My answer to a friend: There is no success in ministry, only service and moments of celebration. If you choose to minister, expect to be misunderstood. All of the pain people carry will fall upon your brow, and you shall be the stand-in for every ignorant statement...
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. On love of God and love of neighbor hang all of the law and the prophets. And if it’s not about love—it’s not about God!
We cannot be those who merely love the tombs of the prophets. We do not celebrate assassinations and killings of our prophets. We find the place they fell; we reach down in the blood; we pick up the baton and carry it forward. And we must.
The Prophets sought to convey: that morally speaking, there is no limit to the concern one must feel for the suffering of human beings, that indifference to evil is worse than evil itself, that in a free society, some are guilty, but all are responsible.
Preachers don't get to stay out of politics. We are either chaplains of empire or prophets of God.
Beautiful music is the art of the prophets that can calm the agitations of the soul; it is one of the most magnificent and delightful presents God has given us.
What I love about the Bible is that the story isn't over. There are still prophets in our midst. There are still dragons and beasts. It might not look like it, but the Resistance is winning. from Inspired
I am convinced that more people will be loved into the family of God than shamed into the family of God. And it's hard to love people if we keep throwing them out of our tent....Most people need a friend more than they need a prophet.
The poor tell us who we are. The prophets tell us who we can be. So we hide the poor and kill the prophets.
While most of us are not yet prophets, we know the presence of a great love, a love that includes the entire world. Awakened by that love, we too are aggrieved in the face of human oppression. A voice within us calls out, “This is wrong and cannot stand.” We yearn for...