"She can't get inside the building because of her wheelchair." No. She can't get inside because the building is not accessible. The building has a barrier that does not let her in. The wheelchair is not the problem; the building's lack of access is the problem. Words...
Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.
Privilege isn't the presence of perks and benefits. It's the absence of obstacles and barriers. That's a lot harder to notice. If you have a hard time recognizing your privileges, focus on what you don't have to go through. Let that fuel your empathy and action.
[On finding depth of meaning and experiencing transformation in Scripture: literal or *literary* truth…] If literalism is your bridge to Jesus, if it is the only way you access Jesus, then I promise you: I am not trying to take it away from you. I just hope that you...
If your theology causes you to treat other people as less worthy of a home or love or care or safety than yourself--it isn't worth keeping. Religion at its best will always welcome the stranger, mend wounds, share blessings, remove barriers, and expand the table.
Embrace the faith that every challenge surmounted by your energy; every problem solved by your wisdom; every soul stirred by your passion; and every barrier to justice brought down by your determination will ennoble your life, inspire others, serve your country, and...
Jesus didn't call it "social justice." He simply called it love. If we would only love our neighbors beyond comfort, borders, race, religion, and other differences that we've allowed to be barriers, "social justice" would be a given. Love makes justice happen.
Passive worship assumes that worship is something that somebody else does to you or for you. But active worship, which grows out of our response to divine action, breaks through the barriers of passive worship and returns worship to the people. from Worship Is a Verb:...
Forgiveness does not mean ignoring what has been done or putting a false label on an evil act. It means, rather, that the evil act no longer remains as a barrier to the relationship.
Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.