I found this picture of Jesus laughing and it caught my eye. It's odd to think how rare it is to find a portrait that has Jesus expressing such a basic human response as laughter. I don't post very often on Jesus. I'm afraid that he'll be made into a superman or perhaps become a brand ID to trump one religion over another. Yet he remains a compelling figure and central to the stories we tell about our faith.

Propbably because the stories of Jesus present one who was so responsive to God and to other people from the samaritan to the prostitute, there doesn't seem to be any line he won't broach to bring about reconciliation. In this we learn something about God and God's character. But the moment we make Jesus the object of worship something is lost, his humanity and the God to he is always pointing.

Salvation is not a belief about Jesus as much as taking up the cause of Jesus, the reconciliation of humans to one another, to God, to our planet. Trusting and cooperating in God's continual work by which such an effort is not in vain. To be a Christian then to take part in the resources and tools of a religious tradition which has sought, at it's best, to make sense out of this cause and to aid people in it.