What if we didn’t have to hit ourselves in the head with a big stick - or a shaming thought - to get ourselves to change...

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

Matthew 5:9 

Mark 4:39 - Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. 

The Christian idea of peace takes its inspiration from shalom, the Hebrew word for peace in the Old Testament that includes ideas of completeness and well-being.

“God created the world in a web of relationships that overflowed with forceful goodness.” - Lisa Sharon Harper

Sometimes people try to sugarcoat hard truths. Not today!

What if self control isn’t repression or denial, but embracing the freedom to choose and to thrive?

We are not meant for isolation - we are meant for love. We are meant to live in a deep web of sustaining relationships, in communities of care and concern.

Speaking to an audience of religious people, comfortably confident in their moral uprightness, Jesus means for the story of the Good Samaritan to shock, even offend them. We modern listeners tend to miss its boldness.