​There are some poems & places where the images stay with you.  When September arrives, Postscript, by Irish poet, Seamus Heaney, is one of those poems for me.  Read or listen and watch below.  
 
Postscript
And some time make the time to drive out west
Into County Clare, along the Flaggy Shore,
In September or October, when the wind
And the light are working off each other
So that the ocean on one side is wild
With foam and glitter, and inland among stones
The surface of a slate-grey lake is lit
By the earthed lightning of a flock of swans,
Their feathers roughed and ruffling, white on white,
Their fully grown headstrong-looking heads
Tucked or cresting or busy underwater.
Useless to think you'll park and capture it
More thoroughly. You are neither here nor there,
A hurry through which known and strange things pass
As big soft buffetings come at the car sideways
And catch the heart off guard and blow it open.
 
​__________________________
I remember being at a Nebraska rest stop during a wind storm on my way to Seattle from Cape Girardeau, Missouri, a cross-country move fraught with break-downs, both literal and metaphorical! 

As I was getting out of the car, the wind caught my driver's side door and blew it wide open.  In that moment, all the stress, frustration, and anger that I usually succeed in keeping under wraps stormed to the surface.  Much to my surprise, I started raging into the wind as my hair whipped all around!  For any witnesses, I am sure it was a sight to behold.  I felt both powerful and powerless. 
 
It’s a moment I will never forget. 
 
And while I have no desire to return to that rest stop in Nebraska, I return to the story quite often!

There have been other times my heart has been caught off guard and blown open by unexpected beauty, love, and goodness. 
 
Sometimes they have been ordinary moments, sometimes extraordinary—from receiving a tender touch from my spouse after a fight (and it relaxing my defenses) to experiencing an ecstatic vision of being swept up in the Wave of Love (and it changing everything). 

Whether ordinary or extraordinary, surprises like these are heart-softening and heart-opening.
 
There are places I make a point to return to because they are the places of these heart-softening and heart-opening moments.  I had not been expecting anything (or at least I thought I knew what to expect) and suddenly something unforeseen and unplanned happens to “catch the heart off guard and blow it open,”  changing that time of year, that place, and me, forever.
 
I cannot help but encourage others to go and see (& experience) these places for themselves—from monasteries to places in nature--especially in September and October.   
 
How about you? 
What are your moments that have caught your heart off guard and blown it open?  
Where would you suggest someone make time to go to during September or October?
​

I did not think I could do spiritual direction without my dog.

She had been there from the beginning with her soulful eyes.  She knew when to sit on a directee's lap, cuddle up beside them, or stay on my lap looking and listening.  ​Her presence and gaze was the topic of conversation during many spiritual direction appointments. 

"It's like she's looking into my soul!" one young seminary student exclaimed. 

"In my vision, it was your dog that helped me have courage and assured me that I would not fall into darkness; how did she know to come sit with me at just that moment?!" a stay-at-home mom said with wonder-filled eyes. 

​When asked to sum up what God had been offering him through spiritual direction, the aerospace engineer who cultivated a Zen garden in his backyard, replied, "The image is Annie, your dog. God has shown me grace through her." 

My miniature dachshund and I were partners.  So when faced with sitting with people by myself, I did not think I had what it took.  I was convinced it would not be as powerful of an experience for people.  I relayed my fears to Father Carl Arico while on a Contemplative Outreach retreat in Sewanee, Tennessee.  And while he believed I would be just fine, he suggested I set out a photo so that she would continue to be with me during the time of spiritual direction. 

It was then that I understood how God had companioned me through her during my beginning stages of being a spiritual director.  She had modeled ways of listening and discernment, showing me it was not about what I knew, or about any kind of performance, but how I was with people that mattered most.  Through her, God had been present to me.       

Countless times since then I have met with people whose best (& many times only) experience of the unconditional love of God has come through their dogs.  Because of my own experience of how a dog can be a vessel of the Divine, I pay special attention to the relationship people have with their pets.  And I integrate this relationship into prayers and spiritual practices, because the love they give counts.

