As the world turns..........

"If you are going to follow Jesus, you better look good on wood."

It is the only quote I know from the Vietnam era pacifist Daniel Berrigan.  If you are going to question 'the way things are done' and criticize the 'justified use of force';  if you think that this world does not require that all humanity be continually divided into winners and losers with the winners taking all, then this is a good quote for you.

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God." 

 [That's another one. Jesus this time from the fifth chapter of Matthew.]

However, we all know that the peacemakers will be called a whole list of other things which can't be mentioned in polite company before they will be called children of God. There is a long list of folks who chose the Jesus way over the way of this world and who paid with their lives - and not because they were stronger or smarter or braver or even more holy.

I think it was because they caught a glimpse of the risen Lord and the world which he broke open for we laggard, blind, deaf and obstinate creatures who the Great Creator continued to love in spite of ourselves or because the Great Creator saw so much potential in us that God was willing to take a chance.

In the end, the world Jesus promised was more than these folks could imagine so they took the chance to imagine it for all of humankind.  El Salvador.  India.  Birmingham. Belfast. Sarajevo. Chicago.

Where will your imagination take you?