Ideas Done Daily

Rather than waiting for a future someday when everything will magically be all better, we are called to live and work here and now to bring heaven to the literal hell that is raging all around us. Because just like the parable, the same is too often true for us, especially people in the church. We’re asleep at the wheel, we doze of assuming that we have all the time in the world. But the reality is that it’s already here. We’re not waiting for Jesus to come someday. We need to wake up and realize that Jesus is already here, embodied in the hands and feet and faces of you and me as we live and breathe and work for love and justice in our lives and in the world around us. Because this parable isn’t a commentary on the future. It’s a commentary on the present.

Too often being a person of faith means you just believe the right things. But our beliefs need to go beyond our heads and be embodied in our hands and feet, coming to life in the world around us. This is why the whole “thoughts and prayers” everyone offers after a tragedy tend to feel empty. Thoughts and prayers are nice, but sometimes we need votes and action to actually change things and make sure these tragedies stop repeating themselves. So practice what you preach. Because actions speak a whole lot louder than words. Join Rev. Jim Keat for a conversation about Matthew 23:3, what it means to practice what you preach, the difference between intent and impact, and five ways to become more anti-racist.