Following the Call:
Living the Sermon on the Mount Together
Edited by Charles E Moore, Plough Publishing, 2021 — Review by David Bradshaw
Introduction
This volume is a most amazing compilation of over 100 noted Christian scholars, authors and leaders, ranging from Augustine to Wesley… from Tolstoy to Rohr, featuring their reflections on the single most important and influential sermon delivered in history: The Sermon on the Mount.
This amazing book is focused on helping readers better understand the most frequently discussed topic in the New Testament — The Kingdom of God . It is divided into four parts; Kingdom Character, Kingdom Commands, Kingdom Devotion and Kingdom Priorities.
Each of the 150 essays, written by a great diversity of Christian leaders and authors throughout history, are fitted together with the corresponding Bible verses in Matthew chapters 5–7.
Starting January 5, 2023 Swiss America’s online prayer/care group will be reading and discussing one of these 150 essays every Tuesday and Friday at 10–10:30am EST via Google Meet. We will conclude the study in 75 weeks.
If you are interested in the group, I invite you to order the book and contact me via email (ideaman@myideafactory.net) for details or questions.
From the inside flap: “Is the Sermon on the Mount an impossible ideal? As intriguing as Jesus’ words are, they are also inflammatory, a challenge to the world as it is. Yet as these readings make clear, the Sermon on the Mount is not a new ideology, ethical framework, or set of rules. Rather when Jesus calls people to himself, a new social order is born, which he calls the Kingdom of God. Jesus not only cast a vision…but invites us to respond and empowers us to make it a reality,” writes editor Charles Moore.
This unique book is designed to serve both as a personal devotional as well as a journey/discussion guide to inspire communities of faith to put Jesus’ teachings to work practically in our personal and community lives.
The balance of this summary will focus on Part One: Kingdom Character, featuring key quotes from each author‘s essay.
Part One: Kingdom Character
Chapter One: Master Teacher — Matt. 5:1
E. Stanley Jones (1884–1973) — American Methodist writer and missionary to India — Jesus words were believable because He embodied them, although to most they seemed unbelievable until illuminated by the Spirit of God. “The Sermon on the Mount is practicable, for the man who first spoke them practiced them…producing a character so beautiful, symmetrical and compelling of what life ought to be…There is a ‘beyondness’ in the Sermon on the Mount that startles and appalls the legalistic mind… To love friends is not enough, he will love enemies as well…The lovers attitude is not one of duty, but one of privilege.”
Henri M. Nouwen (1932–1996) — Dutch Catholic priest, spiritual writer, and member of l’Arche — I love Henri’s humble writing style which calls us to empty our selves and learn from Christ. I found his Return of the Prodigal Son a very transformational book! “The whole message of the gospel is this: become like Jesus….He longs for a just world. He wants us to live with the same hunger and thirst… There are no divisions in Jesus’ heart, no double motives…In Jesus there is complete inner unity… Purity of heart is what gave Jesus, and will give us true spiritual vision.”
Chapter Two: Good News — Matt. 4:23
Chrisoph Frederich Blumhardt (1842–1919) — German Lutheran pastor and religious socialist — I like the emphasis which Chrisoph puts on the single-mindedness needed to grasp the radical change implied by the present arrival of the Kingdom of God, which Jesus refers to no less that 80 times in the gospels. “The Kingdom of heaven is at hand!… A new king has assumed his reign …Although Christ spoke of human matters…he did bring something of the divine into human affairs, something heavenly into the natural world …When the kingdom of heaven comes close to us we experience something totally new… Sadly, almost 2,000 years have passed and the world is still asleep, instead of the reign of God, a Christian religion has been established…But the world is still sleeping under a canopy. Under this or that beautiful church roof every kind of dominion, other than God’s has crept in.… We should love nothing more than to fulfill the justice of God, not in church services…but rather in our daily lives… Blessed are all such people whom we label uneducated — for these people are taught by God…for they live according to their hearts… Praise God that true wisdom is to be found upon the streets and not in palaces and lecture halls… So when you hear about God’s kingdom, to be true to it…be faithful… Let nothing else have dominion; everything depends upon this.”
