I am reading my gospel reading this morning. "Peace I leave with you," Jesus says. "My peace I give you." I recently read in Toni Morrison's The Dancing Mind. She said there is a certain kind of peace that is not at the mercy of history's rule or a surrender to the status quo.

"The peace I am think of," she writes, "is the dance of an open mind." I find it interesting that she said suggests that this peace is the ability to have an open mind. Not a burdened mind. Not an exhausted mind. Not a hateful mind. Not a faithless mind. But an open mind.

When one reads the Hebrew Bible or the Christian Scriptures, we can't miss how the mind is a meaningful metaphor. Love the Lord with all your heart, soul, and mind, Jesus says. Be transformed by the renewal of your mind, Paul says. Get wisdom, the Preacher of Ecclesiastes says.

The mind is the place of interpretation and the place of imagination. It is as if Toni Morrison is joining the cloud of witnesses and saying: to have an open mind doesn't mean you won't experience trouble but it does help you find meaning and remain open to possibilities.

She says peace is the dance of an open mind. To dance is to be flexible. To dance is find creative ways to move and maneuver. To dance is to suggest a personal experience as well as a public embodiment. To dance is to be secure in my ability while also being open to adjustment.

I recently read a line that said: "Americans are, of course, the most thoroughly and passively indoctrinated people on earth." What does it mean to live with an open mind in a country and church that often disciples you and socializes you to remain closed? Morrison says: be open.

What does it mean to be in a church and country that often sees our citizenship and faith as more about who we can keep out rather than about who we can bring in? Morrison says: be open. Is it possible that we don't experience peace because we fail to be open and flexible?

An open mind that has learned to dance is not absent of problems but it is able to remain flexible and faithful enough to change perspectives. An open mind can turn a bad day into a blessing. An open mind can turn a wound into a world. An open mind can turn a hater into a healer.

An open mind can turn a dark night into a prayer service. An open mind can turn Hell into a revival meeting. An open mind can turn a graveside into a place of glory. So I'm listening to Toni and Jesus, saying: learn how to live with an open mind and watch your peace follow.