The Greatest Challenge

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enemies, forgive, Jesus, kindness, light-beings, love, Matthew, praye, random acts of kindness, Sermon on the Mount, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

People thought Jesus was crazy – or maybe they hadn’t really heard him correctly the day he preached that “Sermon on the Mount” (MT 5-7). He was certainly a charismatic preacher who drew people in easily by his powerful words and the way he treated people. On this day, however, he crossed into the territory of the outrageous with a challenge to his listeners.

“You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. (Okay so far) But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” That’s just ridiculous. How can you call someone your enemy if you love them and pray for them? Impossible, right?

That was obviously the point but we still don’t understand the depth of meaning in his words. We say things like: “Well, I can love her but I don’t have to like her.” That’s rather absurd, don’t you think? But how could Jesus be (still) asking us to love everyone? What about the tyrants, murderers and other individuals who perpetrate the horrific crimes that make the news every day? How is it possible to love them?

I admit that this is one gospel passage whose essence still escapes my embrace but I do believe that when we achieve that ability to forgive and truly understand the breadth of God’s love, the world will truly be saved. I need to trust that such a possibility exists and that I can be part of the realization. The only way forward as I see it, however, is consistent prayer and imaging of ourselves as light-beings, bringing God’s love to the world. Unless we believe that, it will never happen. And if we continue to say we believe it without the sustained practice that will effect a change, nothing will be achieved.

Start small with acts of kindness and prayer for someone in your life whom you avoid as often as possible. One by one, accept those “enemies” and then move on to the bigger challenges on the world stage. It’s the only way for all of us – starting now!

Saving the World

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Jonah, judge, message, Nineveh, prayer vigil, random acts of kindness, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, warning

Two thoughts crossed my mind this morning as I was reading the account of Jonah’s second announcement from God (“post-whale,” JON 3: 1-10). First I mused on the fact that Nineveh was such a big city that it took three days to go through it. I wondered how long it would take now to traverse a place like New York City and whether the walk would include all five boroughs and maybe some further-out suburbs. Since Jonah was giving a warning about destruction of the city, it would seem that he would have needed to check in everywhere.

My following thought was more to the point and more complicated to consider. Actually, it became a whole rush of questions. I’ll use New York as an example because it is a big city but not to judge the population in any way. What if there was a clear message from God that the city and all its inhabitants were to be destroyed in 40 days unless everyone repented (honestly, not just mouthing the words) of all their sins. Maybe sackcloth and ashes wouldn’t do for evidence. Maybe it would need to be huge prayer vigils and “random acts of kindness” in addition to the fasting.

I hesitated to write that because it sounds – even in the face of my disclaimer above – that I am speaking of a vengeful God who punishes wrong with destruction. That’s not it at all. As a matter of fact, I’ve been seeing evidence of lovingkindness on the evening news lately which renews my hope. I’m speaking of a day when self-interest would be put aside in favor of unity and light.

Are we there yet? Could we do it city by city at least in our country? What about where you live? Would I be willing to propagate the message? First, I would need to believe in the possibility of success. Then I would need to gather people who believe we are capable of convincing others because of the sincerity and light coming from inside all the speakers. That’s just the beginning, I guess. Call me crazy, but who knows what could happen if we really decided for God and put our minds and the entire power of our loving hearts into it?