Public theologian Rachel Held Evans (1981–2021) recounts the many ways Jesus talked about the reign of God: 

Jesus didn’t talk much about the church, but he talked a lot about the kingdom….

In contrast to every other kingdom that has been and ever will be, this kingdom belongs to the poor, Jesus said, and to the peacemakers, the merciful, and those who hunger and thirst for God. In this kingdom, the people from the margins and the bottom rungs will be lifted up to places of honor, seated at the best spots at the table. This kingdom knows no geographic boundaries, no political parties, no single language or culture. It advances not through power and might, but through acts of love and joy and peace, missions of mercy and kindness and humility. This kingdom has arrived, not with a trumpet’s sound but with a baby’s cries, not with the vanquishing of enemies but with the forgiving of them, not on the back of a warhorse but on the back of a donkey, not with triumph and a conquest but with a death and a resurrection….

When we consider all the messes the church has made throughout history, all the havoc she has wreaked and the things she has destroyed, when we face up to just how different the church looks from the kingdom most of the time, it’s easy to think maybe Jesus left us with a raw deal. Maybe he pulled a bait and switch, selling us on the kingdom and then slipping us the church. 

Evans names how the church is called to manifest the kingdom of God:  

This word for church, ekklesia, was used at the time of Jesus to refer… to the people of God, assembled together. So church is, essentially, a gathering of kingdom citizens, called out—from their individuality, from their sins, from their old ways of doing things, from the world’s way of doing things—into participation in this new kingdom and community with one another….

The purpose of the church, and of the sacraments, is to give the world a glimpse of the kingdom, to point in its direction…. 

In this sense, church gives us the chance to riff on Jesus’ description of the kingdom, to add a few new metaphors of our own. We might say the kingdom is like St. Lydia’s in Brooklyn where strangers come together and remember Jesus when they eat. The kingdom is like the Refuge in Denver, where addicts and academics, single moms and suburban housewives come together to tell each other the truth. The kingdom is like Thistle Farms where women heal from abuse by helping to heal others….

And even still, the kingdom remains a mystery just beyond our grasp…. All we have are almosts and not quites and wayside shrines. All we have are imperfect people in an imperfect world doing their best to produce outward signs of inward grace and stumbling all along the way.  

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5 For Friday John Chaffee

1.
“Thinking is difficult, that’s why most people judge.”

• Carl Jung, Swiss Psychologist
   
  Holding two, opposing truths at the same time is not easy.  Paradox is not something that ordinary logic and rationality can comprehend or control.  This is especially true when we consider one another.  It is possible for me to both be kind and a jerk within the same day.  Which one is true?  Both.  The internal tension we feel around paradoxes can be so great that we dismiss reality and make broad-stroke assumptions about the world to do away with the complexity.

Lord, have mercy.  Help us to live in the tension rather than judge one another.

2.
“I really only love God as much as I love the person I love the least.”

• Dorothy Day, Founder of the Catholic Worker
   
  This quote frequently pops up in my mind.  Teresa of Avila also says that it is impossible to know if we love God, but that our love for God is best examined/qualified by how we love people around us.  It is entirely possible that Dorothy Day knew the works of Teresa of Avila but for now, let us ask who we love the least, and what we can do to rectify that.

3.
“Don’t just teach your children to read. Teach them to question what they read. Teach them to question everything. The value of an education is not the learning of many facts but the training of the mind to think.”

• George Carlin, American Comedian
   
  This may be controversial, but I never found George Carlin as particularly funny.  Every one of his standup specials, while crude, I felt as though was the work of a philosopher who was looking to deeply examine everything.

Education for the purpose of “copying and pasting” information from one source into the mind of a student is not education.  I agree with Carlin that proper education invites people to be formed into fully autonomous and independent thinkers.

4.
“Those persons prove themselves senseless who exaggerate the mercy of Christ, but are silent as to the judgment.”

• Irenaeus, Against Heresies Book IV
   
  Whenever I have conversations with people about the “restoration, reconciliation, renewal of all things in Christ”, they tend to bring up the same objections.  Often, they push back because they believe that the reconciliation of all things means no accountability for anyone.

In response, I bring up how the early Patristics taught that within God’s final plan, there is both full accountability and full amnesty.  The paradox of both of those things being true is distressing to our dualistic and either/or understanding of the world.  On the other hand, I believe that Divine Love is capable of making the paradox true.

Irenaeus, with the quote above, is trying to correct a misconception that some people believe in the absolute mercy of God but have little ability to understand, let alone continue to preach, the judgment of God.  For myself, once I allowed myself to submit to the possibility that within God there is unavoidable grace and unavoidable judgment, then the Bible began to make more sense.

After all, it is not that God’s mercy conflicts with God’s judgment, it is that it is God’s judgment to be merciful to all (Romans 11:32).

5.
“The entire cosmos is one vast burning bush, permeated by the fire of the divine glory and power.”

• Kallistos Ware, Eastern Orthodox Theologian
   
  A few years ago, I was fixated on the story of Exodus 3.  It is the famous chapter in which the shepherd Moses inadvertently runs into a burning bush.  From within the bush, God called out to him and gave him the divine task of setting the Israelites free.

What I enjoy most about Exodus 3 is that it is the reversal of everything that happened in Genesis 3.

In Genesis 3, God is out walking in the wilderness (Eden) while humanity is hidden in a bush.  God asks a question and humanity replies.  Meanwhile, in Exodus 3, humanity is out walking in the wilderness, while the Divine is hidden in a bush.  Humanity asks a question and the Divine answers.

There is even more Hebrew brilliance to these two corresponding passages, but for now, let us take the story to infer that God is hiding everywhere within nature and waiting for us to give a second and deep enough look to find him.  Perhaps this is the truth of what happens whenever we spend time near rivers, mountains, shores, plains, or beneath starry skies.  God is ever-present within our physical realm.

