Last night, our Laidback Book Club had our final chat about UNOFFENDABLE by Brant Hansen. It was an amazing read that challenged our notions of "righteous anger," "winning and losing," "seeing the God given potential of every individual," and "assuming people's motivations." One of the Bible stories that Brant used was the "Stoning of the Woman Caught in Adultery." We all know this one where the "righteous men" are set to stone a woman they found morally offensive. This action was permissible by law. They were going to mete out justice, but then Jesus came along and turned that all upside down. "Let the one among you who is without sin, cast the first stone." And not only did everyone turn around and leave, they "dropped their stones." I think one of the things this story shows is that not only should we not judge others, but we have to lay down our judging and "righteous anger," and not carry it around with us. Jesus asks us to meet each person where they are, in the middle of the mess, and love them like Jesus did because all of those rocks of anger and judgement sure get heavy and aren't we all a little bit tired of carrying them around?
On Monday we celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his relentless pursuit of freedom, mercy, and justice for all people. I think the word "justice" trips us up sometimes because we often think of "justice" as people "getting what they deserve," in a punitive way. That's not the kind of justice that Dr. King is referring to, nor is it the Biblical meaning of the word. This great video from the Bible Project explains justice and what it means for how we live our lives. It's absolutely worth the six minutes:
And if that's a little bit too long or you prefer a tune, how about this:
And while we are "In Motion," how about moving your mouse and clicking to sign up for the good things coming up:
Wishing you a week of laying down stones and moving toward love!
With Hope and Joy and Lots of Love,
lyn