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...
Just because someone plays Beethoven badly doesn't mean Beethoven was a bad composer. Just because someone lives the Christian life poorly doesn't mean that Jesus isn't worth following. God doesn't ask you to be like Christians. He asks you to be like Jesus Christ....
We are all hypocrites to some degree — passionately promoting ideas we have not ourselves fully lived, taking others to task for frailties and failures not that dissimilar from our own. Knowing this, we should all be more gentle, more hopeful, more merciful with one...
Beware of Christians who literalize the words of Revelation about burning suns and seven-headed dragons, but spiritualize the words of Jesus about helping the poor, oppressed, and marginalized.
Every life deserves a certain amount of dignity, no matter how poor or damaged the shell that carries it. from All Over But the Shoutin'
During an era when religious institutions used theology and Scripture to malign and reject others, Jesus accepted and included Gentiles, the poor, the sick, women, Samaritans, Romans, children, and many others who were outcasts and oppressed. Being inclusive and...
As you grow up, always tell the truth, do no harm to others, and don't think you are the most important being on earth. Rich or poor, you then can look anyone in the eye and say, 'I'm probably no better than you, but I'm certainly your equal.
IF DEATH WAS TO be truly defeated, it was only by dying himself that Jesus believed he could defeat it. If he was to reach the hearts of men, it was only by suffering his own heart to be broken on their behalf that he believed he could reach them. To heal the sick and...
What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. That is what love looks...
Yet as I read the birth stories about Jesus I cannot help but conclude that though the world may be tilted toward the rich and powerful, God is tilted toward the underdog.