The Soviets, like the Nazi Party, did not ban Christianity outright. They didn’t attempt to make enemies of the Christians in the countries they occupied. Instead, they both chose a slow and deliberate hijacking of the faith, to not only gain the favor of the people they had power over, but to make questioning this power akin to blasphemy. Christianity was never banned; it was rebranded. And as a result, the ways of Jesus were outlawed, and it happened slowly and subtly.

It is important to consider that borders do not come from God; they are man-made constructs. They are nothing less than the result of humanities struggle to get along. In short, borders are the direct result of our seemingly inability to love one another. If we acknowledge then that borders are the result of our own sinful nature then perhaps we might not cling to them so tightly.

There are seasons in life when faith cannot survive on borrowed language. What once felt familiar may begin to feel thin. Easy answers no longer satisfy. Religious habits that once gave comfort may begin to feel too small for the ache, beauty, grief, and wonder of actual life. And in that place, many people fear they are losing faith, when in truth they may be standing at the threshold of a deeper one. Not a smaller faith. Not a looser faith. Not a faith emptied of substance.

Christian theology speaks into that uncertainty with a radically different claim. Human worth does not begin with the self. It does not arise from recognition, productivity, or public approval. It is not bestowed by the market, by popularity, by talent, by health, by youth, or by success. Human worth begins in God.

We live in an anxious world. Many of us carry a quiet sense of pressure through our days. We worry about family, health, finances, work, current events, and the future. Even in moments of rest, our minds can keep racing. Anxiety has a way of making life feel unsteady. That is why Psalm 23 remains such a gift.

The Beatitudes are some of the most beautiful words Jesus ever spoke, and they are also some of the most disruptive. In Matthew 5, Jesus begins the Sermon on the Mount not with commands, but with blessing: “Blessed are the poor in spirit.“Blessed are those who mourn.”Blessed are the meek.“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.” These words are familiar to many of us, but they should still surprise us.

To do so would have been dangerous to my own soul because I would have believed that my truest self had arrived. Nothing would be further from the truth. My credentialed self would have arrived, but my true self would have remained lost. To wrap one’s identity in that which is fleeting is the beginning of the illusion. The truest profession you can have is your own self, with all the joys and flaws that come with it.