Ways to Engage in April

Two goats were approaching each other on a narrow mountain path. One was going up, and the other was going down with no room to safely pass without falling off the cliff. Upon noticing each other, the goats stopped in their tracks and lowered their heads as if they were about to charge. However, instead of butting heads, the goat going up the mountain lay down on the path while the other stepped over its back. Both goats reached their destinations intact and unhurt.

Imagine if the two goats had chosen to butt heads and fight over which one got to pass and which one would meet an early death. It would likely have been catastrophic for both. Instead, while one goat bowed before the other in a posture of humility, it was still able to reach its destination unscathed.

Counter to internet-trolling culture, hostile political climates, and a deeply rooted sense of entitlement in western culture, peacemaking is the way of Jesus. In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus says “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” What Jesus is saying here is that in the way children take on the attributes of their parents, we are to take on the attributes of God, one of which is peacemaking. Peacemaking is unconventional, peacemaking is countercultural, and peacemaking can just be plain insane. But, peacemaking is what Jesus demonstrated by dying on a cross rather than starting a war.

This month we press into Jesus’ example of being both a peacemaker and a peace bringer in order to re:assemble the way we live, work, respond, relate, and model being people of peace. – Jess