At the heart of the gospels is God’s faith in our capacity to grow spiritually. As startling as it may be, God really believes that we can deepen our practice of compassion and radically change our social systems so that they work to foster wholeness for everyone, especially those who are most vulnerable.

The first thing Jesus asks people to do in the very earliest gospel, Mark, is to “repent.” In this invitation Jesus expresses his confidence that we can “go beyond the mind that we have” (Marcus Borg) and find our way out of the ruthless patterns of oppression that hurt us all. In Mark's gospel, salvation is not intended for a few favored individuals, but is a communal journey into healing and liberation.