So maybe you are one of the people who need to hear that the way your dog loves you is God loving you through your dog.  If that's the case, a spiritual practice for you is spending more time with your dog! 

I know a woman who has three precious dogs, I call them her visible Trinity.  Being with them is so life-giving, filling her with such love, that she is able to be in the world and interact with people differently than before the time with them.  Her dogs usher her into the mind of Christ and is that not what the best spiritual practices do for us?    

As a Spiritual Director, I’m on the lookout for “fake Jesus.” 
 
Whether during the very first session or sometime later through conversation, Ignatian contemplation or other kinds of guided prayer, the Jesus that a person has internalized arises.
 
Remember, a person doesn’t have to be a Christian to have an image of Jesus that dwells within them, impacting the way they think about or view anything Jesus-related.
 
Our image of Jesus, like our image of God, matters. 
 
This image is often pieced together in childhood.  Early paper cutouts with fuzzy backs stuck to flannel boards, the voice and actions of a parent, pastor, or Sunday School teacher, experiences in Vacation Bible School, childhood books and pictures...
 
In fact, it appears that even the Gospel writers may have pieced together a “Jesus” that didn’t always align with the authentic Jesus.  Stephen Mitchell in his book, The Gospel According to Jesus: A New Translation and Guide to His Essential Teachings for Believers and Unbelievers, reveals how the early church writers included not only words and actions that Jesus likely said and did (since he didn't write anything down himself), BUT they also included words and actions they and their community needed him to say or do to fit their own beliefs! 

If what “Jesus” says is in opposition to the authentic Jesus’ main teachings (especially loving God and your neighbor as yourself), there’s a good chance the writer is making Jesus in his own image.  This same “making-Jesus-in-our-own-image”  and having him align with our own beliefs is on blatant display this political season!
 
Now rather than being threatened by Mitchell’s idea, I find it’s helpful in developing skills in discernment.  Remember, Scripture is “living” which means it “speaks” to us as we wrestle with it (which is to join in the lineage of the literal name of Israel!).   It changes as we change and grow.  Try living with a particular text, a story, a single Scripture for a month and notice how it changes (& how it changes you)!  There is no end to new and deeper insights.     
 
Back to our images of Jesus…these images are rarely questioned. 
 
When an internal voice is associated with Jesus, a person automatically thinks it’s Jesus! 
So rather than simply agreeing with them, I listen to the person describe their interaction (always keeping in the back of my mind Jesus’ authentic teachings and his nature as revealed by his authentic teachings).  Sometimes I’ll hear them say things like “Jesus has to knock me upside my head to get my attention.” If during a guided prayer, a door or a place of darkness often appears, “Jesus” will tell them not to look or go through it, to only focus on the light. 
 
Curiosity is helpful here.  I’ll ask, “Whose voice does Jesus’ remind you of?” or “Why don’t you go back into your imagination and simply observe Jesus for a moment, what do you see?” 
 
Every single time, there is surprise. 
 
The response is often:
“My whole life I thought it was Jesus’ voice I was hearing but it was actually my father’s!”  

"Oh wow, now that I'm looking closer, He looks like a flannel board Jesus.  Kind of flimsy, not able to open the door.” 

“Jesus doesn’t really have much substance, he’s ghost-like, but as I watch he’s becoming more human.” 
 
And when Jesus becomes more human, more of his authentic self, they experience His great tenderness and strength.  In doing so, their own tenderness and strength is called forth. 

With this Jesus, they find they are able to open doors and enter into places of darkness they never thought they could.  With this Jesus, they are able to love the parts of themselves and the people they never thought possible. 

In other words, in coming in contact with the authentic Jesus, they are able to love their neighbor as they love themselves!      

I told a friend the other day that as more political signs go up around me, the angrier I become.  Most assuredly I wouldn’t be as angry if they aligned with my own ideology…how telling! 
 
My reaction reminds me of the immense draw to live on the level of agreement. 
Do I agree or disagree?  If the latter, criticism comes quickly followed by detaching from the author, politician, doctor, Facebook friend, family member, neighbor…write them off…case closed, act as if everything is fine.     