Chapter Three: Foolish Wisdom — Luke 6:20–23
Virginia Stem Owens (1941-) — Texan author and teacher — This essay provides an inside look at the Sermon on the Mount from a modern high school English class student’s/teacher’s perspective. “When I assigned my freshman English class the Sermon on the Mount I expected at least a nodding acquaintance…Why were these students so angry at what they read, or so blithe in their dismissal of it?… A student writes, ‘It was hard to read and made me feel like I had to be perfect — and no one is.’…Many Christians believe the Sermon on the Mount should be taken literally. I believe that, because the scriptures have been interpreted from so many different languages, we should use them as a guide — not law…The Bible remains offensive to honest, ignorant ears, just as it was in the first century. For me, that somehow validates its significance.”
Fredrick Buechner (1926-) — Presbyterian minister, novelist, and essayist — In Fredrick’s essay he reminds us that Jesus chose his disciples from the common class of people, not the hero-class, which offers us all hope that we need not be “special” to be called or used by God. “If we were asked to guess the kind of people Jesus would pick for special commendation, we might be tempted to guess one sort or another of spiritual hero… It’s worth noting the ones he did pick…Not spiritual giants…put the ‘poor in spirit’… like the Prodigal telling his father ‘I am not worthy to be called thy son’ only discover for the first time all he had in having a father…Not the champions…not the strong…not the ones who are righteous, not the victors over evil…not the totally pure…not the ones who have found peace…those who will side with heaven when even a fool can see it’s a losing side and all you get for your pains is pain… It is not His hard times to come but theirs that Jesus is concerned with.”
John Dear (1959-) — Catholic peace activist, author, and retreat leader — I enjoyed John’s book The Beatitudes of Peace which places the focus on why it is so vital that we all become peacemakers in our warmaking culture. John has been nominated four times for the Nobel Peace Prize and arrested 85 times for anti-war and anti-violence protests. “If we want to take Jesus’ Beatitudes and Sermon on the Mount seriously, we had best first confess our preference for the false teachings of the culture of violence and war…I call these false spiritual teachings ‘the anti-Beatitudes’, ‘the anti-Sermon on the Mount’…’Blessed are the rich, who never mourn, the violent, the oppressors, those who dominate others, hunger/thirst for injustice, without mercy’ … As we ponder the culture’s ‘anti-Beatitudes’, we realize how profoundly we have bought into the culture of violence, how deeply its false teachings have penetrated our minds and hearts and how strongly we resist what Jesus had to say.”
Chapter Four: Blessedness ( Matt. 5:3–11)
James C. Howell (1957-) North Carolina United Methodist pastor and professor — James helps readers to draw the distinction between being divinely ‘blessed’ and being humanly ‘happy’. “Jesus never said, ‘blessed are the happy.’… The happiness we pursue has virtually nothing to do with what Jesus had in mind when he said ‘blessed’… For the ancients, happiness was a possession of the soul… the supreme aim of life… living in accord with nature, in harmony with our deepest aspirations as human beings… ‘Am I happy’ asks about me, and turns me in on myself; but isn’t Jesus interested in us opening ourselves outward to God and others?… Jesus’ Beatitudes are about what we cannot achieve, what we cannot make happen, what we can only receive as gifts… It is gospel: good news, not good advice.”
Kathy Escobar (1967-) Denver pastor, spiritual director, and retreat facilitator — Kathy does an excellent job of explaining the paradox of the path of decent — of losing your life to gain an overcoming life in Christ.”Decent goes against my basic nature of wanting a controlled, predictable, upwardly mobile kind of life… In the Kingdom of God, somehow down means up… His call to go downward is a methodology for the abundant life… ‘to find our lives we need to lose them (Matt. 10:39)… The more we read the gospels, the more we realize that there is nowhere to go but down… Decent is the harder but more meaningful journey. We are battling our own fears and inadequacies and the deeply grooved systems of inequality and power in a culture that thrives on success and strength.”
Francis of Assisi (1181–1226) — Founder of Franciscan religious order and saint — Francis, perhaps the most famous and beloved of all Catholic saints, reflects on why our actions in devotion to God are always more important than our words. “Let us consider, my dear brethren, what our vocation is… In order that we should exhort all the world, more by example than by words… to keep the divine precepts. We are looked upon as senseless and contemptible, but let not this depress you; take courage, and be confident that our Lord, who conquered the world, will speak efficaciously through you… Make up your minds to bear all this with humble patience, and let nothing alarm you… Be therefore patient in tribulation, fervent in prayer, fearless in labor, unassuming in speech, grave in your manner, and grateful for the favors and benefits you may receive.”