Richard Rohr emphasizes how community is at the heart of the reign of God:  

The world has suffered much from the various forms of Christian colonialism. Yet the reign of God is an alternative to domination systems and all “isms.” Jesus teaches that right relationship (that is, love) is the ultimate and daily criterion. If a social order allows and encourages strong connectedness between people and creation, people and each other, people and God, then we have a truly sacred culture: the reign of God. It wouldn’t be a world without pain or mystery, but simply a world where we are connected and in communion with all things.  

God’s reign is about union and communion, which means that it’s also about mercy, forgiveness, nonviolence, letting go, solidarity, service, and lives of love, patience, and simplicity. Who can doubt that this is the sum and substance of Jesus’ teaching? In the reign of God, the very motives for rivalry, greed, and violence have been destroyed. We know we’re all part of God’s beloved community. [1] 

Palestinian Anglican priest Naim Ateek emphasizes Jesus’ call to community and peacemaking: 

Jesus called into community a small group of people. They were his disciples and friends. He taught them the essence of faith—the love of God and the love of neighbor—and he became a role model to them. When they asked him to teach them to pray, he taught them to pray for the coming of God’s kingdom: “Your kingdom come, your will be done.” If you want to be children of God, he said, you need to be engaged in peacemaking; if you want to imitate God and be God’s children, you have to love your enemies and to pray for those that persecute you. If you want to resist evil, do not use evil methods. You have to practice forgiveness and reconciliation. You must be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. [2] 

Father Richard continues: 

Every description Jesus offers of God’s reign—of love, relationship, non-judgment, and forgiveness, where the last shall be first and the first shall be last—shows that any imposition on God’s side is an impossibility! Wherever we’ve tried to force Christianity on people, the long-term results have been disastrous. The gospel flourishes in the realm of true freedom.  

But it’s a freedom we must choose for ourselves. It is almost impossible to turn away from what seems like the only game in town (political, economic, or religious), unless we have glimpsed a more attractive alternative. It’s hard to imagine it, much less imitate it, unless we see someone else do it first. Jesus is that icon of the more attractive alternative, a living parable. Jesus has forever changed our human imagination, and we are now both burdened and gladdened by new possibility. There is good news to counter the deadening bad news, but we first have to be turned away from a conventional way of understanding. [3] 

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Sarah Young Jesus Calling

Expect to encounter adversity in your life, remembering that you live in a deeply fallen world. Stop trying to find a way that circumvents difficulties. The main problem with an easy life is that it masks your need for Me. When you became a Christian, I infused My very Life into you, empowering you to live on a supernatural plane by depending on Me.
     Anticipate coming face to face with impossibilities: situations totally beyond your ability to handle. This awareness of your inadequacy is not something you should try to evade. It is precisely where I want you – the best place to encounter Me in My Glory and Power. When you see armies of problems marching toward you, cry out to Me! Allow Me to fight for you. Watch Me working on your behalf, as you rest in the shadow of My Almighty Presence.

RELATED SCRIPTURE:

Revelation 19:1 (NLT)
Songs of Victory in Heaven
1 After this, I heard what sounded like a vast crowd in heaven shouting,
“Praise the Lord!
    Salvation and glory and power belong to our God.”

Additional insight regarding Revelation 19:1: Praise is the heartfelt response to God by those who love him. The more you get to know God and realize what he has done, the more you will respond with praise. Praise is at the heart of true worship. Let your praise of God flow out of your realization of who he is and how much he loves you.

Psalm 91:1 (NLT)
1 Those who live in the shelter of the Most High
    will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

Additional insight regarding Psalm 91:1: God is a shelter, a refuge when we are afraid. The writer’s faith in God as protector would carry him through all the dangers and fears of life. This should be a picture of our trust – trading all our fears for faith in him, no matter how intense our fears. To do this we must “live” and “rest” with him. By entrusting ourselves to his protection and pledging our daily devotion to him, we will be kept safe.

Theologian Dorothee Sölle (1929–2003) understood God’s kingdom as good news for women and all oppressed people.  

The Jesus movement was a group of female and male friends who followed the little man from Nazareth. Many had no fixed dwelling and had abandoned their traditional family bonds…. We can best imagine these conditions if we think of the vast [barrios] of Latin America, for example, where the poorest of the poor are women. When the New Testament speaks on almost every page about the sick, we must think here of sick women, blind, paralyzed, and seared by misery. Many were psychically sick, or possessed by demons, as the New Testament says. The Jesus movement offered hope for these sufferers. They were healed and began to heal others. They heard the good news of liberation and passed it on. They were filled, and they shared the little they had.  

The Jesus movement lived in conflict with its society. Jesus expected the reversal of all social oppositions through God’s intervention, and this expectation—“the kingdom of God is at hand”—characterized the movement. All those who were outsiders according to the norms of society and held to be “impure” according to the law—the poor, the landless, public sinners, tax collectors, and women—were accepted here. “The last will be first” [Matthew 20:16] is a keynote permeating the whole message of Jesus. [1] 

James Cone (1938–2018) relates Jesus’ vision of God’s liberating kingdom to the experience of Black enslavement: 

In their encounter with Jesus Christ, black slaves received a “vision from on high” wherein they were given a new knowledge of their personhood, which enabled them to fight for the creation of a world defined by black affirmations. Their hope sprang from the actual presence of Jesus, breaking into their broken existence, and bestowing upon them a foretaste of God’s promised freedom. They could fight against slavery and not give up in despair, because they believed that their earthly struggle was a preparation for the time when they would “cross over Jordan” and “walk in Jerusalem just like John.” They were willing to “bear heavy burdens,” “climb high mountains,” and “stand hard trials,” because they were “trying to get home.” Home was the “not yet,” the other world that was not like this one. Jesus was the divine coming One who would take them to the “bright mansions above.”…  

For many black slaves, Jesus became the decisive Other in their lives who provided for them a knowledge of themselves, not derived from the value system of slave masters. How could black slaves know that they were human beings when they were treated like cattle?… [Or] that they had a value that could not be defined by dollars and cents, when the symbol of the auction block was an ever present reality? Only because they knew that Christ was present with them and that his presence included the divine promise to come again and to take them to the “New Jerusalem.” [2]  

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Jesus Calling Sarah Young

Trust Me in the depths of your being. It is there that I live in constant communication with you. When you feel flustered and frazzled on the outside, do not get upset with yourself. You are only human, and the swirl of events going on all around you will sometimes feel overwhelming. Rather than scolding yourself for your humanness, remind yourself that I am both with you and within you.
     I am with you at all times, encouraging and supportive rather than condemning. I know that deep within you, where I live, My Peace is your continual experience. Slow down your pace of living for a time. Quiet your mind in My Presence. Then you will be able to hear Me bestowing the resurrection blessing: Peace be with you.