But this kind of dissociation never works for me in the long run.  It's not case closed.  Pretending, ignoring, and stuffing feelings ultimately turns into back pain and headaches which is not loving myself (which then leads to the inability to truly love my neighbor).  See last week's post for more on loving oneself.
 
The growing rift, polarization, and lack of neighborliness leads me to ask, “Who is my neighbor?” 
I can’t help but think of Jesus’ parable of an enemy coming to one’s rescue in a time of need (see The Good Samaritan).  Or his words in the famous Sermon on the Mount,
 
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…" Matthew 5: 43-44
 
Ugh.  How do you actually do this?

Realizing that we see our own reflection in the faces of others—both the shadow and the light—can add to the pressure.   The shadow within is hard enough to face, it can be twice as hard when I see it in the face of others (if I’m even willing to admit I do)!
 
Who wants to admit that the narcissism detested in someone else can be a mirror reflecting the narcissism residing within one's self?  Note: This doesn’t excuse or downplay the narcissistic actions by the other. 
 
When Jesus boldly expanded on his Jewish lineage saying that not only are our neighbors those who belong to our family/group and those on the margins of our family/group, but so are our enemies, it must have stunned his audience. 

Even though it was consistent with his teachings about the Kingdom of God and  his prayer that life on earth reflect life in heaven, we sadistically like the idea of some people not being included.        

But the love of God includes everyone. Jesus reminds his listeners, right after telling them to love their enemies,  that God sends rain for those who do right and those who do wrong.  And like the moon reflects the sun, we're to reflect God.     

So how do we integrate the shadow and light of others, especially that of our enemies?  And why should we even try?
   
 When it comes to why, enemy-hating takes up a lot of space in our inner world.  It crowds out what is life-giving. 

Jesus knew the fruit that hate bears.  ​It depletes our inner energy and resources, crippling our ability to live a life of Love within and without. ​

Whoever we hate holds power over us.  When we release the hate, we release their power over us, and free up that energy to love.  Hatred, like love, may start out small (one act or one person), but it quickly overflows into everything and everyone. 

So again, what are we to do?  How can we begin to release criticism, anger, and hate?
 
Since curiosity is helping me release the anger and criticism toward myself, I’ve been experimenting with curiosity in the shift toward loving my neighbor/enemy. 

What might happen if I chose curiosity over criticism with my "neighbor"?     
 
Another political sign went up, this time with a flag on the porch of someone I’ve never met.  Going past their residence, I looked at the signage and their house with curiosity: 

• I wonder what has led this person to put the sign in their yard along with a flag on their porch.  Why both and not just one?
• I’m curious, why are they so passionate about this person being elected?  What are they afraid will happen if this person isn’t elected?
• Is there a particular issue that is close to their heart? 
• Are they friends with anyone who believes differently?  If so, what are their conversations like?
• If I (or my kids) were in trouble, I wonder what they would do.  

 
After a few wonderings & questions (without providing hypothetical answers!), I found my face softening and a willingness to actually have a real conversation rather than a hardening and hiding in my anger.  Honestly, I was surprised.
 
I experimented with a friend when the conversation turned to politics and we wanted to criticize a group of people.  When we shifted to curiosity, the critique faded.  Surprise again!
   
The most recent opportunity happened when someone disagreed with my schooling choice for my kids.  I asked some questions instead of focusing on defending myself.  They began asking questions.  We left the conversation still having differing opinions, but smiling and looking forward to future conversations.
 
Curiosity may be the spiritual practice for this season. 

May it be a step on the path of peace, a way of wisdom, a beginning in embodying the love of God, especially toward all of those putting up political signs!

Over the years, the simplest and best prayer practice I've found for healing our image of God and teaching kids how God loves them is based on a prayer found in Matt, Dennis & Sheila Linn's book, Simple Ways to Pray for Healing.  

