It’s past New Year’s, and certainly past Christmas. But I thought of Christmas of two years ago when I watched Aussie bound across ice-covered Lake Pleasant this morning. I don’t do that myself, even as I know that by now the ice is fairly thick and stable. I still remember my old dog Stanley loping across an iced-up pond and falling into the frigid water when the ice cracked under him. He managed to clamber back up and quickly ran to shore. He never walked across a frozen lake or pond again.

Two years ago, I was visiting Sami Awad in his home on the West Bank, and he was excited about the book he was writing on Christ’s Sermon on the Mount, entitled The Sacred Awakening. He told me—and it’s in his book—how he had been raised in a deeply religious Christian evangelical family (his father founded the Bethlehem Bible College), how he’d ventured away from that way of life, questioning its basic assumptions and rituals, and how, after a long search, including the deep study of nonviolence and following in Gandhi’s footsteps, he discovered a new way of being Christian, of being enlightened, through Christ’s teachings in the Sermon on the Mount.

I thought of Sami as I watched Aussie venture out on the ice-covered water. She sniffed at it first with suspicion, took some preliminary steps close to shore, and then her tail leaped in the air and she did her version of canine skating in circles, wagging madly her entire body. It’s the kind of freedom you enjoy when you make something your own.

Below are some excerpts from those teachings according to Sami. You can buy his book here. I especially love his suggestion to embrace downward mobility.

“Practice presence. Jesus was fully present to each person he encountered, seeing beyond labels and social status to the divine image within. Begin by practicing this same quality of attention with family, colleagues, and strangers. Notice how quickly we categorize, judge, and choose to see with new eyes instead.

Question authority systems. Not in a spirit of rebellion but of discernment. Ask: Does this system or practice reflect the values of love, justice, and human flourishing that Jesus embodied? Does it empower or control? Does it include or exclude?

Create alternative communities. Gather with others who are seeking to live out Jesus’s vision. These need not be formal churches—they might be small groups committed to mutual support, shared resources, and collective action for justice.

Embrace downward mobility. In a world fixated on upward mobility and accumulation, Jesus moved in the opposite direction—toward the margins, toward simplicity, toward service rather than status. Consider what steps toward simplicity and generosity might free you to live more fully from love rather than fear.

Reclaim spiritual practices. Prayer, meditation, scripture study, fasting—these practices were never meant to be rote obligations but pathways to transformation. Approach them not as ways to earn divine favor but as invitations to align your consciousness with divine love.

Stand with the marginalized. Jesus consistently aligned himself with those pushed to society’s edges. This stand wasn’t meant to be charity—it was solidarity, recognition of shared humanity, and divine presence. Where are you called to stand with those facing injustice or exclusion in your context?

Cultivate forgiveness as resistance. In a world built on retribution and punishment, forgiveness is revolutionary. Forgiveness doesn’t mean accepting abuse or injustice but refusing to be defined by cycles of harm and retaliation. It means seeing the humanity in those who have caused harm while working for healing and restoration.

Build economic resilience. Jesus’s teachings challenged systems of dependency. Create and support economic alternatives that foster community interdependence rather than institutional dependency—local food systems, skill-sharing networks, community land trusts, cooperative businesses, and gift economies. Disentangle your livelihood from systems that exploit others or the earth when possible.”