Jesus clearly says the kingdom of heaven is among us (Luke 17:21) or “at hand” (Matthew 3:2, 4:17). One wonders why we made it into a reward system for later, or as Brian McLaren calls it, “an evacuation plan for the next world.” Maybe it was easier to obey laws and practice rituals for later than to actually be transformed now. The price for real transformation is high. It means that we have to change our loyalties from power, success, money, and control (read: “our kingdoms”) to … [Read more...]

Whatever is foreseen in joy / Must be lived out from day to day. / Vision held open in the dark / By our ten thousand days of work. / Harvest will fill the barn; for that / The hand must ache, the face must sweat. And yet no leaf or grain is filled / By work of ours; the field is tilled / And left to grace. That we may reap, / Great work is done while we're asleep. / When we work well, a Sabbath mood / Rests on our day, and finds it good. —Wendell Berry, A Timbered Choir: The … [Read more...]