The way we see the world shapes the way we treat it. If a mountain is a deity, not a pile of ore; if a river is one of the veins of the land, not potential irrigation water; if a forest is a sacred grove, not timber; if other species are biological kin, not resources;...
If I were called upon to state in a few words the essence of everything I was trying to say both as a novelist and as a preacher it would be something like this: Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery that it is. In the boredom and pain of it no less...
You don't need another human being to make your life complete, but let's be honest. Having your wounds kissed by someone who doesn't see them as disasters in your soul but cracks to put their love into is the most calming thing in this world.
Our mission is to plant ourselves at the gates of Hope — not the prudent gates of Optimism, which are somewhat narrower; nor the stalwart, boring gates of Common Sense; nor the strident gates of Self-Righteousness, which creak on shrill and angry hinges (people cannot...
Let the rain come and wash awaythe ancient grudges, the bitter hatredsheld, and nurtured over generations.Let the rain wash away the memoryof the hurt, the neglect.Then let the sun come out andfill the sky with rainbows.Let the warmth of the sun heal uswherever we are...
Blessed are they who see beautiful things in humble places where other people see nothing.
…when the time comes to enter the darkness in which we are naked and helpless and alone; in which we see the insufficiency of our greatest strength and the hollowness of our strongest virtue; in which we have nothing to rely on, and nothing in our nature to support...
In Christ’s incarnation all of humanity regains the dignity of bearing the image of God. Whoever from now on attacks the least of the people attacks Christ, who took on human form and who in himself has restored the image of God for all who bear a human countenance....
I believe your image of God creates you—or defeats you. There is an absolute connection between how we see God and how we see ourselves and the universe.
It's hard to convince people that a God they can't see loves them, when a church they can see doesn't seem to like them.