In that book and in a previous book, Healing Our Image of God, they reiterate how we become like the God we adore!  So if the God we worship is critical, judgmental and condemning, guess what?  We're going to be critical, judgmental and condemning!   If the God we picture is stoic and distant...you got it...we're going to be stoic and distant.  And this can be passed along from generation to generation.  

One way to heal our image of God is to realize that God loves us at least as much as the person who has loved us most.

Take a moment to consider your image of God.  What words or images would you use to describe your view or understanding of God?  Would you like others to describe you in these ways?  If not, your image of God may be in need of healing.  

Or perhaps parts of you have a healthy view of God and parts of you do not.  This prayer has been instrumental in the on-going healing of my own image of God.  My inner critic can often have a very sanctimonious sounding voice and when I'm vulnerable I can easily mistake it as God's until I bring to mind a person who has loved me most.  This immediately exposes the false god and I am able to not only receive God's love but let God join me in my vulnerable place (which is transforming).

After facilitating this prayer with countless people, I've tweaked it from how it appears in the Linn's book, like adding the love of a pet because some people cannot recall a person who has loved them in a healthy way.   Or sometimes a pet is how God wants to best communicate love to us at a given time.   

Here's the prayer for you to try: 
​
Receiving God's Love through the Person or Pet Who Loves You Most

1. Hit the pause button. Close your eyes. Listen to the sounds around you. Breathe in the love of God.
2. Bring to mind the person or pet who has loved you most (or at least the one who comes to mind in this moment). What is the special gift that person/pet has offered you? Unconditional love? Humor? Gentleness? Understanding? Wisdom? Take a moment to breathe it in as a way of gratitude. 
3. Now take a moment to be with God as you understand God. See if you can appreciate how God loves you in these very same ways! The person or pet who has loved you most are “faces” of God. How this person/pet loves you is the very way God wants to love you.
4. If you can't experience God loving you at least as much as the person who loves you the most, simply be with your hurt & longing. Breathe in God's love and let God love you just as you are. 

​I hope you'll try this prayer for a week and see what happens!  A bonus is that it makes us even more grateful for the person or pet who has loved us so well...and what happens then?  We cannot help but love them back!  It becomes a love circle of giving and receiving (which is exactly what the Trinity is)!!  Now that's a beautiful image of God!

I am grateful for freedom.
And to those who have made my freedom(s) possible.  

I am grateful I have the right to vote and worship God how I choose.  I am grateful I got to marry who I chose.   I am grateful I do not live in daily fear in or outside my home.

And yet in the midst of all of my gratitude this July 4th, I am reminded of Frederick Buechner's words about peace in Wishful Thinking: 

"...we are homeless even so in the sense of having homes but not being really at home in them. To be really at home is to be really at peace, and there can be no real peace for any of us until there is some measure of real peace for all of us. When we close our eyes to the deep needs of other people, whether they live on the streets or under our own roof-and when we close our eyes to our own deep need to reach out to them-we can never be fully at home anywhere." 

I think the same can be said about freedom.  Can there even be real peace without freedom?  

Will you join me this July 4th in asking the question, "Who is not free yet?"  
Who is not free to worship how they choose?
Who is not free to marry who they choose to?
Who lives in fear inside/outside of their home?  
Who has no voice in religious, political, and business institutions?

It shouldn't take too long to identify at least one person if not an entire group of people.
 
Then with the voice of the Holy Spirit and the entire tradition of the Holy Scriptures urging us on, let's take the next step and do something about it.  Like those who gave their lives for our country's freedom.   

Then this will truly be "the land of the free and home of the brave."

Remember those moments of synchronicity I spoke about last week?  

Well I had another string of "meaningful coincidences" I want to pay attention to and share.  At the end of the class on the heart of Jewish spirituality at Congregation Ohabai Sholom, Rabbi Rami Shapiro was asked what practice he would suggest for all of us.  

