The core vision of the Kingdom of God is not that we could escape this present world, but that we could make it beautiful. Not that we would abandon it, but that we would renew it. Not that we would destroy it, but that we would resurrect it.

In this holy season, may we put aside the values of our society and focus instead on the promise of God with us.

We can read church histories as a combination of God’s goodness and our own struggles to live up to being a “chosen” people. The water may taste bitter at times, yet truth-telling in church history (local and global, historic and contemporary alike) makes us aware that we have the treasures in clay jars, and if not for the Living Water of Jesus Christ, we would have little hope if left to our own devices.

Each Friday in The Christian Citizen, we publish a Religion News Roundup with summaries of religion news stories and links for those who want to read more.

Like the Kurds did with their poets in Azadi (Freedom) Park, we are also invited as Christians to build something beautiful on the ruins of injustice — to plant a tree in an otherwise scorched earth. That is how we participate in the ongoing resurrection of the world, and how we can bear witness to how God works for good what the world intends for evil.