Posts By This Author
Voice of the Day: Ripple on the Eucharist
Verse of the Day: Righteous and Sinning
Surely there is no one on earth so righteous as to do good without ever sinning
- Ecclesiastes 7:20
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Voice of the Day: To love others is to fill our own empty spaces.
Strange, this love announced by our Lord turns all of life right. To love others is to fill our own empty spaces.
Thomas a Becket
Voice of the Day: 'he forgives us all'
Many find Jesus' teaching on enemy love and forgiveness a stumbling block to faith. Because we find it too difficult to practice, we dismiss it as unrealistic and utopian. We should think again, and we should pray that it is not unrealistic, because this congruence of Jesus-the consistency between his teaching on forgiveness and his action on the cross-is really our only hope. It is all that stands between us and the consequences of our monumental frailty. Thank God today that Jesus died as he [...]
Does Humility Risk More Than Arrogance? (A Dialogue Too Friendly for Focus on the Family - Part 3, by Brian McLaren)
[Continued from parts one and two. Click here to read the full response as one post.] On Jan. 3, Focus on the Family's CitizenLink criticized those of us who responded to an invitation to dialogue with 138 Muslim scholars.
Verse of the Day: 'Whoever welcomes you welcomes me'
Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet's reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous; and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple--truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.
Matthew 10:40-42
Voice of the Day: Tillich on Solitude
Who has not, at some time, been lonely in the midst of a social event? The feeling of our separation from the rest of life is most acute when we are surrounded by it in noise and talk. We realize then much more than in moments of solitude how strange we are to each other, how estrangede life is from life.... The walls of distance, in time and space, have been removed by technical progress; but the walls of estrangement between heart and heart have been incredibly strengthened.
Paul [...]
Voice of the Day: 'You are different because now you know that God exists'
You are different. You are different because now you know that God exists, and [God] alone matters. It is an overwhelming, awesome thought.... You are different in the sense that now all people belong to you and are part of you, and you belong to all people. At the same time, you belong only to God, and you belong to [God] totally. There is a distinction between you and others, and at the same time, there is no distinction at all, but a blending of all into one. The demarcation that exists is a [...]
Verse of the Day: 'Your princes are rebels'
Your princes are rebels
and companions of thieves.
Everyone loves a bribe
and runs after gifts.
They do not defend the orphan,
and the widow's cause does not come before them.
Isaiah 1:23
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Arab Christians Worship Allah Too (A Dialogue Too Friendly for Focus on the Family - Part Two, by Brian McLaren)
[Continued from yesterday's part one] On January 3, 2008, Focus on the Family's CitizenLink criticized those of us who responded to an invitation to dialogue with 138 Muslim scholars.
Verse of the Day: 'Vanity of vanities'
Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher,
vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
What do people gain from all the toil
at which they toil under the sun?
A generation goes, and a generation comes,
but the earth remains forever.
- Ecclesiastes 1:2-4
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Voice of the Day: Nouwen on Ministry
Too often I looked at being relevant, popular, and powerful as ingredients of an effective ministry. The truth, however, is that these are not vocations but temptations. Jesus asks, "Do you love me?" Jesus sends us out to be shephers, and Jesus promises a life in which we increasingly have to stretch out our hands and be led to places where we would rather not go. He asks us to move from a concern for relevance to a life of prayer, from worries about popularity to communal and mutual ministry, [...]
Voice of the Day: Lamott on Forgiving
"Not forgiving is like drinking rat poison and then waiting for the rat to die."
- Anne Lamott
Traveling Mercies
Verse of the Day: 'your Father knows what you need before you ask.'
When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask.
Matthew 6:7-8
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Video: Reverend Billy on 'What Would Jesus Buy'
Last night Bill Talen and his wife Savitri Durkee discussed American consumerism at a special Sojourners screening of 'What Would Jesus Buy?'
Voice of the Day: 'Turn my soul into a garden, where the flowers dance'
Teach me, Lord, to sing of your mercies. Turn my soul into a garden, where the flowers dance in the gentle breeze, praising you with their beauty. Let my soul be filled with beautiful virutes; let me be inspired by your Holy Spirit; let me praise you always.
Teresa of Avila
Complete Works
Verse of the Day: 'The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked'
How the oppressor has ceased!
How his insolence has ceased!
The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked,
the scepter of rulers,
that struck down the peoples in wrath
with unceasing blows,
that ruled the nations in anger
with unrelenting persecution.
The whole earth is at rest and quiet;
they break forth into singing.
Isaiah 14:4-7
Getting to Know Jon Sobrino (by Michelle Garc
When I first landed in El Salvador, all I knew about the tiny Central American country was its war. What I found was lush mountain ranges, volcanoes, and air heavy with grief. It was 2003, and I was there to produce a documentary for a public radio series titled Despues de las Guerras/Centra America: After the Wars about the violence suffered by [...]
Verse of the Day: 'a bribe corrupts the heart'
Surely oppression makes the wise foolish, and a bribe corrupts the heart.
Ecclesiastes 7:7
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Voice of the Day: On Forgiving
The test of forgiving lies with healing the lingering pain of the past, not with forgetting that the past ever happened.
Lewis B. Smedes
Forgive and Forget