Chapter Five: Poverty of Spirit (Matt. 5:3)
Phillip Yancey (1949-) Evangelical author and speaker — Phillip’s reflections on ten advantages of being poor underscore why those under-qualified for success in the kingdom of this world are more likely to turn to God in their time of need. “1) The poor know they are in urgent need of redemption. 2) The poor know their dependence upon God, powerful people and interdependence upon one another. 3) The poor rest their security not upon things but on people. 4) The poor have no exaggerated sense of their own importance or privacy. 5) The poor expect little from competition and much from cooperation. 6) The poor can distinguish between necessities and luxuries. 7) The poor can wait, born of acknowledged dependence. 8) The fears of the poor are more realistic because they know one can survive great suffering and want. 9) When the poor hear the gospel preached it sounds like good news, not a threat or scolding. 10) The poor can respond to the gospel because they have so little to lose… Poor people find themselves in a posture that befits the grace of God… Dependence, humility, simplicity, cooperation, and a sense of abandon are qualities greatly prized in the spiritual life, but extremely elusive for people who live in comfort… I now view the Beatitudes not as patronizing slogans but as profound insights into the mystery of human existence… Human beings do not readily admit desperation. When they do, the kingdom of heaven draws near.”
Eberhart Arnold (1883–1935) German publisher and founder of the Bruderhof community — Eberhart reflects on the powerlessness of man to be useful in the kingdom of God. For His kingdom to come, my kingdom must go. “Only God is mighty, we are powerless… This is the only reason God has called us for this service: we know we are powerless… This is the root of grace: the dismantling of our own power… If a little power of our own were to rise up among us, the Spirit and authority of God would retreat in the same moment and to the corresponding degree… that is the single most important insight with regard to the kingdom of God… Let us pledge to Him that all of our own power will remain dismantled, and will keep on being dismantled among us… That means we declare our dependence upon grace.”
Dorothy Day (1897–1980) Journalist and founder of the Catholic Worker — Dorothy explains the paradox that remaining in voluntary poverty requires embracing the precariousness of life. “Precarity is everywhere rejected, and precarity is an essential part of poverty This has been forgotten… Precarity enables us to better help the poor. When a community is always building, enlarging and embellishing, there is nothing left over for the poor. We have no right to do so as long as there are slums and breadlines somewhere… Every religious community begun in poverty and incredible hardship… soon begins to ‘thrive’. Property and buildings and holdings are extended; and although there is still individual poverty in the community, there was corporate wealth. It is hard to remain poor.”
Chapter Six: Mourning (Matt. 5:4)
Nickolas Wolterstorff (1932- ) American philosopher, professor, and Christian ethicist — Mourners are those able to see and feel the pain of others hurt by injustice of this world’s system. “The mourners are those who have caught a glimpse of God’s new day, who ache with all their being for that day’s coming, and break into tears when confronted with its absence. They are the ones who realize that in God’s realm there is no blindness, hunger, unbelief, oppression, undignified, death, tears… and ache when seeing others unable to see God’s ultimate victory over all these things… The mourners are aching visionaries.”
Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) Bengali poet and Nobel laureate in literature — Rabindranath’s essay is very thought-provoking — especially his reflections upon death as both loss and gain, worthy of both mourning and joy. “When of a sudden death came and in a moment made a gaping rent in it’s smooth-seeming fabric I was utterly bewildered. All around…remained as immovably true as before; and yet the person…had vanished in a moment like a dream…How was I ever to reconcile that which remained with that which had gone… And yet in the midst of this unbearable grief flashes of joy seemed to sparkle in my mind… That life was not a stable permanent fixture…helped to lighten my mind… Death had given me the correct perspective from which to perceive the world in the fullness of its beauty.”
Frederica Mathewes-Green (1952-) Eastern Orthodox writer — Frederica’s perspective is that mourning over our own sin is the first step to cleansing of the soul. “The truth is that we cannot bear to see the selfish twists of our heart, our greed and self-pity and manipulativeness. God allows us a measure of merciful ignorance… Like the woman weeping at Jesus feet, we have nothing more to conceal, no more self-justification… Repentance enlarges the heart until it encompasses all earthly life, and the sorrow tendered to God is no longer for ourselves alone… With all creation we groan, crying out to God for His healing and mercy… Then we too no longer desire vengeance… Then our ability to love others, even our enemies, broadens like sunlight on the horizon.”
