Introduction
It is human nature to keep doing better—to improve upon a product or method or a life lesson so the benefits are compounded.
Flight didn’t end at Kitty Hawk, but rather is reaching for Mars.
Medicine didn’t end with penicillin, but is closing in on a COVID vaccine.
“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” didn’t end with the people who heard the Sermon on the Mount, but its message still guides us today.
On and on we aim to build a better world through brilliant designs that seek to reshape the world. For instance…
Performance running shoes with colorful sleek designs make you want to hit the pavement, but not many have the brilliant design of the Adidas “Futurecraft Loop,” which is made completely from recycled material and no glue.
Raincoats will keep you dry, but the plastic comes from fossil fuels and will eventually sit in landfills. But now there is a raincoat made from fast-growing carbon consuming algae, mimicking plastic in every way. “The jacket lets you put on a future where we are no longer dependent on fossil fuels,” said Charlotte McCurdy, the creator of the raincoat.
Other brilliant designs include a typeface that increases legibility for people with low vision; a prefabricated “hospital room in a box”; a credit card that monitors your carbon footprint; and an electric motorcycle that is largely 3D-printed.
All of these were hailed by Fast Company magazine in 2019 as “Award winners that are reshaping our world.” The winner of the “Socially good” category was “The Water Box” in Flint, Michigan. This mobile filtration unit plugs into the public water system and pumps out safe, lead-free drinking water.
Recyclable running shoes. Carbon-negative raincoats. Hospitals in a box. Mobile water filtration units. Brilliant designs, reshaping the world for the better.
Of course some brilliant designs have their flaws—like deciding to put anti-drug messages on pencils for students. “Too Cool to Do Drugs” seems like a good message, but as you sharpen the pencil the message changes: “Cool to Do Drugs.” “Do Drugs.” “Drugs.” Not a brilliant design that reshapes the world, but it started in a good place.
The Apostle Paul was all in for reshaping the world, knowing what is known now—that to do so will require us to be bold and radical in our thinking and in our actions.
Move 1
Before recycled footwear and algae raincoats, the Apostle Paul had some innovative ideas about what it meant to be a true Christian. He shared his design with the followers of Jesus in Rome, using words as surprising today as they were when they were first written.
For starters, Paul encourages us to do the opposite of what people expect of us, especially when we are attacked. Instead of fighting fire with fire, Paul says, “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them” (Romans 12:14).
The approach that most people take is: “Don’t get mad, get even.” Heaping curses on evildoers is acceptable behavior in many cultures—even our own mainstream culture today. But Paul says, “Don’t get even. Offer prayerful blessings.” And he says this because he knows the way of Christ is to offer good to a persecutor instead of fighting back, counterattacking, or evening the score.
Pastor and scholar N.T. Wright says, “In both Jesus’ teaching, and Paul’s own practice, there was a strikingly new note: Hostility was to be met with prayer, and violence with blessing.” It is to be as Jesus himself said in the Sermon on the Mount, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” (Matthew 5:44).
Do the opposite. Love instead of hate. Bless instead of curse. “Do not repay anyone evil for evil,” says Paul, “but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all” (Romans 12:17).
That’s a brilliant design that reshapes the world.
This can be seen when a pastor tells the story of a woman named Martha, who had a terribly difficult and abusive childhood. “My mom regularly beat me with a strap,” she recalls. “She was mean even when I did nothing wrong. My dad was cruel for reasons I don’t understand. He’d pack my lunch for school and often put a rock in it instead of a sandwich. As hungry as I was after school, I dreaded coming home.”
The pastor asked her how it was that she and her husband managed to raise a beautiful child of their own after the hellish childhood she had endured—knowing that so often abused children become abusers and the cycle of violence continues. Martha said, “I was determined to do the complete opposite of what my parents did for me.”
Do the opposite. Love instead of hate. Bless instead of curse. “Do not repay anyone evil for evil,” says Paul, “but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all” (Romans 12:17).
Move 2
Paul’s innovative ideas encourage us to live according to the values of the kingdom of God, instead of the values of the world. The world is “dog eat dog,” with people competing fiercely and being willing to harm each other in order to succeed. But the values of God’s kingdom invite us to “live in harmony with one another” (v. 16).
The world is full of people who want to show off and be accepted by powerful and influential people. But the values of God’s kingdom encourage us to “not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are” (v. 16).
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In the summer of 1985, professor Henri Nouwen left his position at Harvard Divinity School and joined a movement in France called L’Arche, which means “the Ark”, spending nine months living and sharing life with people with learning disabilities. Then Nouwen joined the L’Arche Daybreak community in Canada and served as its pastor until his death in 1996.
