“The “rebel Jesus” who didn’t just urge us to go along with the injustices of the world, or to throw a few sacks of coins into the lap of beggars, but who freed beggars from their marginalization, who dined with outcasts, and who called the powerful down from their thrones (as his own mother predicted).”
““Why does it have to be so hard? Why is everything so hard?” It was with pleading eyes and frustrated tone, twinged with hopeless resignation that my colleague masked her questions as statements of exhaustive reality. Her eyes searched my face for an answer, as I silently stared at her.”
“On a recent vacation we heard the common phrase from our kids, “Are we there yet?” Too often I’m not that different from my children and am asking my own version of are we there yet? Whether it’s with my writing or parenting or planning the next adventure, I’m always waiting for what’s next.”
“Edith was uniquely placed to write to Pope Pius XI as a German, Jewish, Roman Catholic and beseech him to speak out publicly against the Nazi regime. In her words:
‘As a child of the Jewish people who, by the grace of God, for the past eleven years has also been a child of the Catholic Church, I dare to speak to the Father of Christianity about that which oppresses millions of Germans. … ‘”
“‘Speak to those who cross your path,” says God. “Help forge relationships between them and me. Learn their languages of hope and meaning, and make a crack so that I can enter their understanding. Because I am right there like a beggar at their gates.'”
“‘Remember to extol his work,’ Elihu says (Job 36:24). I looked up at the green canopy surrounding me, energized by knowing life teemed around me, even in the ways I could not see. “
There are some, especially in this continuing pandemic, who are very fond of talking about freedom—especially when they are talking about themselves, without any concern for the fact that freedom is always balanced by responsibility and duty, especially to others, because all political freedom comes by being members of a body politic.”
“Rest (v): Trusting we are enough. Trusting we are loved. Savoring the gift of this life.”
“What are the new challenges people in your congregation and your neighborhood are facing as we race into the fall of 2021? What are creative and compassionate ways you and your church can reach out to those that are still struggling with the ongoing challenges of this troubled time?”
“In my experience, deciding with my mind that I believe in Jesus is as foolish as deciding that I believe in water. I can decide to go boating or swimming, I can fish in a river, I can sit by the side of the ocean and watch the endless crash of waves, I can drink fresh water or cook with it or freeze it into ice. All those things make sense. But deciding whether or not I believe in water is a pointless exercise.”