It cost God nothing, so far as we know, to create nice things: but to convert rebellious wills cost him crucifixion. from Mere Christianity ————————Gender-neutral version: It cost God nothing, so far as we know, to create nice things: but to convert rebellious wills...
The Christian’s waiting and hoping is based on the conviction that God is actively involved in his creation and vigorously at work in redemption. Waiting does not mean doing nothing. It is not fatalistic resignation. It means going about our assigned tasks, confident...
True vocation joins self and service, as Frederick Buechner asserts when he defines vocation as “the place where your deep gladness meets the world’s deep need.” Buechner’s definition starts with the self and moves toward the needs of the world; it begins, wisely,...
The Spirit was present at creation and abided in Jesus of Nazareth and in every other being who has ever lived and ever will. Because it is life itself, it infuses all life. It need not be asked into our lives, for it is already there. While this Spirit dwells in us,...
The Spirit is loose in the world, and the Word of God through which and by which the cosmos was created is now moving in the world to transform the world. This is profoundly good news. The Spirit of Christ precedes us into the world. This Spirit is already at work in...
The awareness that we are yet meant to do more than we are signals where God lies in wait for us to become what we are meant to be. Then the spiritual life, the awareness of a driving energy within that is greater than ourselves, greater than anything around us,...
The grace of God means something like: Here is your life. You might never have been, but you are because the party wouldn’t have been complete without you. Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don’t be afraid. I am with you. Nothing can ever...
All great spirituality is about what we do with our pain. Creation has a pattern of wisdom; and we dare not shield ourselves from it, or we literally will lose our soul. We can obey commandments, believe doctrines, and attend church services all our lives and still...
At the center of the beloved community is good news—a framing story that calls humanity to creativity, harmony, reconciliation, justice, virtue, integrity, and peace, because these values reflect the character of the Creator whose world is our home and in whose...