RELATED SCRIPTURE:

Colossians 1:27 (NLT)
27 For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory.

Additional insight regarding Colossians 1:26-27: Through Christ, God’s “message” was made open to all. God’s secret plan is “Christ lives in you” – God planned to have his Son, Jesus Christ, live in the hearts of all who believe in him – even Gentiles like the Colossians. Do you know Christ? He is not hidden if you will come to him.

Matthew 28:20 (NLT)
20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Additional insight regarding Matthew 28:20: How is Jesus “with” us? Jesus was with the disciples physically until he ascended into Heaven and then spiritually through the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:4). The Holy Spirit would be Jesus’ presence that would never leave them (John 14:26 – “But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.”). Jesus continues to be with us today through his Spirit.

John 20:19 (NLT)
Jesus Appears to His Disciples
19 That Sunday evening the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them! “Peace be with you,” he said.

A Gracious Weed

Richard Rohr describes the reign of God as an alternative way of relating:  

When Jesus talked about the reign of God, he was talking about an utterly different way of relating with one another than human society as we know it. The new world order—the reign of God—is the heart of the Christian Scriptures.  

The kingdom is Jesus’ message. He never describes it conceptually; he walks around it and keeps giving images of the Real. This is the classic pattern of the spiritual teacher. Only those ready and seeking will normally understand. 

For example, “The reign of heaven is like a mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the biggest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air can come and shelter in its branches” (Matthew 13:31–32). The mustard seed is very small and insignificant. Pliny the Elder, a contemporary of Jesus, writes only two things about the mustard plant: It’s medicinal, so it did have some value. But he said not to plant it because it tends to take over the entire garden. It is a weed that cannot be stopped.  

Those would have been the two images on which Jesus was clearly building. He teaches: What I’m describing for you is therapeutic—it’s life, it’s healing, it’s medicinal—but it’s like a weed. I’m planting a weed in the world. What a shocking image! Jesus talks about strange things like nonviolence and living a simple life by saying they’re planted and they’re going to take over the whole garden; the old world is over. 

That’s Jesus’ hope, but we have to witness what patient hope that is. He didn’t see it happen in his lifetime, when religion was highly corrupt and most people were poor, oppressed, or enslaved. Yet still, in the midst of that, he dared to announce the present reign of God! He dared to promise, “You can live the new reality right now.”  

The word for that way of living in the in-between times is faith. Let’s get rid of every thought of faith as belief, as prosperity, or as a set of rules or moral guidelines. Those are fine, but they’re not what Jesus is talking about. He’s talking about the grace and the freedom to live God’s dream for the world now—while not rejecting the world as it is. That’s a mighty tension, one that is not easily resolved.  

Remember this: There are always two worlds. The world as it operates is power; the world as it should be is love. The secret of kingdom life is how we can live in both—simultaneously. The world as it is will always be built on power, ego, and success. Yet we also must keep our eyes intently on the world as it should be—what Jesus calls the reign of God. 

A Symbol is Never Just a Symbol

Click Here for Audio I do not understand Christians who dismiss the Lord’s table as “just a symbol.” A symbol by definition points to or represents something more than what it is. For example, if an American flag were not a symbol it would merely be a red, white, and blue cloth, but because it is a symbol it carries powerful and emotional meaning for millions of people. Being a symbol makes something more important not less. The same is true for Christ’s table.During the Passover meal with his disciples, Jesus said the cup of wine represented “the new covenant in my blood.” He was elevating the meal as a new covenant symbol—a concept that would have been familiar to his Jewish followers. Throughout the Old Testament, God’s relationship with his people developed through a series of covenants—agreements and promises—and each one was marked with a symbol related to the nature of the covenant itself. After the flood, for example, the Lord promised never to destroy the world again with water, and he used a rainbow as a sign of this covenant. Later, he promised Abraham, who was old and had no children, that he would have descendants beyond count. This covenant was symbolized by circumcision—a mark on the part of the body necessary for reproduction. And when God rescued his people from slavery and gave them his law, he instructed them to rest one day every week. The Sabbath, according to Deuteronomy 5:15, was a symbol so the people would remember how the Lord rescued them from the brutality of slavery. Egyptian slaves, after all, never got a day off from work.In each case, the covenant symbol was directly related to the nature of the covenant itself, and each symbol pointed to something powerful about God’s relationship with his people. Rainbows/flood, circumcision/children, rest/slavery. Therefore, the fact that Jesus identified a communal meal as the sign of God’s new covenant with his people shouldn’t be ignored or dismissed as “just a symbol.” A shared meal is a powerful reminder that what Jesus accomplished on the cross wasn’t a sacrifice merely to redeem me, but the way God has reconciled a people to himself. As we look at our sisters and brothers around the Lord’s Table, we are reminded that the new covenant is how Christ has brought reconciliation between hostile people, not just between individuals and God. In fact, a case could be made that a table, rather than a cross, should be the universal symbol of our faith. DAILY SCRIPTURE GENESIS 17:1-11 DEUTERONOMY 5:12-15 EPHESIANS 2:11-16 WEEKLY PRAYER From Ambrose (c.339 – 397) Praise to you, saving sacrifice, offered on the wood of the cross for me and for all people. Praise to the noble and precious blood, flowing from the wounds of my crucified Lord Jesus Christ and washing away the sins of the whole world. Remember, Lord, your creature, whom you have redeemed with your blood. I repent of my sins, and I long to put right what I have done. Merciful Father, take away all my offenses and sins; purify me in body and soul, and make me worthy to taste the holy of holies. Amen.

