can be the light of the world…. 

Once the disciples recognize that they are light, they also recognize that their role is to shine so that others can find their way. Jesus knows that, just as salt can lose its intrinsic identity, light can be hoarded and fail to fulfill its proper function. He states first the obvious: “A city built on a hill cannot be hid” (Matthew 5:14). His followers are to become like that city: a refuge, a home, a place where there is salt and light, love and compassion….   

That light cannot be restricted to the house church (or any church building or community), as the city metaphor indicates. To be the light of the world is to shine … in any place where there is loneliness or despair, sickness or pain. Even in times and places, still today, when the church has had literally to go underground, it cannot be hid since it is known for its good deeds. 

Jesus’ call to be salt and light impacts the choices we make:  

If we think of a church as a house, as a home where family and friends gather, we get a different image than if we think of a place to be visited maybe for an hour on Sunday. And if we think of our homes as the place where our light shines, we are more likely to be patient with the children or with those whose minds have reverted to childhood; we are more likely to find that light within ourselves as we go through the day.… 

Any faith that does not manifest itself in works is not faith; it is complacency and self-satisfaction. It is not salt, because it contributes nothing to the earth. It is not light, since its shining is only for self-reflection. Disciples are to glorify God by being their true selves: salt and light; existing for others rather than for only themselves.   

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Sara Young Jesus Calling

Jesus Calling: January 2nd, 2025

Jesus Calling: January 2

Relax in My Healing Presence. As you spend time with Me, your thoughts tend to jump ahead to today’s plans and problems. Bring your mind back to Me for refreshment and renewal. Let the Light of My Presence soak into you, as you focus your thoughts on Me. Thus I equip you to face whatever the day brings. This sacrifice of time pleases Me and strengthens you. Do not skimp on our time together. Resist the clamor of tasks waiting to be done. You have chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from you. 

RELATED SCRIPTURE: 

Psalms 105:4 (NLT)

Search for the LORD and for his strength; continually seek him.

Luke 10:42 (NLT)

There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Additional insight regarding Luke 10:38-42: Mary and Martha both loved Jesus. On this occasion, they were both serving him. But Martha thought Mary’s style of serving was inferior to hers. She didn’t realize that in her desire to serve, she was actually neglecting her guest. Are you so busy doing things for Jesus that you’re not spending any time with him? Don’t let your service become self-serving. Jesus did not blame Martha for being concerned about household chores. He was only asking her to set priorities. Service to Christ can degenerate into mere busy work that is totally devoid of devotion to God.

A Free Gospel and Free People

Wednesday, January 1, 2025

New Year’s Day 

Richard Rohr expresses the liberation the gospel offers when freed from our cultural and religious expectations:  

Without God’s definition of freedom, we will continue to use the gospel as if it were a product that can be bought, sold, imposed, or attained. The gospel is not a competing ideology that’s threatened by anything outside itself. It is the light of the world that illuminates the whole household; it is the yeast and not the whole loaf; it is the salt that gives flavor and nutrition to the much larger meal (see Matthew 5:13–15, 13:33).  

Once we can accept that Jesus has given us an illuminating lens by which to see and measure all things, we can no longer treat Christianity as a threat—or allow it to be a threat—to human or cultural freedom. In fact, it is true freedom’s greatest ally. The gospel is a process much more than a product, a style more than a structure, a person more than a production. It is a way of being in the world that will always feel like compassion, mercy, and spaciousness—at least to honest and healthy people.  

The gospel stands against death; it equally critiques every culture, and is identical with no culture or institution, even the church. As John’s Gospel states so poetically, the Spirit blows where it will (see John 3:8). How different and healing Western history could have been if we had received such gospel freedom and modeled it for others! 

Jesus has not come to impose Christendom like an imperial system. The gospel flourishes in the realm of true freedom. I don’t think Jesus ever expected the whole world would become formally Christian, but I do believe that his truth about right relationship, his proclamation of the power of powerlessness, is the message that will save the world from self-destruction and for an eternal truth. This is how Jesus is the “Savior of the World.” He does it by choosing a minority position, entering Jerusalem on a donkey.  