Nouwen took seriously the instruction of Paul to “associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are.” He explains that he moved from Harvard to L’Arche so he could be “closer to the heart of God.”
Within L’Arche, the focus is on loving those who feel alone and abandoned because of a mental disability. Nouwen supported a young man named Adam, who was severely disabled. As he cared for Adam, he came to a deeper understanding of his faith and what it means to be loved by God. It’s a brilliant design that reshaped the world.
Move 3
Finally, Paul encourages us to conquer our enemies in an innovative way: “If your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads” (v. 20).
Paul does not want Christians to be passive in the face of their enemies, rolling over and caving in when confronted by evil. Rather Paul says take faithful, Christ-like action: “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (v. 21).
This lesson was lived out by President Abraham Lincoln, after delivering a speech at the height of the Civil War. In it, Lincoln referred to Southerners as fellow human beings. After the speech an elderly woman chastised him for not calling them irreconcilable enemies who must be destroyed. To which Lincoln replied, saying, “Why, madam? Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?”
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The unexpected and innovative design of Christian life is to overcome evil with good, instead of fighting evil with evil. If our enemies are hungry, we feed them. If they are thirsty, we give them something to drink. In the end, we destroy our enemies by turning them into friends.
To transform an enemy into a friend requires one person to step forward and initiate the change. And change is propelled by love that forgives: all wrongs, harsh statements, the giving in to social pressure, and aggressive actions.
Change and reshaping the world takes us finding common bonds in life and embracing them, while respecting the differences among us.
Such a transformation is often grounded in what Jesus said during the Sermon on the Mount: “In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets” (Matthew 7:12), what has become known as the Golden Rule.
So when facing an enemy, don’t attack them. Instead, “Golden Rule” them. Feed them. Give them a drink. Do to others as you would have them do to you.
Conclusion
The Apostle Paul challenges us to do the opposite of what people expect—blessing instead of cursing. He invites us to live according to the values of the Kingdom of God, instead of the values of the world. And he encourages us to conquer our enemies with Christ-like compassion and kindness.
Yes, there is evil in the world, and Paul knows it. “But,” as N.T. Wright says, “God’s people are to meet evil in the way that even God met it, with love and generous goodness. God knows that the way to overthrow evil, rather than perpetuating it, is to take its force and give back goodness instead.”
This is what Jesus did on the cross, and it is what we are challenged to do in daily acts of love and compassion.
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New brilliant designs are reshaping the world everyday—no doubt about it.
But we don’t have to design a shoe or a raincoat. We don’t have to improve upon flight or medicine. We don’t need to craft a slogan for a pencil in order to be part of this world reshaping.
As people of faith, the brilliant design to reshape the world has already been set within us. All we have to do is live it. And when we do, we will reshape the world as God, through Jesus Christ, intends. Amen.
Pastoral Prayer, August 23, 2020
God of compassion and kindness; God of grace and peace; God of hope and renewal meet us once again with the ways of your Kingdom for we are living in a day and age where it is needed so immensely.
So we pray you help us to honor your Son’s call, not by paying it lip service, but by trusting the vision it speaks of, and the way it calls for.
We pray you help us follow you by living out the Word with our actions, and thus showing those consumed by the ways of this world that we are choosing to reshape the world as Christ has shown—with compassion and kindness, grace and peace, hope and the chance to renew our minds, bodies, and spirits through loving all—even our enemies. That we aim to reshape the world by caring for others, with a willingness to touch the outcast, feed the hungry, remember the sick, visit the imprisoned, clothe the naked, and give water to the thirsty.
For this is how you call us, your followers, to reshape the world.
This is our prayer, and we pray you send your Holy Spirit to lead us in making it so in our lives. May it begin by forgiving us for holding on to anything that could hinder the renewal work you call us to do.
Forgive us, then help us release any unforgiving attitudes we hold, and thoughts of revenge we conjure, or hateful emotions we project that keep us from being led by your Spirit.
Give us wisdom as we seek to be counter cultural by offering blessings rather than attacking back; by offering compassion to the spewing of hate and vitriol.
Help us to pray for our enemies, and those who see us as theirs. Let us pray they hear your voice and recognize their deep need for all you have to give. Let us pray they will discover Your comfort in times of mourning, fear, and hurtful responses.
God of all, we have seen how your ways have shaped the world. May that work be done, once again, and may it be done through each of our lives.
Hear now, we ask, the prayers of our hearts as we offer them in this time of Holy Silence.
All this we pray in the name of Christ Jesus, who taught us to pray saying, “Our…”