In this homily, Father Richard reflects on Jesus’ teaching on the reign of God presented in Matthew’s Gospel: 

I think what Jesus calls the kingdom of heaven or the reign of God is when we live inside of the Big Picture and not inside of the small pictures that we create and seem to prefer. Most of us live inside of our own small, self-created kingdoms: the kingdom of being American or the kingdom of being Catholic or the kingdom of being white. That’s all going to pass away. Those are not the kingdom of God. 

The reign of God will not pass away. It’s the eternal state of things, how things finally and fully and freely are. To live in the reign of God is to live with that kind of big perspective, where we move beyond the tiny human-made boundaries that we all create. Most of us are afraid to venture out of our little comfort zone of “people just like me.” 

In the second century, the Christian people started calling themselves the “catholic” people. Too few of us were taught that catholic simply means universal in Greek. From the beginning, Christians recognized that their message was not for any one ethnic group or nation, but in fact was about how things eternally are everywhere, all the time. If we can live at that level, then we’re in the kingdom of God. When we’ve had a glimpse of this kingdom, we keep pushing out the boundaries, so we can see God everywhere. 

Matthew 4:15 says that Jesus moved away from Nazareth into “Galilee of the Gentiles.” Jesus deliberately moves on to the frontier, the edge, where not everybody is Jewish, where many cultures and ethnicities come together. It’s there, in the land of the Gentiles, that Jesus proclaims the reign of God. 

We know we’re living in God’s Big Picture when we can see God in all cultures, in all social classes, and even in all religions. We have to stop thinking that any one religion has God in its pocket, or controls God, or that God only likes certain people who happen to be Christians. Would God be that stingy? Would God be that small and petty to only love people like me? I hope not. Because it’s precisely this great heart of God that is able to love all of God’s children. Jesus comes to the land of the Gentiles to proclaim a God for the universal kingdom. 

Every time we pray “thy kingdom come” we’re praying that God can grant, and we can participate in, a universal, truly “catholic” world where all of us can love one another without distinction, and without discrimination. I’m afraid we have to admit that we haven’t gotten very far yet. We still have not caught up with Jesus. We prefer to live in our smaller kingdoms instead of the universal kingdom of God.  

A Reign of Peace and Harmony

CAC affiliate faculty Randy Woodley connects the Hebrew concept of shalomwith Jesus’ teaching on the kingdom of God:  

Jesus, in his ancient context of imperial occupation, was also concerned with creation’s harmony, and used the phrase kingdom of God to communicate this idea. The metaphor was rightly understood by Jesus’ audience in contradistinction to the kingdom of Caesar. God’s kingdom stood over against the death-dealing ways of the Roman Empire; God’s kingdom was a Spirit-filled community living out the Creator’s shalom purposes on earth.…  

Jesus used kingdom language in his context because it made sense to the people and powers to whom he spoke. His kingdom goal was stated simply: “On earth as it is in heaven.” In other words, heaven’s economy is to be made manifest in creation. And what is heaven’s economy? It is shalom, a Hebrew term often translated as “peace.” But peace doesn’t capture the depth of this word. Shalom is who the Creator is—the one God, a trinity of persons (from a Christian perspective) dwelling in harmony, mutuality, and deference toward one another and the creation. Shalom embodies wholeness, completeness, and love. It is strikingly similar to many Indigenous constructs of “harmony,” which emphasize the interconnectedness and interdependency of all things, the need for balance, and the primacy of community. And if that is what Jesus’ kingdom was about—radical shalom and harmony—it is helpful to translate this metaphor into something like community of creation, a phrase infused with Indigenous meaning, which more readily emphasizes that all living things are participating in this new peace that the Creator is bringing about through Christ. [1]  

Brian McLaren considers the metaphor of a “network” to describe the kingdom of God:  

For many people today, kingdom language evokes patriarchy, chauvinism, imperialism, domination, and a regime without freedom. Not a pretty picture—and the very opposite of the liberating, barrier-breaking, domination-shattering, reconciling movement the kingdom of God was intended to be!… 

God is inviting people into a life-giving network. First, God wants people to be connected, plugged in, in communication with God, so God can transfer to them what they need—not just information but also virus-debugging software, along with love, hope, empowerment, purpose, and wisdom. Also, each person who is connected to God must become integrally connected to all others in the network. In this way, the network of God breaks down the walls of smaller, exclusive networks (like networks of racism, nationalism, and the like), and invites them into the only truly world wide web of love. The network exchanges information and increases understanding for all participants. The network becomes a resource for people outside the network as well, and of course, people are always invited to enter the connectivity themselves.  

