Freedom is not having everything we crave, it’s being able to go without the things we crave and being OK with it.
The moment God is figured out with nice neat lines and definitions, we are no longer dealing with God.
Jesus is God’s way of refusing to give up his dream for the world.
If it is true, if it is beautiful, if it is honorable, if it is right, then claim it. Because it is from God. And you belong to God.
If anybody didn’t have a messiah complex, it was Jesus
because God has spoken, and everything else is commentary.
The danger is that in reaction to abuses and distortions of an idea, we’ll reject it completely. And in the process miss out on the good of it, the worth of it, the truth of it.
If we want hell, if we want heaven, they are ours. That’s how love works. It can’t be forced, manipulated, or coerced. It always leaves room for the other to decide. God says yes, we can have what we want, because love wins.
Sometimes the reason people have a problem accepting ‘the gospel’ is that they sense that the God lurking behind Jesus isn’t safe, loving, or good. It doesn’t make sense, it can’t be reconciled, and so they say no.
Love demands freedom. It always has, and it always will. We are free to resist, reject, and rebel against God’s ways for us. We can have all the hell we want.
When we deny the spiritual dimension to our existence, we end up living like animals. And when we deny the physical, sexual dimension to our existence, we end up living like angels. And both ways are destructive, because God made us human.
God is always present. We’re the ones who show up.
God is in the best, and also the worst. God is in the presence, and also in the absence. God is in the power, and also in the powerlessness.
It takes quite a spine to turn the other cheek. It takes phenomenal fortitude to love your enemy. It takes firm resolve to pray for those who persecute you. (with reference to Matthew 5)
It is such a letdown to rise from the dead and have your friends not recognize you.
…Jesus responds to almost every question he’s asked with…a question.”What do you think? How do you read it?” he asks, again and again and again.
The priest’s work, the priest’s service, was understood as an act of worship. This was God’s desire at Sinai – that everybody would understand their roles as priests. Thst everybody would worship God by serving each other.
The priest’s work, the priest’s service, was understoon as an act of worship. Theis was God”s desire at Sinai – thst everybody would understand their roles as priests. Thst everybody would worship God by serving each other.
It’s all—let’s use a very specific word here—miraculous. You, me, love, quarks, sex, chocolate, the speed of light—it’s all miraculous, and it always has been.
Suffering, it turns out, demands profound imagination. A new future has to be conjured up because the old future isn’t there anymore.
The myth of redemptive violence – Caesar, peace, and victory – is in people’s bones so deeply, we aren’t even aware of it. You crush the opposition; that’s how we bring peace.
As a pastor, you get invited into the most poignant moments of people’s lives. Whether it’s a wedding or a funeral or a hospital visit, you get invited into the center of the event, whether or not you know the people.