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Tuesday, December 08, 2015

Let us all help to create such a place as this now

Thomas Moore writes about a kingdom in his column for Spirituality & Health magazine's November - December 2015 issue under the headline "The Path to Utopia". He includes:
". . . Jesus makes it clear that his kingdom is not our usual world at all.

In particular, he says that in his kingdom you are not interested in personal wealth, you don’t judge and condemn yourself or others, and you live by the principle of agape — a mixture of love and respect — where the people we consider outcast will be incast, and vice versa. In this kingdom, those who feel they have a right to belong can’t get in. You should go out of your way to show compassion to people who are not in your circle — your nationality, your political persuasion, or your religion. If you’re searching for something to do with your life, be a healer of some sort.

It should be clear that the Jesus kingdom has little in common with the ways of the world as we know it. I like to borrow a term from my namesake Thomas More of England — utopia. It means either no place or a good place — or both. Jesus seems to be recommending a world that is nowhere, certainly in comparison to the tough world we usually live in, and one that is a good place. He wants to show us how to get to this not-yet-existing place and leave behind a world that works by harsh economics and moralistic judgments, where neighbors are everywhere in conflict." 
Read Moore's column and comment at the end: How do we create the kingdom in this place?