The metaphor of an ecosystem could work in a similar way: we are currently living in an imbalanced, self-destructive ecosystem, but God is inviting us to live in a new network of relationships that will produce balance, harmony, and health. [2]  

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The Table Unites & Divides

Click Here for Audio The church has existed for over 2000 years, and throughout the millennia Christians have gathered on Sundays to worship God. Across all those generations, however, very few things have remained consistent—a lot has changed. For example, the church has not always had a dedicated building in which to gather. The earliest Christians met in homes. We have not always had projectors and instruments to accompany our singing. We haven’t always had a complete record of the Scriptures. In the first centuries after Christ, his followers received occasional letters from the Apostles for instruction; there was no New Testament. In fact, there is only one aspect of Christian worship and community that we can trace to the very beginning. Across every generation, every ethnicity, every economic and denominational barrier the simple elements of the bread and the cup have endured as marks of Christ’s people. The table has united the Church throughout the ages. For that reason, we’ll begin our exploration of the Church by looking at the table, its meaning, its place in our worship, and in our life with God. Of course, a shared meal is not uniquely Christian. It’s a powerful tool in every human culture because every society uses meals to both unite and divide. Sharing a table is how we form bonds and establish a common identity. It’s why cultures use meals to celebrate marriages. Two families share a table to acknowledge their new bond as kin. Likewise, every culture uses the table to divide and exclude. Segregation in the American South prohibited blacks from sharing a table with whites to solidify their status as unequal and outsiders. The unifying and dividing power of eating is also a dominant theme in the Bible. In the beginning, the Lord invited the man and woman to eat from any tree in the garden, but eating from one particular tree would separate them from God and life itself. And the Old Testament dietary laws, which seem odd and arbitrary to modern readers, had a very practical function. They prevented God’s people from sharing a menu, and therefore a table, with the nations surrounding them. If people are unable to eat together, they are less likely to form bonds, blend cultures, or intermarry. Israel’s diet kept them separate thereby preserving their special calling and covenant with God. Sharing a meal is a bodily, social, creative, and spiritual act perhaps second only to sexual intimacy in its power to form bonds. A church that ignores this power, or uses it in a manner contrary to the gospel, ought to be concerned. But for Christians who recognize the power of the table, the gospel can shape their lives and community in unimaginable and beautiful ways. DAILY SCRIPTURE GENESIS 2:15-17 LEVITICUS 11:1-8 ACTS 2:42-47 WEEKLY PRAYER From Ambrose (c.339 – 397) Praise to you, saving sacrifice, offered on the wood of the cross for me and for all people. Praise to the noble and precious blood, flowing from the wounds of my crucified Lord Jesus Christ and washing away the sins of the whole world. Remember, Lord, your creature, whom you have redeemed with your blood. I repent of my sins, and I long to put right what I have done. Merciful Father, take away all my offenses and sins; purify me in body and soul, and make me worthy to taste the holy of holies. Amen.

What was given to you freely, you must give away freely. —Matthew 10:8 

Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.   
—Step 12 of the Twelve Steps 

Richard emphasizes how inner transformation needs to extend outward to the world: 

After teaching the gospel for over fifty years, trying to build communities, and attempting to raise up elders and leaders, I’m convinced that one of my major failures was that I didn’t ask more of people from the very beginning. If they didn’t turn outward early, they tended to never do so. Their dominant concerns became personal self-development, spiritual consumerism, church as “more attendance” at things, or, to use a common phrase among Christians, “deepening my relationship with Jesus.” Bill W. semed to recognize this danger early on. Until people’s basic egocentricity is radically exposed and foundationally redirected, much religion becomes occupied with rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic, moving alongside other isolated passengers while the whole ship sinks.  

Step 12 found a way to expose and transform that perpetual adolescence by telling us early on that we must serve others. Supporting others in their healing is not an option, not something we might eventually be “called” to after thirty-five religious retreats and fifty years of church services. It isn’t something we do when we finally get our act together. No; we don’t truly comprehend any spiritual thing until we give it away. Spiritual gifts increase only by “using” them.  

The author of the Letter of James always insists on orthopraxy instead of mere verbal orthodoxy: “To listen to the word and not obey it is like looking at your own features in a mirror, and then, after a quick look, going off and immediately forgetting what you look like” (1:23–24). For James, to “actively put it into practice is to be happy in all that one does” (1:25) and “if good works do not accompany faith, it is quite dead” (2:17). James is a unique apostle of the Twelve Step behavioral approach. [1]  

James Finley warns against the temptation to prioritize our own healing at the expense of others: 

There’s a certain temptation [as you go down the spiritual path] to say, “I’m out of here. I know it’s a troubled world, but I’m a mystic in the making. Don’t disturb me. See, I’m out of here.” There’s a temptation to think you’re finding your way into a realm of divinity or inner peace [or healing], removed from the brokenness and sadness of this world, which is really then to betray the path. Thomas Merton once said to me in the cloistered monastery, “We did not come here to breathe the rarified air beyond the suffering of this world. We came here to carry the suffering of the whole world in our heart. Otherwise, there’s no validity in living in a place like this.” What goes around comes around and it circles back around in the practice with ourselves first. [2] 

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5 For Friday John Chaffee

1.
“We mature with the damage, not with the years.”

• Mateus William
   
  Earlier this week I had a lunch meetup with an older friend who is a pastor.  He remarked to me how easy it is for people to stop growing at 28 as if most people hit adulthood and proceed to never grow beyond that.  Sometimes we grow because we want to, and sometimes we grow because we have to.  In either case, the experience of growing is often the result of struggle, discomfort, or as this quote says, “damage.”

This means our addiction to ease, comfort, and avoiding struggle is our greatest obstacle to growing.

2.
“The failure to invest in civil justice is directly related to the increase in criminal disorder.”

• Friedrich W. J. Schelling, German Philosopher
   
  Investing in prison systems and warfare is not the same thing as investing in civil justice.  Civil justice, when sought out, recreates structures, environments, and circumstances in which criminal disorder is likely to happen.

This reminds me of what Shane Claiborne often points out: retributive justice is not the same as restorative justice.

Retributive justice seeks to repay wrongdoing with equal pain/discomfort inflicted upon the perpetrator on behalf of the victim.

Restorative justice seeks to correct how the perpetrator has become twisted/malformed and repair or make amends for the victim and what they have lost.  

Restorative justice is far more in line with the God of both the Old and New Testament than retributive justice is thought to be.  The problem is that since we wrongly understand the Gospel as a matter of retributive justice from God, it wrongfully “excuses and validates” us (but not really) building a whole society around it.

3.
“Narcissism describes when a person cannot tolerate or absorb any form of shame – even ‘healthy shame’ that would enable them to self-reflect and take ownership or accountability.”

