Mark 13:11

Whenever they betray you and hand you over for trial, do not be anxious beforehand as to what you will say, but say whatever is given you at the moment; for it will not be you who speak, but the Holy Spirit.


in the worst of times
opportunity is present

uncontrolled by circumstance
visions dance within our heart

revealing a falsity here
extolling a secret gift there

amid all truths
choose the larger

as long as ever you can
live from joyful mercy


It is time to dismiss the illusion of control. Those who trust their partnership with Grace (whatever model of which you prefer), are in no position to out-maneuver those who practice legalisms (no matter how falsely they are named).

You have been taken in by someone’s desire for power over their circumstance and you have been caught in their web. Trying to out-guess a plotter is always a reactive game. Their desperation brings a creativity that cannot be matched without also matching the fear that lies behind it.

When faced with your caughtness in a situation beyond your ability to manifest success, there comes a time when your attempts to be a change-agent have to be put down in the face of implacable care-less-ness. At such a time we are back at the foot of Transfiguration Mount where the only resolution will be through prayer or in anticipation of another Mount with a Garden on its slope where even prayer must give way to a prior commitment to a partnering with a Grace that sees and names and trusts Belovedness.

Although non-violent resistance has a better track-record for needed change than retaliatory violence, it comes with no guarantee of success, only a vision of a better tomorrow that must be lived today, regardless of its consequences in a world not ready for it. Mark’s community was experiencing their lack of control of circumstances. Wars and rumors of wars, re-occupation, loss of a Temple and a leader disrupted their daily lives. We face the same sorts of principalities and powers in our time.

Take part in all the political and resistance movements you can while knowing that these necessary but weak tools will betray our best intentions. We, too easily, are made in their image and unable to put them down. Reliance upon a longer vision offers a better way.