His answer was to enter more deeply into the "Sh-ma Yisrael," also known as the Shema, the prayerful recitation of Deuteronomy 6:4-9.  Remember, another Rabbi's answer was the same...Jesus told others to live into the Shema, calling it the greatest and most important commandment of all.  Here is the Complete Jewish Bible's translation:  

4 “Sh’ma, Yisra’el! Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai echad [Hear, Isra’el! Adonai our God, Adonai is one]; 5 and you are to love Adonai your God with all your heart, all your being and all your resources. 6 These words, which I am ordering you today, are to be on your heart; 7 and you are to teach them carefully to your children. You are to talk about them when you sit at home, when you are traveling on the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them on your hand as a sign, put them at the front of a headband around your forehead, 9 and write them on the door-frames of your house and on your gates.

Two ways of entering more deeply into the Shema that Rabbi Rami mentioned were the mezuzah and breath prayer.  

• Mezuzahs are little rectangular boxes holding the Shema written on parchment and placed on the doorposts of houses.  They are a visual reminder that all of life, our coming and going, along with all the activity in our house (talking, sitting, lying down, walking and rising) is to reflect the Shema, the love of God.

​

• Breathing with the Shema is a way to bring the prayer into our bodies, the soul's earthly home, and so embody the prayer/God both consciously and unconsciously.  

While I plan on getting a mezuzah, I began that night to breathe in and out each word of the Shema. The next day my family ate at a local restaurant and two Jewish women came up to our table out of the blue to offer encouragement to me.  Why?  I have no idea.  Curious.  I joked with Russ that they could sense I had been praying the Shema!

Afterwards I went home, read a message from a friend who had asked me to recommend a Frederick Beuchner book.  After recommending a few, I walked upstairs to my bookcase and spotted the first Beuchner book I had ever read, A Room Called Remember.  The last time I read it had been well over a decade.  Randomly I opened it up and what did I see?  Staring back at me was Deuteronomy 6:4-7...the Shema!   Under the Scripture, Buechner writes,  

"'Hear, O Israel!' says the great text in Deuteronomy where Moses calls out to his people in the wilderness.  Hear, O Israel!  Hear!  Listen!  And not just O Israel, hear, but O World, O Everybody, O Thou, O every last man and woman of us because we are all of us called to become Israel by hearing..."

As I mentioned last week, synchronicity beckons us to pay attention!  The word "Shema" means "Hear!" and this isn't just the gathering of sounds which can go in one ear and out the other. Watch the short animation below for a fantastic word study on "Shema" by The Bible Project.  Given the meaning of the word and how it keeps coming up, clearly I'm to hear something!  Perhaps there's something here for you, too.  

You may have read Adonai translated as LORD, but it can also be translated as The NAME, or Ineffable. Why?  Watch the second short animation for a great explanation of the word's background. In addition, not only was the Divine Name so sacred that it was not to be pronounced, but some Jewish scholars taught that YHWH was ineffable because it was not a pronounceable word at all...it was the sound of breathing!  This would go along with the name's etymology, God's Name does not indicate a being but Being itself.  And this is beyond words!  You might muse over God's Name, breathing and existence for a little while...    

Now for the breath prayer.  If you've never heard the words of the Shema spoken in Hebrew, you can listen to them being read and sung here.  Practice silently saying the words with a slow, relaxed inhale and exhale.
In breath- Shema (pronounced Sheh-MA)
Out breath- Yisrael (Yis-rah-EL)
In breath- Adonai (Ah-do-NAI)
Out breath- Eloheinu (Eh-lo-HEY-noo)
In breath- Adonai
Out breath- Echad (Eh-KHAD)

As we regularly breathe the prayer, the hope as Rabbi Rami points out is to help one's consciousness to shift so one sees God in, with, and as all reality and one's interactions with others are marked with compassion.  May it be so.   

The day after school ended, my kids and I headed out-of-state to visit friends and family.  I was tired before this trip down memory lane began so I really needed to engage the Fruit of the Spirit (patience & gentleness don't come easily in such circumstances)!  

I tried breathing in and out each fruit, dwelling on those especially needed. However, being out of my normal exercise routine, this didn't suffice...my whole body wanted to join in on the practice.  

