Project four, exploring the beatitudes as family

Hinduism | Buddhism | Judaism | Christianity | Islam

What do you do for a different project, after all that we've done already? We tried to live at our best, in deepest harmony with the Gita called the atman—what Jesus called the kingdom of heaven within. We experimented with living in compassion for all beings and with loving God and our neighbor as ourselves. Maybe the point is to see the similarities as well as differences between the traditions when they are put into practice. At this point some students are ready for advanced training in ministry, while others are hurting from bad experiences with Christianity in childhood or more recently. Let me remind you that you always have the option to discuss a possible alternative with the instructor.

This time, I propose, we will live sons and daughters of God, brothers and sisters to everyone we meet, and we will have a special eye out for those who are anxious or overburdened or downhearted. We will attempt to be of comfort . . . in the way of the beatitudes (Matthew 5.3-12). Note the possible modifications. You don’t believe in God? Then relate as a brother or sister to everyone you meet anyway. You are a Christian who thinks that only your fellow believers are family in a broad sense? Then love fellow believers as Jesus loved you. Another kind of modification has to do with the way you apply the beatitudes. The point is not (necessarily) to quote the whole list to someone who is down. You may want to create new ones or adapt the wording of the ones Jesus gave. At the limit you may find it appropriate in some cases simply to be with someone who is hurting without trying to offer words of consolation and hope.

In your paper, first write a couple of pages recounting your experience of living as a member in a universal family. Include your evaluation: are we actually one family on this planet? What is to be said for this concept? What is to be said against? How do you bring the supports and objections together into some coherent way of thinking and relating?

Next, do a couple pages on your experience of comforting people in the light of the beatitudes. Include your evaluation of that aspect of the project: Do the beatitudes give you any insights into better ways of comforting people? Explain.

Next, do at least a half page in which you create one or more parables, modeled on Jesus’ parables. If yours are very brief, create at least three. If yours is a story, it should be plausible (not a fable with talking animals) and have a main point (not an allegory in which every detail has a hidden meaning). (The NT interpretation of the parable of the sower—would it have been like Jesus to allegorize his parable?—is not a model here.)

Finally, present in a page or two your vision of the challenges that present-day Christianity faces and what it will take to meet those challenges.