Some people believe the alternative to bad religion is secularism, but that's wrong... The answer to bad religion is better religion--prophetic rather than partisan, broad and deep instead of narrow, and based on values as opposed to ideology.
I am convinced that most people do not grow up… We marry and dare to have children and call that growing up. I think what we do is mostly grow old. We carry accumulation of years in our bodies, and on our faces, but generally our real selves, the children inside, are...
Wherever people love each other and are true to each other and take risks for each other, God is with them and for them and they are doing God's will." from Secrets in the Dark
I believe a child who is holding a piece of music will not be holding a gun, a knife, or a torch. More original: Every child wants to be part of a gang....choir is a GOOD gang. And of course, we are building young people through music, not the other way around.
People will often say, "My authority is the Bible." It would be more accurate for them to say, "My authority is what they told me at church the Bible means."
We cannot and do not earn the grace of God. It is already given to us in our baptism. There will always be plenty of people who will want you to think you have to earn it. Don't ever believe them. You couldn't earn it even if you tried. It is free.
Racialization is assimilation, which is not to be confused with self- actualization. Being beige, that is mixed race, black, brown, red, yellow or white is not something to aspire to. It’s not something that we are hardwired to do. We are not born with it. We are told...
The vital function that pets fulfill in this world hasn't fully been recognized. They keep millions of people sane. When you pet a dog or listen to a cat purring, thinking may subside for a moment and a space of stillness arises within you, a doorway into Being.
The person who's in love with their vision of community will destroy community. But the person who loves the people around them will create community everywhere they go.
The church is not called to be the morality police of the world, legislators of holiness, or judges convicting people according to God's law. The church is not called to be a courtroom. It is called to be a sanctuary.