• Kathryn Wilkins, Counselor and Therapist
   
  Over the years, I have been growing in my understanding of how shame deeply impacts people and social settings.

Shame is such an uncomfortable emotion for many of us that we dive into the reflexive use of defense mechanisms of denial, rationalization, secrecy, minimizing, comparing, justifying, excusing, scapegoating, and so much more.  When people fall into those habits, it is usually because they are seeking to avoid the experience of shame.

Narcissism is the personality disorder of someone who is pathologically oriented against feeling any amount of shame or embarrassment.  And guess what?  Among the top 5 professions that are reported to display narcissism are doctors, lawyers, surgeons, business leaders, and clergy.

Lord have mercy.

4.
“The spiritual journey is a struggle to be ever more available to God and to let go of the obstacles to the transforming process.”

• Thomas Keating, Trappist Monk
   
  Freedom is the name of the game.  Freedom from every obstacle, addiction, avoidance, aversion, habit, concern, or fear that might block our being changed more and more into a person who is capable of sacrificial love.

5.
“Blessed are the weird people: poets, misfits, writers, mystics, painters, troubadours for they teach us to see the world through different eyes.”

• Jacob Nordby, Writer
   
  Every time I see the word “troubadour” the person of St. Francis of Assisi comes to mind!

May we all be misfit saints!

Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understood [God], praying only for knowledge of [God’s] will for us and the power to carry that out.  
—Step 11 of the Twelve Steps   

Father Richard connects prayer and meditation to a deepening acceptance of the will of God:  

The word prayer, which Bill W. used in Step 11, juxtaposed with the word meditation, is a code word for an entirely different way of processing life. When we “pray,” we are hopefully moving from an egocentric perspective to a soul-centric perspective. It’s the prayer of quiet and self-surrender that best allows us to follow Step 11, which Bill W. must have recognized by also using the word meditation—at a time when that word was not at all common in Christian circles. He was right, because only contemplative prayer or meditation invades, touches, and heals the unconscious! This is where all the woundedness lies—but also where God hides and reveals, “in that secret place” (Matthew 6:6). [1] 

Mindfulness teacher Thérèse Jacobs-Stewart visited the Missionaries of Charity Motherhouse in India, where Mother Teresa spoke of prayer:   

[Mother Teresa] said daily prayer and meditation helped to keep the nuns from getting disheartened.  

“You should pray and meditate every day, so you know that you are loved, so you feel the presence of God’s love in your life. This is the only way you can truly help others and serve the poorest of the poor. We have to give from a full heart, one that is saturated with love, overflowing to others. Before we can give freely, we have to know that we are loved. This is why you should pray and meditate every day. So you can remember you are loved, letting it fill your heart and your body. Let it fill every cell of your being. Then give it all away.” She smiled. “Do you see?”… 

In my early years of working Step 11, all that seeking through prayer and meditation seemed like a lot of effort. I realize now that I was striving, applying my usual style of managing and controlling to my spiritual practice…. Now, thirty-some years later, I think that conscious contact simply takes time on the cushion. [2] 

Richard continues:  

The Twelve Step Program was deeply inspired in recognizing that we need forms of prayer and meditation that would lead us to “conscious contact with God.” Prayer and meditation can bring us to real inner “knowledge of God’s will for us” and the “power to carry it out” (actual inner empowerment and new motivation from a deeper Source).  

People’s willingness to find God in their own struggle with life—and let it change them—is their deepest and truest obedience to God’s eternal will. Remember, always remember, that the heartfelt desire to do the will of God is, in fact, the truest will of God. At that point, God has won, the ego has lost, and our prayers have already been answered. [3] 

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Sarah Young; Jesus Calling

As you listen to birds calling to one another, hear also My Love-call to you. I speak to you continually: through sights, sounds, thoughts, impressions, scriptures. There is no limit to the variety of ways I can communicate with you. Your part is to be attentive to My messages, in whatever form they come. When you set out to find Me in a day, you discover that the world is vibrantly alive with My Presence. You can find Me not only in beauty and birdcalls, but also in tragedy and faces filled with grief. I can take the deepest sorrow and weave it into a pattern for good.
     Search for Me and My messages, as you go through this day. You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with your whole being.

RELATED SCRIPTURE:
John 10:27 (NLT)
27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.

Romans 8:28 (NLT)
28 And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

Additional insight regarding Romans 8:28: God works in “everything” – not just isolated incidents – for our good. This does not mean that all happens to us is good. Evil is prevalent in our fallen world, but God is able to turn every circumstance around for our long-range good. Note that God is not working to make us happy but to fulfill his purpose. Note also that this promise is not for everybody. It can be claimed only by those who love God and are called by him, that is, those whom the Holy Spirit convinces to receive Christ. Such people have a new perspective, a new mindset. They trust in God, not in worldly treasures; their security is in heaven, not on earth. Their faith in God does not waver in pain and persecution because they know God is with them.

Jeremiah 29:13 (NLT)
13 If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.

Additional insight regarding Jeremiah 29:13: According to God’s wise plan, his people were to have a future and a hope; consequently, they could call upon him with confidence. Although the exiles were in a difficult place and time, they need not despair because they had God’s presence, the privilege of prayer, and God’s grace. If we seek him wholeheartedly, he will be found. Neither a strange land, sorrow, persecution, nor physical problems can break our fellowship with God.

A daily examination of consciousness sounds like a very good thing indeed.  
—Richard Rohr 

Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.  
—Step 10 of the Twelve Steps  

Richard Rohr names how Step 10 is beneficial when practiced from a contemplative stance: 

I must admit: When I first read Step 10, I wanted to say, “OK, come now, let’s get on to something a bit more positive and evolved. This is beginning to feel like an endless examination of conscience and will keep people navel-gazing forever.” I still recognize that as a danger for some.  

