"Holy Spirit" Tagged Touchpoints (Page 2)
Marginalizing Jesus
“Is there a message here for us? That it’s more important to listen to people, especially those on the margins, than to listen to the economic systems, the political systems, and the religious systems in which we have been raised? It is more important to listen to those on the margins than the leaders of those systems or those who have been most successful in them.”
We’re Gonna Need a Bigger Tent
“So we – you, me and the Church – participate in the forgiveness of sin by bearing witness to the forgiveness that God pronounced from the Cross. Or we retain the sin, to our detriment, by not bearing witness to God’s grace. But forgiveness is not a possession of ours. It is not under our control. And so, the idea that forgiveness of sin is only available inside the Church is like believing the Spirit can only exist inside our tent, or only in our language and cultural concepts.”
Turning Point
“Repentance is something that happens to us. It is something that changes us. God acts and we are changed. God acts and we see things differently. God acts and we turn around. Some people have said the word ‘metanoia’ means to turn around, but I think a better phrase would be ‘turning point.’”
Life Resurrected
“Let’s face it. We don’t really want a God who rises from the dead. We want a God who never would have been crucified in the first place. But if a resurrected God is what we have, can we at least have him not bear the scars of this earthly life?”
A World of Forgiveness
“God isn’t just content to take sin away, as we might understand it. Sin isn’t just removed. That which is broken is healed. That which is wayward is sought out and found. This is much more than a bookkeeping, scorekeeping adjustment. The Spirit is at work healing, restoring, uniting.”
Where God Spends Eternity
“The gospel isn’t asking us where we want to spend eternity, the gospel is telling us where God is spending eternity. And God is spending it with us. In life and death, in fear and doubt, in joy and sorrow. From cradle to the grave, and beyond. And so, if I spend all my time preparing for the heavenly after-life, and miss the heavenly this-life, the heavenly now-life, I’ve missed out on a lot.”
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