ZONDERVAN
The Book of Common Courage
© 2023 Katie Jo Ramsey
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ISBN 978-0-3104-6136-4 (audiobook) ISBN 978-0-3104-6130-2 (eBook) ISBN 978-0-3104-6133-3 (HC)
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All photography courtesy of K.J. Ramsey.
Art direction: Tiffany Forrester
Interior design: Emily Ghattas
Cover design and illustration: © Conrad Garner Printed in China 23 24 25 26 27 GRI 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To all who do not believe you are brave
IN THE PRESENCE OF MY ENEMIES
When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)
JOHN 4:7–9 niv
The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” . . .
But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”
JOHN 8:3–5, 6–7 niv
God of the Hated, you who sought out the scorned and the pained: bless the parts of us that others have blamed as too blinded, brash, and untamed; because your two hands of Goodness and Love ever and always reach toward the shamed. Amen.
A shepherd cursed me, and church became a source of trauma, a reminder of pain.
Before I left the church of my wounds, I stood at the altar to serve holy food.
The last person to descend the aisle was the man who made my life hell. My heart was pounding in my chest. And with one deep breath, I was given a choice. I could extend mercy to him. The body of Christ broken for me was broken for him too. The blood of Christ spilled for me could cover this pain too.
In that moment we were balanced at the foot of the cross.
It is still the strange place where curse meets blessing.
The Eucharist didn’t rescue me from the trauma of being condemned by a man called to bless.
Communion did not save me from loss and lament. But it did give me a sanctuary
I could carry out the door.
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Neutrality is the nicest kind of evil. God prepares a table without two sides. God gives us a feast while our enemies stand by.
“Do not be afraid of them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known.”
MATTHEW 10:26 niv
Almighty God, Even the darkness is not dark to you.
Blow on the ember of faith in our hearts, for we are in need of the oxygen of trust that all the harm that is done in the dark will one day become mere ash and dust. Consume it all in the fire of a belonging that is better than controlling one another.
This we pray through your Son, Jesus Christ, who was betrayed by a friend in the night and put to death by a government in plain sight, yet raised by the Spirit into indestructible life. And there he now sits and reigns with you, Three-in- One: Father, Spirit, and Son, all declaring to darkness: the light has won.
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