Jesus was
totally rad.
“Rad” is a
slang word meaning extraordinary; wonderful; hip; cool. In hindsight, we can
see that Jesus was all those things. But “rad” also means “one who advocates
fundamental or far-reaching change or reform.” What fundamental or far-reaching
reform does Jesus invite us to?
• Loving God
with all our heart, mind, and soul, which means prioritizing God in our life
• Seeing Christ
in the hungry, the homeless, the sick, the stranger, and the imprisoned, which
means putting aside judgment
• Serving
others, which means practicing humility and selflessness
• Forgiving
others, which means acknowledging and imitating God’s boundless mercy in our
own lives
As noted in
A.Word.A.Day by Anu Garg, the word “rad” is a shortened version of “radical,”
which comes from the Latin radix (root). Ultimately it is from the
Indo-European word wrad- (branch, root), which also gave us radish, root,
rutabaga, and eradicate.
Apparently, it
is totally rad to eat radishes, rutabagas, and other root vegetables. It is
also radical to be rooted in Christ, from whom we gain the nourishment and
grounding we need to eradicate our preoccupation with self and branch out to share
the fruit of the kingdom of God with others.
Today's post reminded me of this excerpt from the book, "Radical Hospitality: Benedict's Way of Love":
ReplyDelete"..You may remember from your high school science, that "radical" also describes an atom that doesn't lose its identity during change. Our identity as people of faith and communities of faith will be gained, not lost, in the changes required to become radically hospitable." :)
Fascinating! I'll have to ponder that. Thanks for sharing!
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