So, the question is not, “Will we sacrifice our children?” The question is, “To which god, upon which altar will we sacrifice our children?” We are all busy sacrificing our children to some god, laying their lives upon some altar. So the question is not if we shall be...
We live in a world in which we need to share responsibility. It’s easy to say, “It’s not my child, not my community, not my world, not my problem.” Then there are those who see the need and respond. I consider those people my heroes.
We must beware of the naive idea that our music can “please” God as it would please a cultivated human hearer. That is like thinking, under the old law, that He really needed the blood of bulls and goats… For all our offerings, whether of music or martyrdom, are like...
Faith grows like a tree, by adding rings… A one-year-old tree is truly and completely a tree. As it develops, it doesn’t become more truly a tree; it only becomes more complex. In the same way, one stage of faith is not better or more truly faith than another… A...
Often the only thing a child can remember about an adult in later years, when he or she is grown, is whether or not that person was kind to him or her.
"Let the little children come unto me and forbid them not, for such is the kingdom of heaven," Jesus said. He did not say let only rich or middle-class white children come. He did not say let only the strapping boys but not the girls come. He did not say let only the...
The pageant proceeded as scheduled—Angels, Shepherds, Wise Men, Mary, Joseph, the Christ Child—Children reciting their lines while parents beam with pride. The lights dim, children freeze in place; all is quiet. Then the children get up and leave; the pageant is over....
An angel appears to Joseph in a dream to explain the situation. When Joseph wakes, he must make decisions about marrying Mary and caring for her and the child. He acts on complete faith and trust. Acting on faith and trust is a tremendous challenge today. In our...
Christianity is mainly wishful thinking…Dreams are wishful thinking. Children playing at being grown-up is wishful thinking. Interplanetary travel is wishful thinking…Sometimes the truth is what sets us wishing for it.
If happiness is what we feel when we think we’ve got what we want, then joy is what we feel when we discover we already have what we most need. Joy is still present when life is hard. Christ comes for grieving people with broken homes and broken hearts. Christmas is...