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Spirituality, Religion And The Blessed Revolution
By Dave Andrews
Release on Sunday 31st of January 2021
2 - The Gospel Of Jesus – “Heaven on Earth”
Video transcript
Many Christians, when they think about the Gospel, think about ‘the Gospel, about Jesus’. But I think it's really important to think of ‘the Gospel of Jesus’. What was the Gospel for Jesus? And if we read the scripture, over and over again, ‘the Gospel of Jesus’ was about ‘the Gospel of the Kingdom of God’ or ‘the Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth’. And in the Beatitudes, Jesus introduces us to a way that we can incarnate that ‘Kingdom of Heaven on Earth’. Because the first verse of the Beatitudes is ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven’ and the last verse in the Beatitudes is ‘Blessed are those that are persecuted for righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven’. The Beatitudes actually suggest that if we practice these attitudes, we can incarnate something of the Kingdom of Heaven now. So Jesus’ passion is that we will bring the Kingdom of Heaven to Earth. And the Beatitudes is a simple, eightfold step by step process, by which we can embody the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. Now, when I read my books on the Beatitudes I actually asked my Muslim friend, Nora Amath, to launch these books. Because I said, I think it's really important that the Beatitudes be seen as a way for all people not just for Christians. In fact, I said to her that I think the Beatitudes are the ‘Shari'a of Jesus’. And I wanted her as a Muslim to launch my books on the Beatitudes so that Jesus would be liberated from Christianity and his words could resonate with people of all traditions and religions. So she read the books on the Beatitudes and she launched them and she said: ‘You may think it strange that here is a Muslim woman in a hijab launching this book by a Christian. But when Dave asked me to read these books on the Beatitudes, I said “Yes I certainly will”.’ And she said: ‘Now I know that as a Muslim. to be a true Muslim, I need to practice the Beatitudes, because they are the way that we can embody this truth in the context of a world of poverty and violence’. And so she puts the Beatitudes up on her fridge and puts him up on her website. Because in the same way, I learned about the Bismillah from her, she learned about the Beatitudes from me. And we are becoming better Christians and better Muslims from our engagement with each other around these texts.
Suggestions for Meditation, Discussion And Action
Reflect on a text in your religion depicting something like Heaven on Earth.
- What are practices in your tradition that incarnate the virtues of Heaven?
- How can you better practice the virtues of Heaven on Earth here now?
Quote from Dave's new book: To Right Every Wrong
"Jesus wanted people to imagine that the kingdom of heaven could come on earth, and he wanted them to imagine that they could make it a reality in their own lives. He advocated heaven as a way of life that people could experience here and now, on earth, in this life as well as the next by teaching them to pray, “May your kingdom come, may your will be done on earth as it is heaven,” every day (Matt. 6:10).
Jesus envisaged the blessings of the kingdom of heaven on earth as a world where those who mourned would be “comforted” (Matt. 5: 4), the meek would “inherit the earth” (v. 5), those who hungered and thirsted for justice would be “fulfilled” (v. 6), those who gave mercy would “receive mercy” (Matt. 5: 7), the peacemakers would walk proudly as “sons and daughters of God” (Matt. 5:9), the pure in heart, from all over the world “would see God” (Matt. 5: 8), the physically hungry would be “filled” (Luke 6:21), and those who had wept bitterly would “laugh” happily once more (Luke 6:21). This is surely the kind of world that I imagine most people would hopefully envision for their children and grandchildren."
To Right Every Wrong 31.
Dave's Song: "Praise The Saints"
From: Dave Andrews And Friends, Songs Of Grace And Struggle - Praise The Saints
Table of content
- Spirituality and Religion
Experience and expression of compassion for the other. - >> The Gospel Of Jesus – “Heaven on Earth”
An experience that people can live here and now. - The Beatitudes From The Heart
Loving our neighbor as ourself. - The Be-Attitudes Of The Beatitudes
We need to sincerely committing ourselves to do the following... - The Blessed Be-Attitude Revolution
The radical, personal-political Be-Attitudes that are at the heart of the Blessed Be-Attitude Revolution are... - Liberating Jesus From Christianity
Jesus never intended to start a religion. - Liberating People Of All Religions
My battle is to fight that people don't have to become Christians in order to relate to Jesus. - Reciprocity As Our Responsibility
The Golden Rule is a classic example of generalized reciprocity. - People Of The Way
The Beatitudes of Jesus as a ‘Be-Attitude Revolution’ - attitudes that can help us ‘Be’ the change we want to see in the world. - Contemplation In Action
Slowing down, so we have the time between our action and reaction and then shape our response in terms of the Be-Atttitudes.
