Public Domain – The Deserter by Boardman Robinson. Anti-war cartoon depicting Jesus facing a firing squad made up of soldiers from five different European countries (at that time the US had not yet entered the war). First published in The Masses in 1916.

Violence is in the news this morning.

Every morning.

Every evening.

All violence is terrifying and intimidating, wielding illegitimate power, an attempt to subjugate whether it be mass violence, violence sanctioned by governments, gang violence, or domestic violence.

It's all terrorism because it terrorizes.

Our culture thrives on it, or pretends to do so, fooling itself into believing it is being nurtured or protected by it.

We fantasize about it, threaten it, practice it, encourage it, and even vote for it in all of its forms. Yet, it is antithetical to the gospel in every form through which it manifests itself individually and corporately.

It is even at the heart of much of our entertainment.

The gospel of a new kingdom counters it:

Lay down your weapons, fists and guns; follow the Prince of Peace. 

Start with the heart for the heart is the heart of the matter.

"For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile." – from Matthew 18:1-20

It is a statement made in radical simplicity.

As we make our minds available to be stretched beyond capacity, we start to comprehend that which is beyond compression.

The sweet spot shows itself where that which is tangled and interwoven shows itself as one steady thread of peace.

We are challenged to go for the essence, the radical roots, the core, the spirit that transcends tradition, and sheds religious baggage, the good news that liberates.

But we want it complicated, truncated, elaborated, and negated of its hearty demands.

So, we redact, retract, and react to and with words and exceptions that extract the sting from its power. We place these rather unambiguous teachings of Jesus in the column where we store his hyperbolic and humorous sayings.

"He could not possibly meant for us to practice non-violence and non-retaliation in such a violent world. It is not practical."

"So, for the sake of your tradition, you make void the word of God. " – from Matthew 15:1-20

Then, we take those sayings that are meant to provoke our searching questions and we make judgmental rules of them that allow us to violate the Great Commandment.

How convenient for us – we heaping burdens of tradition on people's shoulders and calling it doctrine while we lay aside a gospel truth that truly liberates.

"This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines." – from Matthew 15:1-20

What do we do?

First, we acknowledge who we are. We are not called to the ordinary, but the extraordinary. We are not called to do what everyone else does and accepts as acceptable. We are called to be odd balls and if we are called such, we thank the person who notices.

Second, we bear witness by speaking, advocating for peaceful policies,  and practicing what we preach. We do it with consistency, non-judgmental joy, and grace toward those who do not get it.

Third, we keep doing it, expecting neither reward nor compliment, nor positive results. This is not a feasibility study. It is an alternate lifestyle.

It might not end well, except for this: When we come to the end, we know that it is not really the end.

"Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God." – Matthew 5:9

And children of God endure and thrive beyond a culture that thinks it is thriving, but is, in fact, on a road to disaster.