Loving your enemies

I just stumbled over this quote from Martin Luther King Jr.:

We cannot in all good conscience obey your unjust laws, because noncooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good. Throw us in jail, and we shall still love you. Bomb our homes and threaten our children, and we shall still love you. Send your hooded perpetrators of violence into our community at the midnight hour and beat us and leave us half dead, and we shall still love you. But be ye assured that we will wear you down by our capacity to suffer. One day we shall win freedom, but not only for ourselves. We shall so appeal to your heart and conscience that we shall win you in the process, and our victory will be a double victory. . . .

Now there is a final reason I think that Jesus says, “Love your enemies.” It is this: that love has within it a redemptive power. And there is a power there that eventually transforms individuals. That’s why Jesus says, “Love your enemies.” Because if you hate your enemies, you have no way to redeem and to transform your enemies. But if you love your enemies, you will discover that at the very root of love is the power of redemption.

– Martin Luther King, Jr., “Loving Your Enemies”, 17 November 1957, Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Montgomery Alabama

found on: http://missionalchurchnetwork.com/martin-luther-king-jr-on-loving-your-enemies-2/ 

a powerful prayer from church history

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
Where there is injury, pardon.
Where there is doubt, faith.
Where there is despair, hope.
Where there is darkness, light.
Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive.
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Amen. 

(Prayer attributed to Saint Francis of Assisi)

The crippledJesus

The crippledJesus tells the world …

… that God is for them not against them.
… that the church is not here to judge them but to serve them.
… that there is now personal and social salvation for everyone.

The crippledJesus tells the church….

… be my hands and feet in this world.
… go to the dark places and serve the least of these.
… proclaim the Gospel through word and deed.

Philip from crippledJesus.com

Denis is part of our church in Mainz and helped us out with taking some pictures of the crippledJesus. Here is what he says about the crippledJesus:

We want to hear from you too. Contact us and share what you think about the crippledJesus.

An upside down revolution

When I was around 14, I said yes to Jesus.
I did not know what I all signed up for and it takes a journey to understand what kind of revolution he calls us to. But what I understand so far inspires me like nothing else.

It is a revolution to change this world into the world it ought to be.

But this revolution is not fought with bombs or guns.
It is a revolution that is fought with love, hope and faith.

- A revolution that is not about ruling, but serving.
- A revolution that is not about being first, but last.
- A revolution that is not about taking, but giving.
- It is a revolution that is about the cross, not the sword.
- A revolution that is not about receiving, but sacrificing.
- A revolution that serves the least of theses, the forgotten, the outcast.

It is a revolution that acts like Jesus, looks like Jesus and loves like Jesus.

And when it doesn’t, it’s not the revolution of Jesus.

Philip from crippledJesus.com

It’s not enough to believe in Jesus

Recently, I met a guy at a coffee shop. We started talking.
At one point, he said: „I also believe in Jesus.“
To which I answered: „Which Jesus do you believe in?“
He said: „What do you mean?“
I said: „There are many different Jesus’ out there…

· the tax-paying-law-abiding-middle-class-order-your-life Jesus
· the turn-or-burn Jesus
· the domesticated-pet Jesus
· the revolutionary-hippy Jesus
· the intellectual-I-know-it-all Jesus
· the judgmental-I-see-it-all Jesus
· the touchy-feely Jesus
· the crippled Jesus
· and many more…

Which Jesus do you believe in?”

This developed into a great conversation.

It’s not enough to believe in Jesus. We need to articulate words, paint pictures
and put into action what kind of Jesus we believe in.

Cris from crippleJesus.com

Christ Has No Body

Teresa of Avila – Christ Has No Body

Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.

Let’s change the Great Commission

For years, I tried to follow Matthew’s version of the Great Commission.

Matthew reports that at the end of Jesus’ ministry, Jesus said to his disciples (Matthew 28:18-20): „All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.“

These verses have inspired generations of Christians to get involved in ministry and mission. This is great. There is only one slight problem. We have understood the „making disciples“ to be a mainly cognitive thing. We have put people in pews and preached long sermons (now I am guilty of that!)

These days, I try to live out John’s version of the Great Commission. It’s a little bit shorter (easier to remember?), but no less challenging.

John writes in John 20:21: „As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.“

I am asking myself the question(s):

How was Jesus sent by the father?
Which role / position did Jesus have to give up?
Who did Jesus hang out with?
Who did he minister to?
How did Jesus disciple?

Answering these questions challenges me to look closer at the historical Jesus and less at the current version(s) of Jesus. It challenges me to invite people not to a mere cognitive discipleship process, but a real life-challenging adventure of
• Leaving my place of comfort
• Engaging with real sinners (those who still know that they are sinners)
• Ministering to the poor and sick
• Taking people along as I go.

What do you think?

Cris from crippledJesus.com

the gap