Jesus has a different understanding of personal freedom. Freedom is not the capacity to be what we are not, but the capacity to be fully who we already are, to develop our inherent selves as much as divine time and circumstances allow. The perfect and full freedom of a fig tree is to become a perfect and full fig tree. Thus, Jesus curses one that does not (see Matthew 21:19). Many of us are like sick or dead fig trees, but with happy faces painted on our anemic fruit shouting, “But I’m free!” Our addictive society will do what it wants to do, but the freedom offered by all great spiritual traditions is quite different: spiritual and true freedom is wanting to do what we have to do to become who we are.

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Sarah Young Jesus Calling

Jesus Calling: January 1st, 2025

Jesus Calling: January 1st

Come to Me with a teachable spirit, eager to be changed. A close walk with Me is a life of continual newness. Do not cling to old ways as you step into a new year. Instead, seek My Face with an open mind, knowing that your journey with Me involves being transformed by the renewing of your mind. As you focus your thoughts on Me, be aware that I am fully attentive to you. I see you with a steady eye, because My attention span is infinite. I know and understand you completely; My thoughts embrace you in everlasting Love. I also know the plans I have for you: plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Give yourself fully to this adventure of increasing attentiveness to My Presence. 

RELATED SCRIPTURE:

Romans 12:2 NLT

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Jeremiah 29:11 NLT

For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

Spiritual writer Debie Thomas considers the significance of salt to Jesus’ first listeners:  

Until fairly recently in human history, salt was one of the most sought after commodities. The ancients believed that salt would ward off evil spirits. Religious covenants were often sealed with salt. Salt was used for medicinal purposes, to disinfect wounds, check bleeding, stimulate thirst, and treat skin diseases…. When Jesus calls his listeners “the salt of the earth,” he is saying something profound, something easy to miss in our twenty-first century context.  

First of all, he is telling us who we are. We are salt. We are not “supposed to be” salt, or “encouraged to become” salt, or promised that “if we become” salt, God will love us more. The language Jesus uses is 100 percent descriptive; it’s a statement of our identity. We are the salt of the earth. We are that which enhances or embitters, soothes or irritates, melts or stings, preserves or ruins. For better or for worse, we are the salt of the earth, and what we do with our saltiness matters. It matters a lot. Whether we want to or not, whether we notice or not, whether we’re intentional about it or not, we impact the world we live in.  

Thomas describes the impact of salt on all that it touches.  

Salt doesn’t exist to preserve itself; it exists to preserve what is not itself…. Salt is meant to enhance, not dominate. Christian saltiness heals; it doesn’t wound. It purifies; it doesn’t desiccate. It softens; it doesn’t destroy….  

One of the great tragedies of historic Christianity has been its failure to understand this distinction. Salt fails when it dominates. Instead of eliciting goodness, it destroys the rich potential all around it. Salt poured out without discretion leaves a burnt, bitter sensation in its wake. It ruins what it tries to enhance. It repels.  

This, unfortunately, is the reputation Christianity has these days. We are known as the salt that exacerbates wounds, irritates souls, and ruins goodness. We are considered arrogant, domineering, obnoxious, and uninterested in enhancing anything but ourselves. We are known for hoarding our power, not for giving it away. We are known for shaming, not blessing. We are known for using our words to burn, not heal.  

This is not what Jesus intends when he calls us the salt of the earth…. Salt at its best sustains and enriches life. It pours itself out with discretion so that God’s kingdom might be known on the earth—a kingdom of spice and zest, a kingdom of health and wholeness, a kingdom of varied depth, flavor, and complexity.  

In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus makes concrete the work of love, compassion, healing, and justice. It’s not enough to believe. It’s not enough to bask in our blessedness while creation burns. To be blessed, to be salt, to be followers of Jesus, is to take seriously what our identity signifies.

