Blessed are you when you have a sinus infection and are curled up on the couch in the sun with the cat on your knee…I wasn’t feeling much like reading so I ended up listening to an audiobook about the Beatitudes called The Ninefold Path of Jesus, by Mark Scandrette. There was something relaxing and almost comforting about tuning in to the slightly robotic voice and being ‘read to’. But the messages from the book are quite challenging and counter-cultural:
“Instead of ‘numbing out’ to the suffering of the world we need to work together to make things right…
“Move from apathy to agency…if you have a voice, you should use it to amplify the voice of the oppressed…”
“If we aren’t actively working for change then we are complicit in keeping things the way they are…”
“Practice self-compassion…”
“Mercy opens the possibility that we and others can grow and change…”
I haven’t finished ‘reading’ yet, but I’m looking forward to hearing some more and I’m grateful for the opportunity to take some time and reflect on the Beatitudes- or, as Mark Scandrette calls them, our “curriculum for Christlikeness”.