Richard Mallory

“Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.”
  —Luke 14.27

Cross
by Steve Garnaas-Holme

Romans nailed them to it, regularly.
It wasn’t jewelry. It was doom.

It doesn’t mean you belong.
It means you’re willing to die.

Think not of what you must accomplish
but what you will surrender;

and by that cross
great things may be accomplished.

Dear Friends in Christ,

What the cross is not is a call to embrace masochism or hatred of oneself by inflicting suffering on oneself.

This extraordinary challenge by Jesus would have us line up our values, making them conscious and see if they match “picking up one’s cross.”

Gospel values. Jesus values. The more one moves in this direction, the more one moves into the depths of loving God, oneself and others. In this perspective, love of oneself and love of others comes from the same inner source.

This love is not self-indulgence and is not a blank check for ongoing self gratification.

An example is the Good Samaritan story. The “hero” to begin with, is from a hated minority who turns out to be more evolved than the professional clergy who bypass the mugged and hurting victim. In the abundant attention showered upon him, the helper also loves himself just as much.

An overarching theme of the Bible is that God’s love for God’s beloved humans knows no bounds. God inconveniences God’s Self continuously by coming along to assist and support.

If this is true, why do shootings of children occur? Why does slaughter of humans occur in war—in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan? Where is God in all of that?

I’ll share my take on these questions at a later time. They matter a great deal.

In the meantime, Jesus offers an invitation, “Take up your cross and follow me.”   It is no less than the imitation of God.

Your fellow traveler,

—Richard