“God is too big for us to fully comprehend first-hand.”
“He was, with God’s encouragement, giving up his primary role and was seeing something he had been involved with for most of his adult life moving on without him.”
“For all that the narrative of Peter and Paul can be one of battling it out for the soul of the early church, from the passages appointed for their shared feast, it is clear that they agreed on at least three things: the message of Jesus was important enough to spend (and risk) their lives on; all are welcome to follow Jesus and enter into the community of believers; and sometimes, the messenger matters.”
“I think that God hopes I will make good decisions with my life, but in order for it to be my life, God can’t step in and ‘save me’ from myself or from just plain bad luck.”
It feels like it was easier for the psalmists to complain to God about all of the evils their ‘enemies’ were doing to them, than to bring up issues they were having with their friends
“When Jesus calls for mercy rather than sacrifice he calls us into a state of being. Instead of giving a thing that moth and rust can destroy, he asks us to give our attention and focus; to use our energy to show mercy rather than to judge.”
“Her vision of the church was that you are beloved of Jesus no matter what; and there is always a place at the table for you.”
“Waiting for a death is like waiting for a birth, we must find ways to occupy ourselves”
There is a huge uncertain gap between theory and practice. My mom and I had many discussions about death after she was diagnosed but now that we are walking the actual walk much that seemed certain is no longer so.
We can’t have forgiveness without confession and atonement. Atonement must take place and like the death on the cross it will be messy and painful.