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The Idol of Dreams: Wish Upon a Star

Click Here for Audio To pass the time on a 15-hour flight to Asia, and to distract myself from the cramped confines of my economy seat, I watched a lot of movies, including Disney’s Ralph Breaks the Internet—the sequel to Wreck-It Ralph. Ralph, a character from a vintage arcade game, and his best friend Vanellope von Schweetz, a princess from a kids’ racing game called Sugar Rush, find themselves in the new world of the internet.  When Vanellope discovers a mature game online called Slaughter Race—think Grand Theft Auto—she dreams of leaving her childish arcade game to race with the big-shots. Joining Slaughter Race, however, would mean leaving Ralph and their humble life at the arcade. The film is about choosing between fidelity to your friends or dedication to your dreams. Spoiler alert: Vanellope chooses her dreams, and Ralph learns—along with the audience—that it’s not only okay but right to put your dreams ahead of your relationships.The central message of Ralph Breaks the Internet is one that Hollywood spews ad nauseam: “Follow your dreams at all costs.” It’s a message that goes largely unchallenged by our culture. We’ve come to believe that we are defined by our dreams and anything sacrificed in pursuit of them—relationships, family, commitments, integrity, morality—is excusable.  Maybe we don’t resist these messages because we’ve absorbed the deification of dreams from our very earliest memories. After all, no one has distilled and disseminated our culture’s idolatry of dreams more than Disney: “When you wish upon a star, Makes no difference who you are,Anything your heart desires will come to you.”  When this message goes unchallenged, it’s very easy to carry it into our faith. Merely substitute “Pray to Jesus” for “Wish upon a star” and you have the formula for much of American Christianity.  As we explore the idol of dreams, and how many religious communities misread Scripture to make God into a tool we employ in pursuit of our dreams, begin by thinking about the films or television shows you’ve watched recently. How was the “Follow your dreams” message subtly or overtly communicated? What is good—and what might be dangerous—about that message? DAILY SCRIPTURE ACTS 8:9–24 JEREMIAH 23:16–22 WEEKLY PRAYER. Thomas à Kempis (1380–1471) O most gracious God, enlighten our minds that we may know you, and let us not be unfruitful in that knowledge. Lord, work in our hearts a true faith, a purifying hope, and an unfeigned love for you. Give us full trust in you, zeal for you, reverence of all things that relate to you. Make us fearful to offend you, thankful for your mercies, humble under your corrections, devout in your service, and sorrowful for our sins. Help us, O Lord, to act towards our neighbor that we may never transgress your royal law, of loving him as ourselves. Finally, O Lord, sanctify us throughout, that our whole spirit, soul, and body, may be preserved blameless until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ; to whom with you and the Holy Spirit be all honor and glory forever. Amen.

Monday, December 30, 2024

Brian McLaren welcomes us to this year’s Daily Meditations theme: Being Salt and Light: 

In 2024 with the theme “Radical Resilience,” we considered how we could bounce back from setbacks and remain strong in difficult times. In 2025, we’d like to go beyond just surviving difficult times. We’d like to focus on being a presence in this world that radiates and flavors the world with divine love, a warm and healing presence to a world that is dealing with so much. “Being Salt and Light” will be our theme for the Daily Meditations in 2025. It’s a contemplative way of seeing the world that leads to an active way of being in the world as a warm and loving presence, radiant with the light of love and truth, salty with justice and compassion, flavorful as salt that preserves and enhances all that is good in the world. [1] 

Father Richard Rohr reflects on what it means to live as “salt of the earth”:  

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says that those who live the Beatitudes will be “the salt of the earth” (Matthew 5:13). What does he mean by such an image?  

First of all, he’s not saying that those who live this way are going to heaven. He is saying that they will be a certain kind of gift for the earth. What a misinterpretation has been handed on, again and again! We think of Jesus’ teaching as a set of prescriptions for getting to heaven (even though we haven’t followed them.) No, the Sermon on the Mount and especially the Beatitudes are a set of descriptions of a free life. 

When we can weep, when we can identify with the little ones, when we can make peace, when we can be persecuted and still be joyful—then we are doing it right. He’s saying this is what holiness will look like. When we act this way, “the reign of God is among you” (Luke 17:21).  

“If salt becomes tasteless, how can we salt the world with it?” asks Jesus. That message seems especially true today. If we no longer believe the gospel, if we no longer believe in nonviolence and powerlessness, then who’s going to convert us? We’re supposed to be the leaven of the world, yet if we no longer believe in the gospel, what hope do we have of offering anything new to anyone else?  

By calling his disciples “salt of the earth,” Jesus isn’t saying they’re the saved ones. He never tries to create a “members-only” club. Jesus consistently says that God loves those on the outside just as much as God loves the supposed insiders; that there’s just as much mercy out there as in here among Jesus’ closest followers. In fact, there are no insiders or outsiders! Jesus calls us to creative self-criticism and gives us the capacity for self-regeneration. As long as some people hold on to the upside-down wisdom of the gospel, it will be enough to flavor the whole meal of life.  

