Spencer Butte, overlooking the Willamette Valley, Eugene OR (2014)

Approx. read time: 1:05 min.

Jesus, with his unexpected and frankly unsettling pronouncements, must have startled folks in his time.

He instructs his Twelve (hey, that would be us): “As you tour the towns and villages, announce this: The reign of God is at hand!”

Do any of us get what he’s really saying?

This mess is what you’re given to work with.
So, work with it!
Build the new in the midst of the old.
Start where you are.
Work with what is given.
Get to work!
Here! Now!

Indeed, the reign of God is at hand: the realm of the Beloved, the Just, the Righteous, the Pure-hearted, the Joyful. 

Do we not perceive it? Do not our hearts burn to create it, swing open its doors, and together dwell in it?

Yes! Here! Now! 

Build the reign of God, now! With all your heart! 

Every imaginative act for the good is a positively subversive resistance to all the noise and chaos, and all that’s bent on keeping power arrangements “just as they are.”

If you’re stumped on where to start, reach out. Let’s talk.

As Thomas Merton says, The gate to heaven is everywhere!

Be well. Love one another. Live in Peace.

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