We can surely no longer pretend that our children are growing up into a peaceful, secure, and civilized world. We've come to the point where it's irresponsible to try to protect them from the irrational world they will have to live in when they grow up. The children...
Hope is never calibrated to the fervor of optimism or the distress of pessimism. Hope is fixed to a larger horizon and rooted in an expansive memory. Hope cannot be auctioned off to the highest bidder; cannot be put up for collateral; cannot be traded on the big board...
Christianity is not about building an absolutely secure little niche in the world where you can live with your perfect little wife and your perfect little children in your beautiful little house where you have no gays or minority groups anywhere near you. Christianity...
A strong inward focus in many churches creates a security blanket from a frightening world. Seems many prefer security over being salt, light, and leaven in the world. I think this reality grieves the heart of God and warms the hearts of many members of secure churches.
The more you grow into love, into the message of Jesus--to say it in such traditional, defenseless terms--the more vulnerable you make yourself. You simply become more open to attack when you have become conspicuous or when "that of God" lights up in you. When you...