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Being Salt and Light

Sunday, December 29, 2024

CAC Dean of Faculty Brian McLaren shares the inspiration for the 2025 Daily Meditations theme, Being Salt and Light:   

When I was a teenager, the idea of religion making you different was not a new idea to me. Unfortunately, in my experience, religion made you different in an odd, outdated, and maybe even harsh and judgmental way. To be a Christian was to hold yourself above and apart from secular people and people of other faiths…. But one of my spiritual mentors, Rod, said something very different: Most of your fellow students are trying their hardest to be cool, but you can choose a different goal. You can make it your ambition to be warm—a warm and loving presence in the world as Jesus was. Rod believed that our calling was to be joyfully in the world in deep solidarity with our neighbors, loving them as equals rather than considering ourselves holier than thou and therefore better than them. Rather than judging them or evaluating them for where they fit on our scales or standards, Rod recommended that we compassionately understand every person we encounter, approaching everyone, no exceptions, with empathy. 

Of course, Rod was just echoing what Jesus said in the most intense, concentrated example of his public teaching we call the Sermon on the Mount (see Matthew 5:1–12). The sermon begins with a set of sayings that begin with “Blessed are …”. Most people interpret these statements as a way of saying, God blesses these people to the exclusion of others.  

I’ve come to understand the Beatitudes as a way of saying something very different. The Beatitudes say, We, in this new movement, bless the very people who are usually excluded. Jesus says, In this movement, we bless the poor and the poor in spirit. We bless those who mourn, we bless the meek or gentle, we bless those who hunger and thirst for justice. We bless the merciful and the pure in heart. We bless the peacemakers and those who are persecuted for standing up for justice. And then Jesus continues: We see the world differently because we bless people who are usually forgotten, despised, or excluded. That different way of seeing the world leads to a different way of being in the world. Here are Jesus’ exact words to describe this: 

You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything but is thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. People do not light a lamp and put it under a bushel basket; rather, they put it on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven (Matthew 5:13–16).  

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Sarah Young; Jesus Calling: December 30

I am Leading You along a way that is uniquely right for you. The closer to Me you grow, the more fully you become your true self–the one I designed you to be. Because you are one of a kind, the path you are traveling with Me diverges increasingly from that of other people. However, in My mysterious wisdom and ways, I enable you to follow this solitary path while staying in close contact with others. In fact, the more completely you devote yourself to Me, the more freely you can love people.
     Marvel at the beauty of a life intertwined with My Presence. Rejoice as we journey together in intimate communion. Enjoy the adventure of finding yourself through losing yourself in Me.

RELATED SCRIPTURE:

2nd Corinthians 5:17 (NLT)
17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

Ephesians 2:10 (NLT)
10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

1st John 4:7-8 (NLT)
Loving One Another
7 Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. 8 But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

John 15:4 (NLT)
4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.

The Divine in This and in Us

Friday, December 27, 2024

Father Richard identifies God’s presence with us—right here, right now—in an embodied way.  

Most religious people I’ve met—from sincere laypeople to priests and nuns—still imagine God to be elsewhere. Before we can take the “now” seriously, we must shift from thinking of God as “out there” to also knowing God “in here.” In fact, here is the best access point! Only inner experience can bring healing to the human-divine split.  

Transformation comes by realizing our union with God right here, right now—regardless of any performance or achievement on our part. That’s the core meaning of grace, and we have to know this for ourselves. No one can do this knowing for us. I could say as many times as I want that God is not elsewhere and heaven is not later, but until someone comes to personally and regularly experience that, they will not believe it. 

Authentic Christianity overcame the “God-is-elsewhere” idea in at least two major and foundational ways. Through the incarnation, God in Jesus became flesh; God visibly moved in with the material world to help us overcome the illusion of separation (John 1:14). Secondly, God as Holy Spirit is precisely known as an indwelling and vitalizing presence. By itself, intellectual assent to these two truths does little. The incarnation and Indwelling Spirit are known only through participation and practice, as we actively draw upon such Infinite Sources. Think of it as a “use it or lose it” situation! 

