Christians began as a politically unimportant offshoot of Judaism in the Roman Empire. The early Christians found ways to live faithfully from one Caesar to another. If your faith is shattered by the politics of the moment, it may be your faith that needs some...
We need some Christians who are as crazy as the Lord. Crazy enough to love like Jesus, to give like Jesus, to forgive like Jesus, to do justice, love mercy, walk humbly with God--like Jesus. Crazy enough to dare to change the world from the nightmare it often is into...
There are too many people today who instead of feeling hurt are acting out their hurt; instead of acknowledging pain, they're inflicting pain on others. Rather than risking feeling disappointed, they're choosing to live disappointed. Emotional stoicism is not...
Advent is not the kind of "preparation" that involves shopping and parties and cards. Such illusions of abundance disguise the true cravings of our weary souls. Advent is preparation for the demands of newness that will break the tired patterns of fear in our lives....
Learn from the mistakes of others. You can't live long enough to make them all yourself.
If we really believe what we say, that our faith should inform the whole of our lives, then we cannot leave our values and beliefs at the door when it comes to public discourse. While the separation of church and state is critically important to the freedoms we...
Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms and like books that are written in a foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers. ...Live the questions now. from Letters to a Young Poet
One other picture that will always be a part of my memory of that week is the way people all across the land crowded into their places of worship. ...My fear is that we are beginning to think and act like we are on our own again and we can do it alone. ...We need God...
And so it comes down to this: the only way to truly overcome our fear of death is to live life in such a way that its meaning cannot be taken away by death. This sounds grandiose, but it is really very simple. It means fighting the impulse to live for ourselves,...
Jesus said nothing about endowments, pension funds, canon law, stewardship campaigns, diocesan structures, music programs, or even potluck lunches. He didn’t mention who would own church real estate. He said nothing about altar guilds, and we aren’t even sure where he...