The ancient prophets, wisdom carriers, and movement builders refuse to engage in rigged and worn-out conversations. They show us, instead, a third way.

Approx. read time: 2:15 min.

I’ve never started a social movement, but I do belong to one. It’s the movement for creative, Love-centered nonviolent engagement in a complex and violent world.

This movement traces back to ancient prophets, wisdom carriers, movement builders, those who insist that systemic cruelty and engineered injustice have no place in the social, economic, moral arrangement.

They refuse to engage in rigged and worn-out conversations. They show us, instead, a third way.

Jesus, preeminent movement builder who inspired the likes of Mahatma (Great Soul) Gandhi, Thich Nhat Hanh, Martin Luther King, Jr., Dorothy Day, and countless others, is my model.

Jesus held a vision of a just, compassionate, and radically nonviolent world, where people can live in the fullness of their individual and shared humanity. His vision, like his love, is universal, addressing the very heart of humanity.

Where he saw totalizing oppression, he offered a totalizing vision, ways of action for transformative justice and peace. He called this vision “the reign of God”—here and now, on Earth, as in Heaven.

Today a different movement rises, infected with a spiteful worm. You might call it an “efficiency” movement, steamrollering its way over the interwoven social structures designed to hold a people, a society, together, mutually functioning and flourishing.

Still, the original movement of creative, Love-centered engagement in a complex and violent world has not gone away. It’s called forth, now, in new ways, for courageous, consistent nonviolent action for transformative justice and peace in our times.

The One Love which defines our shared humanity is not going away. We will undergo many forms of suffering. There also will be new expressions of kinship, coalitions, and emergence of creative actions in service to the Good.

So, if you seek a just, compassionate, and radically nonviolent world, here’s your assignment: Work intentionally, daily, to cultivate a nonviolent, outward-facing, just and compassionate heart. Be clear on whose movement you belong to, who you stand with, and the sacred texts that form the core of your being. Embrace the Good with all your heart, and get to work.

Watch my free 8-part YouTube series on cultivating a nonviolent heart in my Peacemaking Playlist. And fortify yourself with my book Gospel Vulnerability: The Key to Costly Love. It delivers insight and strength for our times.

Be well. Live in peace. Love one another. And please, share this post!