Dave Andrews new book is available: To Right Every Wrong
My latest book, To Right Every Wrong,
is a funny, sad, brutally honest retrospective, reflecting on what it has meant for me and my family to seek to live a lifetime dedicated to love and justice. The reflections in this book, subtitled The Making And Unmaking Of One Improbable Minor Prophet, come in three parts — the personal, the prophetical and the paradoxical.
The personal part explores my experience of the radical, compassionate spirituality that I share with my wife, Angie, and which has shaped our way of life as a family in community with marginalized and disadvantaged groups of people.
The prophetical part explores my embrace of the “strange”, “crazy”, “improbable” call I felt to be a prophet, which I have sought to flesh out in classic prophetic roles - as an interrogator, a protester, a practitioner and an inspirator - in contemporary prophetic contexts characterized by poverty and violence.
The paradoxical part explores my making and unmaking as a minor prophet, critically constructing and deconstructing the more confrontational aspects of the prophetic roles I have played in order to be able to practice more sensitive pastoral care.
The personal part explores my experience of the radical, compassionate spirituality that I share with my wife, Angie, and which has shaped our way of life as a family in community with marginalized and disadvantaged groups of people.
The prophetical part explores my embrace of the “strange”, “crazy”, “improbable” call I felt to be a prophet, which I have sought to flesh out in classic prophetic roles - as an interrogator, a protester, a practitioner and an inspirator - in contemporary prophetic contexts characterized by poverty and violence.
The paradoxical part explores my making and unmaking as a minor prophet, critically constructing and deconstructing the more confrontational aspects of the prophetic roles I have played in order to be able to practice more sensitive pastoral care.
Dave Andrews other books
Dave has written more the 18 books, you can find all of his books here: Dave Andrew's books.
Some of his well known books
Who is Dave Andrews?
Dave is particularly interested in radical spirituality, incarnational community and the dynamics of personal and social transformation.
Website:
Dave Andrews
Country:
Australia
Activity:
Activist, Community organiser, Spiritual teacher
Keywords:
beatitude, change, compassion, prayer, spirituality
Discover more content from Dave Andrews
Dave Andrews has 18 interviews on our website. You can watch all Dave Andrews's interviews here.
Here are some interviews available
- Spirituality and Religion - Spirituality is the experience and expression of compassion for the others.
- The Question We Need To Ask Ourselves -
- The Blessing Of The Bismillah -
Presentation
Dave, his wife Ange, and their family, have lived and worked in intentional communities with marginalised groups of people in Australia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Nepal for more than forty years. He now lives in a large joint household with his wife, children, grandchildren and others in an inner city community in Brisbane, Australia.
Dave is particularly interested in radical spirituality, incarnational community and the dynamics of personal and social transformation. He is author of many books and articles, including 'Christi-Anarchy', 'Not Religion, But Love', 'Building A Better World', 'Down Under - In-Depth Community Work', 'Out And Out - Way-Out Community Work', 'Compassionate Community Work', 'People of Compassion', 'Living Community', 'A Divine Society', and the Plan Be Series - 'Plan Be', 'Hey, Be And See', 'See What I Mean?'
Dave and Ange and their friends started a residential community called Aashiana out of which grew Sahara, Sharan and Sahasee – three well-known Christian community organisations working with slum dwellers, sex workers, drug addicts, and people with HIV/AIDS in India. They are currently a part of the Waiters Union, an inner city Christian community network working with Aborigines, refugees and people with disabilities in Australia. Out of the Waiters Union has grown the Community Initiatives Resource Association, auspicing local experimental community activities, and the Community Praxis Coop, providing holistic community work training.
Dave is the coordinator for training with the Community Initiatives Resource Association, a teacher for Praxis and Christian Heritage College and an elder emeritus for Servants To Asia's Urban Poor.
Dave is involved nationally and internationally in interfaith dialogue and engagement. He has published three books of Christian-Muslim reflections - ‘Ramadan’, ‘Bismillah’ and ‘Isa’. Most recently he has published his ground-breaking, peace-making book - ‘The Jihad Of Jesus: The Sacred Nonviolent Struggle For Justice’, which has been translated into Dutch and German. Dave is sharing the message of ‘The Jihad Of Jesus’ with people in churches, mosques, seminars, workshops and festivals around Australia, New Zealand, the US, the UK, Europe and Asia. See events, reviews and interviews at www.jihadofjesus.com.