Chapter Seven: The Meek (Matt. 5:5)
John Chrysostom (347–407) Archbishop of Constantinople, church father and saint — John’s essay is a simple reminder that our speech should reflect our conformation to the image of Christ. “For what is more lovely than a mouth that knows not how to insult, but is used to bless and give good words?… No longer then will the devil be able so much as to look you in the face…For indeed he recognizes the image of the King… For when on the mountain Christ overthrew and laid low the devil… He took him by gentleness, he turned him to flight by meekness.”
Elisabeth Elliot (1926–2015) Missionary to Ecuador and popular radio host — Elisabeth’s essay reminds us that meekness does not come naturally to anyone, but rather, is a gift of God. “The world cannot fathom strength from weakness or power from meekness. Christians apprehend these truths very slowly, if at all… Jesus was both the Lamb of God and the Lion of Judah…Meekness is an explicitly spiritual quality, a fruit of the Spirit, learned not inherited… The very opposite of meekness is sulking… We must ‘clothe’ ourselves with meekness (Col. 3:12).”
Richard Rohr (1943-) Franciscan friar, spiritual writer, and retreat leader — (I love his bestselling book, “Falling Upward”). Richard reminds us that Jesus turns the tables on the rich and powerful by stating the poor and meek ultimately will inherit the earth. “This beatitude is a quote from Psalm 37:11 ‘The humble shall have the land for their own.’… The irony; Nobody possessed land except by violence, by oppression… Jesus is undoubtedly redefining the meaning of land… Private property forces us behind artificial fences, boundaries, and walls. People close to the earth know that only God ‘owns’ the earth and we’re all stewards, pilgrims and strangers with a duty and privilege of caring for it. Ownership is clearly not an objective or divine right, but only a legal one.”
Teresa of Avila (1515–1582) Spanish Carmelite nun, mystic, and sain — Teresa’s perspective is that all is given to us by the grace of God and therefore, we should remain content even when, by the grace of God, gifts are removed. “Sometimes I think I am extremely detached, and, in fact, when it comes to the test, I am; yet at other times I find I have such attachment to things… I hardly know myself… That being so, who can say that he possesses any virtue, or that he is rich, if at the time when he most needs this virtue, he finds himself devoid of it? Our virtues are only lent us. If we serve the Lord with humility, he will sooner or later succor (support) us in our needs. But if we are not strong in this virtue, the Lord will leave us to ourselves…This is a great favor on his part, for it helps us realize fully that we have nothing which has not been given us.”
[NOTE: Back in 2016, I began to seriously study The Beatitudes (Matt. 5:3–10) and was struck by the simplicity of the good news which Christ proclaimed. I have often meditated on these eight verses, which inspired this humble song: The Blessings of God’s Kingdom, which I recorded and included with 9 other original songs in a book/album combo at blissfull.org]
Chapter Eight: Hungry and Thirsty (Matt. 5:6)
William Barclay (1907–1978) Scottish New Testament interpreter and television presenter — William explains with intensity why most followers of Christ — both then and now — are unwilling to fully surrender their will to God’s will. “There are few of us who have known what it is to be genuinely thirsty…or hunger which threatened our life…He is saying ‘Do you desire righteousness with that intensity of desire… This is the challenge and demand with which Jesus continually confronted people… This Beatitude is for those who desire righteousness as a matter of life and death… By implication this Beatitude lays down the main cause of failure in the Christian life… Our deep-rooted unwillingness to pay the price of it, our fundamental desire not to upset life, but to keep it as it is… The Christian goodness is a complete goodness in which virtue and love join hands… a righteousness that seeks justice, right living, and justification which comes by faith… If a person hungers and thirsts for the righteousness that God alone can give, God will fill him/her until his/her longings are achieved and their soul is satisfied.”
Chapter Nine: The Merciful (Matt. 5:7)
Charles E. Moore (1956-) Writer, teacher, and pastor in the Bruderhof community — Charles explains why being merciful demands our investment and involvement based on knowing what it means to need mercy. “All of us rely on an intricate fabric of mercy… Mercy begets mercy, and the result is blessedness. Jesus places mercy above sacred institutions and traditions… To have mercy is to have the feeling for another person that a mother has for her children… Mercy moves me to experience a persons pain and anguish, loneliness and fear, and sense of worthlessness… I see him/her as I try to see myself… Showing mercy is one thing, being merciful another. Being merciful is not just kind deeds… that’s why they can’t help but respond to the guilt and suffering of others… The merciful have a heart for the poor, the hurting, the lonely, and those whose lives are in one way or another a wreck. Instead of judging by appearances, they assume the best in the worst, being patient towards those who lash out because they don’t know how to assuage their pain… None of us can get or show mercy enough. When we ignore the needs of others, we lose our capacity for sharing and spreading happiness, and remain under the illusion that happiness has no reference beyond ourselves. We forget what a comfort it can be when we share in the suffering of others.”
Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) Russian novelist, pacifist, and reformer — Leo reminds us that loving our neighbor and a willingness to sacrifice is contagious. “Private activity calls forth the best sentiments: love and the desire for sacrifice… If one sees how another is sharing with a neighbor, is working for the unfortunate, one has the desire to do likewise… As soon as it becomes contagious, then there is no limit to its spread. As one candle kindles another, and thousands are lighted from the one, so also one heart enflames another and thousands are glowing… If only the love is multiplied then the miracle is accomplished which was performed at the distribution of the five loaves. All are satisfied, and still much remains.”
Chapter Ten: Purity of Heart (Matt. 5:8)
Irenaeus (120-200 AD) Bishop of Lyon, church father, saint — Seeing God is impossible for man, but possible for a man who resides inside God. “Man shall not see me and live,’ for the Father cannot be grasped. But because of God’s love and goodness toward us, and because He can do all things, He goes so far as to grant those who love Him the privilege of seeing Him… For ‘what is impossible for men men is possible for God.”
Soren Kierkegaard (1813–1855) Danish Christian Philosopher — Soren views purity of heart as an undivided heart, a single-mindedness to will only the Good in truth. “For pleasure and honor and riches and power and all that this world offers only appear to be one thing…On the contrary it is subject to continual alteration… Only the Good is one thing in it’s essence…Take love as an illustration…He loves with all of his love. When the lover gives away his whole love, he keeps it entire — in the purity of heart. Shall a man in truth will one thing, then this one thing that he wills be such that it remains unaltered in all changes…If it changes continually, then he himself becomes changeable, double-minded, and unstable. And this continual change is nothing else that impurity.”
Thomas Merton (1915–1968) Trappist monk, bestselling author, contemplative — Thomas explains the difference between right intentions and simple intentions to do God’s will and yet leave the results up to God. “When we have right intention, our intention is pure…But we still consider the work and ourselves apart from God and outside Him…When we have simple intention, we are less occupied with the thing to be done…One who works with simple intention is more perfectly alive to the exigencies of his work and does work far better than the worker of right intention who has no such perspective… The man of simple intention works in an atmosphere of prayer…He is detached from his work and from it’s results. Only a person who works purely for God can at the same time do a very good job and leave the results of the job to God alone.”
Brennan Manning (1934–2013) American author, priest, and public speaker — Brennan reflects on St. Francis’ explanation that purity of heart is more about staying fixed upon emptiness of self than personal striving for holiness. “Focus your vision outside yourself on the beauty, graciousness and compassion of Jesus Christ. The pure of heart praise him from sunrise to sunset… Holiness is not a personal achievement. It is an emptiness you discover in yourself…It becomes the free space where the Lord can create anew…Simply hoard nothing of yourself; sweep the house clean…Accept being shipwrecked…Renounce everything that is heavy, even the weight of your sins…Even the desire for holiness is transformed into a pure and simple desire for Jesus.”
Chapter Eleven: Peacemaking (Matt. 5:9)
John Dear (1959-) Catholic peace activist, author, and retreat leader — John reminds readers that Christ call for us to become peacemakers is non-optional and requires first an inner peace and then is manifest in outward peacemaking and nonviolence. “Matt. 5:9 throws out thousands of years of belief in a violent God and…does away with any spiritual justification for warfare or that God might bless our troops and our wars…Peacemakers do not hurt or threaten anyone, individually, nationally or globally…Nonviolence sets a new boundary line for our lives…Jesus exemplifies the peacemaking life.”
Thomas Merton (1915–1968) Trappist monk, bestselling author, contemplative — Thomas challenges believers to first love God and others, and to address the violence, hate and injustice within our own lives. ”Instead of loving what you think is peace, love other people and love God above all.And instead of hating the people you think are warmakers, hate the appetites and the disorder In your own soul, which are the causes of war. If you love peace, then hate injustice, hate tyranny, hate greed — but hate these things in yourself first, not in another.”