Good theology helps us know that we can fully trust the “now” because of the incarnation and the Spirit within us. I hope it doesn’t shock anyone to hear me say this: it’s like making love. We can’t be fully intimate with someone through vague, amorphous energy; we need close, concrete, particular connections. That’s how our human brains are wired. 

Jesus teaches and is himself a message of now-ness, here-ness, concreteness, and this-ness. Virtually the only time Jesus talks about future time is when he tells us not to worry about it (see Matthew 6:25–34). Don’t worry about times and seasons, don’t worry about when God will return, don’t worry about tomorrow. Thinking about the future keeps us in our heads, far from presence—with God, with ourselves, and with each other. Jesus talks about the past in terms of forgiving it. Jesus tells us to hand the past over to the mercy and action of God. [1] 

The full and participatory meaning of Christmas is that this one universal mystery of divine incarnation is also intended for us and continues in us! It is not just about trusting the truth of the body of Jesus, but trusting its extension through the ongoing Body of Christ—which is an even bigger act of faith, hope, and love and which alone has the power to change history, society, and all relationships. To only hold a mental belief in Jesus as the “Child of God” has little or no effect in the real world. [2] 

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Skye Jethani

Dec 27, 2024
The Idol of Status: Choosing Humility

I first encountered the writings of Henri Nouwen as a college student in the mid-1990s. Up to that time, my vision of the Christian life had been deeply formed and influenced by American culture. This meant my faith was an odd amalgamation of the Bible and American values like individualism, consumerism, and entrepreneurialism. For this reason, I assumed God called every Christian to a life of ever-increasing influence and impact, and those Christians who achieved the most for God were to be most celebrated. That is how status was measured in the American Christian subculture.

Then the voice of a Dutch Roman Catholic priest entered my world and quietly began to dismantle those assumptions. Henri Nouwen was unlike any Christian leader I had encountered before. He was not dynamic in his speaking, evangelical in his theology, or entrepreneurial in his ministry like the mega-pastors that dominated the 1990s, and Nouwen spoke far more about intimacy with God than impacting the world for him.

Beyond his very unfamiliar way—at least to me—of framing the Christian life, I was inspired by Nouwen’s own story. Despite his focus on the inner life of the soul, Nouwen lived with deep insecurities and an insatiable need for approval—shortcomings he acknowledged and wrote about transparently. He struggled with depression and anxiety, and while his drive for significance landed him a professorship at Harvard University, the cost to his health nearly killed him. Nouwen was a paradox; a living contradiction—and therefore a Christian mentor I could relate with.

But what caught my imagination most was Nouwen’s decision to abandon his post at Harvard at the height of his success and influence. Rather than represent the way of Jesus at the very top of the ivory tower, he became a pastor and caregiver at L’Arche, a home for mentally disabled adults. By moving from Harvard to L’Arche, Nouwen willingly left everything the world esteems to be counted among those the world ignores. His life of downward mobility not only contradicted the popular American narrative of success, influence, and ever-increasing impact, it also confronted my immature assumption that God always calls us to more power and more influence, and never less. Nouwen both exposed and denounced my idol of status.

It’s appropriate to reflect on Henri Nouwen’s story this week because it so obviously parallels Jesus’ story. The incarnation is about downward mobility, of Jesus’ choice to exchange the glories of divinity for the obscurities of humanity, ultimately accepting the indignities of the cross. Like Nouwen, Christmas reminds us that God’s kingdom is more easily discovered among those at the bottom, and is often rejected by those at the top. And the incarnation confronts our American values of “more,” “greater,” and “bigger,” by reminding us that the way of Jesus is about the status we surrender not the status we achieve.

DAILY SCRIPTURE

Philippians 2:5-11
John 1:1-14

WEEKLY PRAYER

Soren Kierkegaard (1813–1855)

O Lord Jesus Christ, I long to live in your presence, to see your human form and to watch you walking on earth. I do not want to see you through the darkened glass of tradition, nor through the eyes of today’s values and prejudices. I want to see you as you were, as you are, and as you always will be. I want to see you as an offense to human pride, as a man of humility, walking amongst the lowliest of men, and yet as the savior and redeemer of the human race.
Amen.