So I found myself revisiting the prayer postures that my daughter and her yoga teacher, spiritual director, and author of Holy Listening with Breath, Body, and the Spirit, Whitney Simpson, put together to remember and receive the Fruits of the Spirit. Together we wrote a blog series for Ministry Matters in 2014, found here. 

With the celebration of the Holy Spirit's presence & power happening just two days ago on Pentecost Sunday, I thought I'd take another trip down memory lane by reminding us all of these prayer postures and the devotionals that go with them.  Come taste and see...  

Holy Trinity, as we allow ourselves to feast on the fruit of You in our lives, may we become what we eat.  May we embody love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control, and truly become the Body of Christ in this world.  Amen.

Good Friday is coming in a few weeks and with it, some theology I simply cannot stand anymore.  

It's found in many worship songs like Jesus Paid it All, In Christ Alone, One Thing Remains (Your Love Never Fails) and more. It's called substitutionary atonement or penal substitution in theological language.  And it's heard so often, you might even think it's the only show in town when it comes to explanations and understandings of the cross.

Richard Rohr, writes in Eager to Love: The Alternative Way of Francis of Assisi, “For the sake of simplicity and brevity here, let me say that the common Christian reading of the Bible is that Jesus 'died for our sins'— either to pay a debt to the devil (common in the first millennium) or to pay a debt to God the Father (proposed by Anselm of Canterbury [1033–1109] and has often been called 'the most unfortunately successful piece of theology ever written')..."

I could not agree more.  No matter how sweet sounding the music, the image of God portrayed by such lyrics is a petty, powerless and/or blood-thirsty tyrant requiring some kind of payment or transaction before those He's created can be forgiven, loved, and rescued from eternal damnation. There are lots of problems with this theory.  One major problem is that if we read the Hebrew Scriptures, like the Psalms and Prophets, we discover a long-suffering God who was forgiving and willing to forgive long before the cross occurred.  Rather than a belief that Jesus' death on the cross was necessary to change God's mind about us, we can see how Jesus' life and death invited us to change our minds about God.  Jesus was simply following in his Father's footsteps of relentless, sacrificial love.  I have a problem with lyrics and theology that proclaim the opposite. 

Given this theology is taught through song and sermon in many churches (I taught it years ago as a youth pastor!), we're not apt to actually stop and think through it ourselves.  It took me a while to admit that something seemed "off."  There would be songs that seemed fine up until the "wrath" or "debt paid" lyrics showed up affecting the whole song.  As I questioned this dominant cultural voice in American Christianity, I realized there were others experiencing the same internal dissonance. I also discovered there were other views about the crucifixion (always have been) besides substitutionary atonement.   And that one no longer represents my viewpoint...

The movie, Gran Torino, on the other hand does.  Spoiler alert, if you haven't seen it and want to, you may want to stop reading, go watch it and come back later.  And be aware, there's violence (although let's be honest, there has to be if drawing any kind of connection between it and Good Friday).  Back to the movie, I did not see it coming, the ending of Gran Torino.  In fact, I imagine I got a taste of being stunned the way the disciples might have been stunned on that Good Friday long ago...they simply never saw it coming.  Yet the Gospels tell us Jesus did (and so did Clint Eastwood).  
 
If you saw the movie but cannot remember the ending, go check out a Youtube clip of the end. The final scene is so rich in symbolism, I'm not even going to get into all of it (plus it would take away from your own disturbances and observations).  All I know is that Gran Torino gave a pretty good glimpse of my view of Jesus' death on the cross in less than 5 minutes.  

A quick overview of the movie...gruff Walt Kowalski (played by Clint Eastwood) is a recently widowed Korean vet.  He's fairly estranged from his own family when he gets drawn into the drama of his Hmong neighbors. Young Thao tries to steal Kowalski's Gran Torino after being pressured by his cousin to join the neighborhood gang.  You know that Eastwood is not going to let that happen!  This event leads to Kowalski developing a relationship with the family and getting an inside look at the cycle of violence and poverty experienced by the Asian community in his neighborhood.  He sees how his well-intentioned advice to Thao to get a decent job and stay away from the gangs simply doesn't work, no matter how hard Thao tries, he and his sister cannot escape the brutality and injustice. It requires something more to liberate Thao and his sister.  And that's where we start seeing Kowalski's single-minded intensity and there's no mistaking he is planning something.  What he's planning, we have no idea.  