In my training as a Franciscan, we learned from the Jesuits about a daily and personal practice of an “examination of conscience.” It certainly had wise intent and worked for some, but I believe that people with a mature conscience do this naturally anyway, through a strongly developed sense of right and wrong. Today, many Jesuits recommend instead an “examination of consciousness,” which to me feels much more fruitful. 

Consciousness is not the seeing but that which sees me seeing. It is not the knower but that which knows that I am knowing. It is not the observer but that which underlies and observes me observing. We must step back from our compulsiveness, and our attachment to ourselves, to be truly conscious. [1] 

Benedictine Sister Macrina Wiederkehr (1939–2020) suggests a series of questions for a daily “Examen of Consciousness”: 

Have the ears of my heart opened to the voice of God?  
Have the ears of my heart opened to the needs of my sisters and brothers? 
Have the eyes of my heart beheld the Divine face in all created things? 
What do I know, but live as though I do not know?… 
Is there anyone, including myself, whom I need to forgive? 
When did I experience my heart opening wide today?… 
What is the one thing in my life that is standing on tiptoe crying, “May I have your attention please?” What needs my attention? [2] 
Richard continues: 

If obeyed—listened to and followed—consciousness will become a very wise teacher of soul wisdom. It will teach us from deep within (both Jeremiah 31:33 and Romans 2:15 describe it as “the law written on our hearts”). Some call it the “Inner Witness.” On some level, soul, consciousness, and the Holy Spirit can well be thought of as the same thing, and it is always larger than me, shared, and even eternal.  

Wisely, Step 10 does not emphasize a moral inventory, which becomes too self-absorbed and self-critical, but speaks instead of a “personal inventory.” In other words, just watch yourself objectively, calmly, and compassionately. When we’re able to do this from a new viewing platform and perspective as a grounded child of God, “The Spirit will help us in our weakness” (Romans 8:26). From this most positive and dignified position, we can let go of, and even easily admit, our wrongs. [3]  

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Sarah Young Jesus Calling

Keep walking with Me along the path I have chosen for you. Your desire to live close to Me is a delight to My heart. I could instantly grant you the spiritual riches you desire, but that is not My way for you. Together we will forge a pathway up the high mountain. The journey is arduous at times, and you are weak. Someday you will dance lightfooted on the high peaks; but for now, your walk is often plodding and heavy. All I require of you is to take the next step, clinging to My hand for strength and direction. Though the path is difficult and the scenery dull at the moment, there are sparkling surprises just around the bend. Stay on the path I have selected for you. It is truly the path of Life.

RELATED SCRIPTURE:

Psalm 37:23-24 (NLT)
23 The Lord directs the steps of the godly.
    He delights in every detail of their lives.
24 Though they stumble, they will never fall,
    for the Lord holds them by the hand.

Additional insight regarding Psalm 37: 23,24: The person in whom God delights is one who follows God, trusts him, and tries to do his will. God watches over and makes firm every step that person takes. If you would like to have God direct your way, then seek his advice before you step out.

Psalm 16:11 (NLT)
11 You will show me the way of life,
    granting me the joy of your presence
    and the pleasures of living with you forever.

Additional insight regarding Psalm 16: 8-11: This psalm (16:10 – “For you will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your holy one to rot in the grave.”) is often called the messianic psalm because it is quoted in the New Testament as referring to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Both Peter and Paul quoted from this psalm when speaking of Christ’s bodily resurrection (see Acts 2:25-28, 31; 13:35-37).

Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. 
—Step 9 of the Twelve Steps 

Richard Rohr invites readers to consider the “skillful means” of making amends:  

What Western religions sometimes called “wisdom,” the Eastern religions often called “skillful means.” Wisdom was not merely a heady aphorism, but a practical, best, and effective way to get the job done!  

We might say Step 9 tells us how to use skillful means both to protect our own humanity and to liberate the humanity of others. Our amends to others should be “direct,” that is, specific, personal, and concrete. Face-to-face encounters, although usually difficult after we have caused harm, work best in the long run, even if the other party rebuffs us at the first attempt. When we open the door from our side, it thus remains open, unless we reclose it by returning to defensiveness, denial, or despair. 

Another skillful insight is the cleverly added “except when to do so would injure them or others.” We often need time, discernment, and good advice from others before we know the when, how, who, and where to apologize or make amends. If not done skillfully, an apology can actually make the problem and the hurt worse. Skillful means is not just to make amends, but to make amends in ways that do not “injure” others. Truth is not just factual truth (the great mistake of fundamentalists), but a combination of both text and context, style and intent. [1]   

Anglican priest Mpho Tutu van Furth defines reparation as “the action of making amends for a wrong one has done,” and describes it as a dance:   

Reparations are their own healing liturgical dance…. The first step would speak the words “I’m sorry” and in so saying open a door for the dance to begin…. A perpetrator who is penitent could listen long to the stories of victims and their descendants and dare to hear the hurt that their actions … have caused. When the story is told and the hurt is named, reparations are the thread offered that might make repair. Ask forgiveness, it will make the repair stronger: remorseful apology and reparation twined with gracious forgiveness, strands of hope woven together to make a better future than the one that the past promised us. Our future is learning together how better to love. We must learn how better to live love and how better to live in love. We must study how better to be love and how to embody love…. 

Humility speaks: “We are sorry.” This “we are sorry” will not stand on the dais dictating the terms of its own surrender. This “we are sorry” will not try to define for the victims the edges of their experience. This “we are sorry” will not lay upon those wronged the weight of expectation. You are not required to be gracious in response. We hope that you will hear that we are genuinely sorry.  

The door is open. The dance begins. [2]  

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Sarah Young Jesus Calling

I am the Light of the World. Men crawl through their lives cursing the darkness, but all the while I am shining brightly. I desire each of My followers to be a Light-bearer. The Holy Spirit who lives in you can shine from your face, making Me visible to people around you. Ask My Spirit to live through you, as you wind your way through this day. Hold My hand in joyful trust, for I never leave your side. The Light of My Presence is shining upon you. Brighten up the world by reflecting who I am.

