Seeing God in Each Other
A few years ago, Richard Rohr wrote a book entitled Jesus’ Alternative Plan: The Sermon on the Mount. It spoke powerfully about how Jesus turns our assumptions upside down and offers a radically different way to think and live in the world. The twist of Jesus’ words didn’t appeal to everyone. But to those it did — both then and now — it provides a growing opportunity to question conventional wisdom, challenge the status quo, and take the risk of living differently, always seeking and embodying the way of love.
What I see more and more in the world today is a fixation on winners and losers. Rowan Williams once observed that there can be no winners and losers in the Christian family. Instead, we must stay engaged in the “game” of prayer and conversation until we find a way forward where everyone feels valued.
Over the years, I’ve met with couples, families, and groups locked in cycles of conflict, each side believing one is right and the other is wrong. Counselors often reveal that these situations are rarely so black and white. Instead, there are usually two competing narratives that, when held together, reveal a shared truth. When individuals, couples, churches, and communities can recognize that each holds a piece of the puzzle, people who were once estranged can find healing, build wisdom, and make space for new love and respect to grow — even in what seemed like a lost cause.
So, where do we begin? It starts with small acts of grace. A conversation with someone who thinks differently. A moment of generosity toward someone in need. A decision to pray for the person we struggle to love. These small steps are the seeds of the kingdom, planted in the soil of ordinary lives, growing into extraordinary signs of God’s reign.
This work is not conventional. Sadly, it’s rarely practiced. Yet Jesus calls us to live by an alternative way — a way that refuses to let hatred, rivalry, or division define us. It’s a way marked by humility, love, forgiveness, and radical compassion.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus reminds us:
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”
May we take these words to heart, seeking to embody the way of love that Jesus taught. May we pursue the genuine shalom — a peace that reflects God’s reign, where all people feel heard, known, and loved.