Peter Kreeft (1937-) American Catholic philosopher, apologist, and author — Peter explains with great clarity the ultimate paradox of the peace that Jesus brings to the world — between man and God and between man and man. “Jesus did not use force but made peace in the most surprising way, by dying. He drained away war down himself, like a sinkhole, or a blotter. He made peace by making himself the universal victim by suffering all the violence, war, aggression, hate and harm that the father of lies and violence could fling at him…Not only does he make peace in a strange way, but it is also a strange peace…He gives a peace ‘not as the world gives’… not a comfortable niceness…Jesus was a fire.”
Chapter Twelve: Persecution (Matt. 5:10–12)
Jerome (347–420 AD) Priest, biblical scholar, historian, and saint — Jerome reminds believers that godly persecution is a sign of healthy spirituality. “You are deceived if you think a Christian can live without persecution He suffers greatest who lives under none. Nothing is more to be feared than too long a peace. A storm puts a man on his guard, and obliges him to exert his utmost efforts to avoid shipwreck.”
Gene L Davenport (1935–2018) United Methodist minister and professor of religion. Gene says that a commitment to the establishment of God’s new order of righteousness makes one vulnerable to persecution from the old order — both from the state and the church. “To ignore the call to bear witness in the midst of darkness is to allow the darkness to go unchallenged, unresisted…Such intrusion of mercy into mercilessness, purity of heart into atheism, and peacemaking into violence inevitably results in hostility and anger from those dominated by the old order…The old age cannot tolerate the infusion of the new…The darkness can seldom afford to simply ridicule the bearers of light, but must destroy them, seeking to destroy the light itself…Disciples are punished because they threaten the entire system…To rejoice is to live in anticipation of deliverance as though deliverance already had taken place.”
Oscar Romero (1917–1980) Salvadorian Catholic archbishop, martyr, and saint — Oscar challenges the church to embrace its mission to boldly denounce and uproot the sins of those who oppose God’s kingdom in all spheres of life (religion, politics, economics, law). “A church that does not provoke crisis, a gospel that does not disturb…or touch the concrete sin of the society — what kind of gospel is that?…It is very easy to be servants of the word without disturbing the world in any way…The word that characterizes the authentic church causes conflicts and persecutions…The true word denounces sins so they may be uprooted from people’s hearts, from their societies, from their laws, and from all organizations that oppress and imprison and trample upon the right of God and humankind…The church must suffer for speaking the truth…”
Jeanne DeCelles (1933–2015) Leader in Catholic charismatic renewal movement — Jeanne tells us the discipleship which leads to conflicts with the power structures — religious and civil — has its costs. “Jesus downfall came from challenging the very systems of his society…Confrontation was not popular in first century Palestine, nor today. To bring the gospel values to bear on labor practices, governmental decisions, and even religious traditions and policies is no more popular for a follower of Jesus than it was for him…Whether we feel it [persecution] or not may be a good litmus test for discerning if we are truly following on his path, or pursuing a false trail.”
Chapter Thirteen: Salt and Light (Matt. 5:13–16)
Charles E. Moore (1956-) Writer, teacher, and pastor in the Bruderhof community. Charles illuminates the call to stay true to who we really are in Christ as agents of preservation and light as salt and light. “Both salt and light are so ordinary, so essential to life that Jesus sees no need to spell out what it means…His concern is not that his followers get more involved in the world, but that they don’t become like the world and lose their true identity….To be what the world, on its own, cannot become…Don’t let yourselves get so tangled up in the cares and causes of this world that you get smothered and trodden underfoot…Putting a lamp under a bushel might keep it from getting blown out, but the price for such protection is darkness…When we align ourselves with Christ…we will invariably draw out and embrace the good already in the world.”
Jane Tyson Clement (1917–2000) American poet and short story writer — Jane’s short poem entitled ‘Resolve’ reminds us that being salt and light means being willing to walk where sinners walk and clasp the hand of treachery with love as if it were my own. ”I must seek the publicans, the wild companions of my Lord…The bare and brutal face of hate I must go forth to look upon.”
John R. W. Stott (1921–2011) Anglican theologian and popular evangelical Bible teacher. — John emphasizes that the church is to be clearly distinct from the world as we demonstrates Christ revealed in the Beatitudes. “It is fashionable to blur the distinction between the church and the world, to refer to all humankind as “the people of God.”…The world is evidently a dark place…and external source of light is needed to illuminate it…Martyn Lloyd Jones emphasizes: ‘The glory of the gospel is that when the church is absolutely different from the world, she invariably attracts it.’…By the grace of God we are what we are, that our light is his light, and that our works are his works done in us and through us.”