Although we know something is about to take place when one night he shows up at the house where the gang members hang out and begins to yell in order to provoke them.  One by one they come out with guns drawn.  We're expecting "an eye for an eye" moment thinking Eastwood will whip out a gun and give them the justice they deserve by picking them off all in a row.  What we're not expecting from the foul-mouthed Kowalski is "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13)  And yet he does.  And on purpose.  His stunning and creative act of solidarity and sacrifice releases Thao and his sister from the cycle of violence. They were "saved" by his blood.

In a perfect world, the prison system would reform the perpetrators and they'd be "saved by his blood," too.  It's not a perfect world and Walt doesn't rise again in three days, so there's only so far the comparisons can go but I think it's worth noting the image of Christ found in Walt's sacrifice.

First, let's admit that Walt himself could be a stumbling block for some. In which case, I ask us to ponder what one who "walks in the way that leads to Life" really looks like.  Is it being a nice, moral citizen who tries to avoid or point out sin (but can have a habit of ignoring the cycles of violence and systemic injustice in his own "neighborhood")?  Or might one resemble Walt, a crass, politically incorrect "sinner" who not only notices the violence and injustice, but steps into a Christ-like path which will set his neighborhood free?  Setting his face like flint, he walks right onto that sidewalk for an act of love which will rescue his neighbors from being held captive by a cycle of violence they are powerless against.  Sound familiar?  

Jesus knew his message would provoke the authorities.  He knew that such ire would inevitably turn him into a scapegoat (a person or people group on whom we unfairly pour out our wrath, making them "pay").  He knew it is human nature to look for a scapegoat.  So much so, it becomes a religious necessity for nearly every culture (some even beating literal goats to death as the name suggests)!  One can see how Jesus' bold message about what to do with friends and enemies does not fit, but in fact destroys both the necessity for and violent cycle of sinful and superstitious scapegoating.  

Bigger isn't better in Jesus' view (even when it comes to God).  Being the stronger bully or in the bully's gang never leads to the kind of life Jesus invites, it only adds fuel to the cycle of vengeance.  However, many Christians have no problem with this because the image of God passionately sung about is a fickle, vengeful one (and remember, we become like the God we worship). Plus if we agree that Jesus paid it all, we're safely on the winning side.  However, in the cycle of violence, there is no winning side.  In a stunning reversal of what we would expect from a winning "savior," Jesus chooses solidarity with the suffering of the scapegoat and dies. 

Jesus knew the pull of scapegoating loomed large.  After his resurrection, knowing some of his disciples had a propensity for zealous anger (once they knew they were safely on the "winning team"), he headed off any plans to go after the ones who had killed him. The Gospel of John tells us Jesus meets his disciples in the room they were hiding in, breathes on them, tells them to receive the Holy Spirit then talks to them about forgiveness (20:21), a topic he talked to them about at the Last Supper and even voiced from the cross.  

It seems the disciples had a choice (and so do we).  Be chained to the cycle of violence or have hearts and minds freed up to carry out the mission Jesus began.

What is that mission?--a completely different way of being in the world (which includes the religious one!).  It's the subversive, dangerous and life-giving way of loving God and our neighbors (whether they be Hmong, Muslim, Mexican, Irish, disabled, poor, or LGBT+) as we love ourselves (which includes parts of ourselves we like and parts we'd like to treat as scapegoats).  It's that kind of love that frees.  It's that kind of love that Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Jr., the young Palestinian girl Malala Yousafzai, and Walt Kowolski knew would cost them something, perhaps even their lives.

If someone wants to write a song about that, I'll gladly sing it.