RELATED SCRIPTURE:

John 8:12 (NLT)
Jesus, the Light of the World
12 Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.”
Additional insight regarding John 8:12: Jesus was speaking in the Treasury – the part of the Temple where the offerings were put (John 8:20) and where candles burned to symbolize the pillar of fire that led the people of Israel through the wilderness (Exodus 13:21-22). In this context, Jesus called himself the light of the world. The pillar of fire represented God’s presence, protection, and guidance. Likewise, Jesus brings God’s presence, protection, and guidance. Is Jesus the light of your world?

Humbly asked [God] to remove our shortcomings.  
—Step 7 of the Twelve Steps 

This week’s meditations continue to explore the wisdom of the Gospels and the Twelve Steps. Father Richard responds to the perennial question, “Why do we pray?”: 

If God already knows what we need before we ask, and God actually cares about us more than we care about ourselves, then why do both Step 7 and Jesus say, each in their own way: “Ask, and you will receive. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened” (Matthew 7:7)? Are we trying to talk God into things? Does the group with the most and the best prayers win? Is prayer of petition just another way to get what we want, or to get God on our side?  

This is the mystery of asking. Why is it good to ask, and what really happens in prayers of petition or intercession? Why is it that Jesus both tells us to ask and then says, “Your Father already knows what you need, so do not babble on like the pagans do” (Matthew 6:7–8)?  

I believe prayer is a symbiotic relationship with life and with God, a synergy which creates a result larger than the exchange itself. We ask not to change God, but to change ourselves. We pray to form a living relationship, not to get things done. (That is why Jesus says all prayers are answered, which does not appear to be true, according to the evidence!) God knows that we need to pray to keep the symbiotic relationship moving and growing. Prayer is not a way to try to control God, or even to get what we want.  

Prayers of intercession or petition are one way of situating our life within total honesty and structural truth. We are all forever beggars before God and the universe. We can never engineer or guide our own transformation or conversion. If we try, it will be a self-centered and well-controlled version of conversion, with most of our preferences and addictions still fully in place, but now well-disguised.  

So, Step 7 says that we must “humbly ask God to remove our shortcomings.” We don’t dare go after our own faults or we will go after the wrong thing—or, more commonly, a clever substitute for the real thing. Instead, we have to let God first reveal our real faults to us (usually by failing and falling many times!), and then allow God to remove those faults, from God’s side and in God’s way.  

It’s important that we ask, seek, and knock to keep ourselves in right relationship with Life Itself. Life is a gift, totally given to us without cost, every day of it, and every part of it. A daily and chosen “attitude of gratitude” will keep our hands open to expect that life, allow that life, and receive that life at ever-deeper levels of satisfaction—but never to think we deserve it.

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Facing the Hurt

Richard Rohr

If you are bringing your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother or sister has anything against you, go first and be reconciled to him or her, and then come back and present your gift. —Matthew 5:23–24 

Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.   
—Step 8 of the Twelve Steps 

Father Richard names the importance of acknowledging wrong and harm, while trusting in the gift of grace: 

Despite the higher economy of grace and mercy lived and taught by Jesus, he didn’t entirely throw out the lower economy of merit or “satisfaction.” They build on one another, and the lower by itself is inadequate to life’s truly great tasks—love, forgiveness, endurance of unjust suffering, and death itself. When we move to more mature stages of love and transformation, we don’t jump over earlier stages. We must go back and rectify earlier wrongs. Otherwise, there may be no healing or open future for us—or for those we have hurt.  

God fully forgives us, but the impact or “karma” of our mistakes remains, and we must still go back and repair the bonds we’ve broken. Otherwise, others may not be able to forgive us, nor will we likely forgive ourselves. “Amazing grace” is not a way to avoid honest human relationships. Rather, it’s a way to redo them—but now, gracefully—for the liberation of both sides. Nothing just goes away in the spiritual world; all must be reconciled and accounted for. [1]  

Anne Lamott recounts how her son held her accountable after she posted insensitive comments online, and reflects on experiencing mercy: 

[My son] asked me to apologize publicly. I didn’t want to, because the hundreds of people who attacked me were so vicious…. My son said that this was not the point. The point was that I had done something beneath me that had hurt a lot of people, and that I needed to make things right.  

We talked on the phone about this and he said: “I love you, but you were wrong. You did an awful thing. Please apologize. I’m not going to let this go. And I won’t let you go, either.” He was in tears. I was sick to my stomach.  

Later he sent an e-mail: “You need to do the right thing, Mom. I love you.”   

I wrote to the public that I was deeply, unambiguously sorry, even though I secretly still felt misunderstood…. I did this imperfectly, the best I could, admitting I was wrong. I expressed contrition. It was awful.  

My son was grateful, but distant for a time…. Extending mercy had cost him, and extending mercy to myself cost me even more deeply, and it grew us both, my having screwed up on such a big stage. It taught me that mercy is a cloak that will wrap around you and protect you…. It can help you rest and breathe again for the time being, which is all we ever have. [2]  

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Sarah Young Jesus Calling

Find freedom through seeking to please Me above all else. You can have only one Master. When you let others’ expectations drive you, you scatter your energy to the winds. Your own desire to look good can also drain your energy. I am your Master, and I do not drive you to be what you are not. Your pretense displeases Me, especially when it is in My “service.” Concentrate on staying close to Me at all times. It is impossible to be inauthentic while you are focusing on My Presence.

RELATED SCRIPTURE:

Ephesians 5:8-10 (NLT)
8 For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! 9 For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.
10 Carefully determine what pleases the Lord.

Matthew 23:8 (NLT)
8 “Don’t let anyone call you ‘Rabbi,’ for you have only one teacher, and all of you are equal as brothers and sisters.

Matthew 6:1 (NLT)
Teaching about Giving to the Needy
6 “Watch out! Don’t do your good deeds publicly, to be admired by others, for you will lose the reward from your Father in heaven.