This past Thursday I was a wreck. Maybe some of you felt that way as well. Russia had invaded Ukraine and the seriousness of a war like this in Europe and what it means for all of us was heavy on me. I ache for my kids and the world they’re inheriting. 

Sometimes it feels like men grasping for power is still the very thing that just might kill us all. Or as my friend D.L. Mayfield wrote on Twitter last week, “I am so sick of violent men and the wars they start I could scream.”

The lectionary Gospel reading this past Sunday was from Luke 6, Jesus’ teaching that seems as wild and ridiculous as it did two thousand years ago: “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt.” How fitting.

The concept of “turning the other cheek” has been used to dominate, and to ask those without power to take their abuse with a smile. But what if the idea of turning the other cheek is a muscular, wholehearted response to violence? As my pastor said, “I will not respond from the place of pain [the cheek that was struck], I will [turn my healthy cheek and] respond from my wholeness.”

As we watch this unjust war unfold in the Ukraine, what could it mean for us to respond to violence from our wholeness?

Links:

• This reflection and practice were also published this week in The Slow Way Newsletter. 
• Howard Thurman’s  book Jesus and the Disinherited can be found here.
• Find a transcript of this episode here. 
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• Micha's other podcast, The Lucky Few, is all about Down syndrome advocacy. She cohosts it with Heather Avis and Mercedes Lara.
• Found: A Story of Questions, Grace, and Everyday Prayer is available everywhere books are sold