The more I read about Clarence Jordan and Koinonia Farm, the more times I watch the documentary, “Briars in the Cotton Patch,” the more I talk with people about Koinonia and hear sermons like the one preached by Jimmy Loyless today at Pilgrimage, the more convinced I become that everything I’ve been doing in my faith life until this point hasn’t even begun the scratch the surface of what Jesus was talking about.

Richard Rohr’s book on the Sermon on the Mount is called, “Jesus’ Plan for a New World.” I think Rohr is exactly right. There is so much about the world as it is, especially its inequities, that we unquestioningly accept as “simply the way things are.” But Jesus challenged us all to think–to THINK, for Christ’s sake (literally)!–about how fair, how loving, how gracious our world is…and to make changes where things weren’t fair, gracious, or loving. In another place, Rohr says that the greatest enemy to living the Gospel is conventional wisdom, the status quo. Jesus called us–calls us still–to look honestly and seriously around at our lives and to work to make changes that contribute to the wholeness of all people. All people. All people.

Amen.