Christmas reminds us that God didn’t become an emperor controlling an empire. God didn’t become a general commanding legions. God didn’t become a creed, a Bible, or a set of doctrines to be imposed. God became a helpless baby born to a poor family desperately in need...
Think of a single mother who goes to the Church or the Parish, and tells the secretary: I WANT TO BAPTIZE MY SON." And the attendant says: No, you can't, because you're not married.. Let's keep in mind that this mother had the courage to continue with a pregnancy, and...
Christianity is about helping others and controlling yourself. When it becomes about controlling others and helping yourself, it ain't Christianity.
Every day, I am reminded… 1. Dismissing is easier than listening. 2. Judging is easier than seeking to understand. 3. Concluding is easier than patiently remaining open. 4. Stereotyping is easier than seeing. 5. Profiling is easier than curiously engaging. 6. Other...
Through Jesus Christ, we are invited into the flow of God's energy running through this universe. Moving into that good current doesn't require us to work harder, serve more, or first get our stuff together. Stepping into this current simply requires surrender -...
Human beings are not born with self-control. We have to learn what to do with the mad that we feel. Learning to control ourselves is a long, hard process. It happens little by little. In fact, it is something we work on all through our lives.
Love has many attributes, but not a single one of them is shame, condemnation, coercion, or control.
Christians are usually sincere and well-intentioned people until you get to any real issues of ego, control, power, money, pleasure, and security. Then they tend to be pretty much like everybody else. We often are given a bogus version of the Gospel, some fast-food...
When our theology and politics as Christians is completely preoccupied with how other people might be sinning rather than how our own sin contributes to the problems of our world, that is when we know our religion is about control rather than redemption.
We must never underestimate our power to be wrong when talking about God...A generous orthodoxy, in contrast to the tense, narrow, or controlling orthodoxies of so much of Christian history, doesn't take itself too seriously. It is humble. It doesn't claim too much....