by Demi Prentiss

Recent events in the U.S. have disrupted my equilibrium. I’m hard-pressed, news geek that I am, to listen to daily news. I can hardly bear to hear what new assault our government is making on marginalized, under-resourced, and immigrant populations, while science and ethics are dismissed from the room. I’m an older Boomer, reasonably well-resourced, and there are plenty of days when I feel unequipped to offer my life-skills or passions to change the course of human events.

I owe a debt to song-writer Christopher Grundy, for planting an ear-worm in my brain earlier this year. And lately it’s surfacing more and more often: “Set your face toward Jerusalem.” That mandate comes to us from scripture, Luke 9:51. Shortly after Jesus’s transfiguration (Luke 9:28-36), where three of his disciples witnessed him in glorious conversation with Moses and Elijah, Jesus expressed his determination to go from rural Galilee to Jerusalem, the seat of power for the Jews of the first century CE.  Like the prophets before him, Jesus was drawn to confront authority, speaking truth in love to those who routinely inflicted suffering on the marginalized. The expression “setting his face toward Jerusalem” conveys the flint-hard strength of his intention, and his recognition that he is likely to fare no better than the prophets who preceded him.

For me, being a follower of Jesus is a commission to stand with the long-suffering. Perhaps for me, right now, that means setting my face toward Jerusalem –  to confront the people in power, who refuse to use their power for the common good. They may be in Washington D.C. or in New York or in the state capitol. In Silicon Valley, or on Wall Street, or in the offices of Big Pharma. Perhaps in the office upstairs or in a mass-detention-center uniform.

Grundy’s song is compelling for me, not so much for his calling his hearers to draw on their courage and determination to confront injustice. Instead, I find most empowering his hope-filled vision of the realization of God’s reign, bringing God’s flowing grace, burning truth, flowering peace, and the commonwealth of God. And most of all, his call to wield the weapon of truth. “Go and speak the truth in love to them.”

Together, may we set our faces toward Jerusalem, wherever it shows up.  May we find God’s peace and power in courage to speak the truth. And may that carry us through anger, fear, and despair, closer each day to the Spirit of Life that animates all.

Take just three minutes to listen:

O set your face toward Jerusalem
toward the powers that are ranged against all those long suffering
go and speak the truth in love to them
that the flowing grace of God will never end.

O set your face toward Jerusalem
toward the powers that are ranged against all those long suffering
go and speak the truth in love to them
that the burning love of God will never end.

O set your face toward Jerusalem
toward the powers that are ranged against all those long suffering
go and speak the truth in love to them
that the flowering peace of God will never end.

O set your face toward Jerusalem
toward the powers that are ranged against all those long suffering
go and speak the truth in love to them
that the commonwealth of God will never end….

... that the commonwealth of God will never end.

© 2019 Christopher Grundy