Touchpoints on The Gospel (Page 4)
Limping Along
“You know, if I ever started another church, maybe I would name it the “World Wrestling Federation Lutheran Church.” And my benediction every Sunday would be, “Let’s get ready to Rumble!!!””
Living a Life of “Thank You”
“To live a life of thanksgiving means I have to acknowledge a ‘giver’ … a ‘gifter.’ It means acknowledging that I am not the beginning and end of existence. To live a life of thanksgiving means to acknowledge that the idea that I have possessions is an illusion. To be thankful for everything means that everything is a gift.”
Outside the Camp
“You know why I should welcome the stranger? Because I’m strange. You know why you should welcome the stranger? Because you’re strange. You know why God welcomes the stranger – because God is strange. After all, we didn’t crucify him because we thought he was TOO NORMAL!”
Straighten Up!!!
“This isn’t a demon inside of her holding her down. This is a demon in the world, its systems, its cultures, that chooses to value people on something other than being children of God.”
The Refiner’s Fire
“Sometimes I wish Jesus would have just come to earth and said, “This is going to hurt me more than it’s going to hurt you.” I would have been good with that. But Jesus is not a Pollyanna. He’s a realist. He will undergo a death and resurrection. And so will we. There’s no way to do an end run around Good Friday to get to Easter. For him or us.”
In Christ All Things Hold Together
“They, with us, heard these words: “In Christ all things hold together.” I want to believe that. I “need” to believe that! And with God’s grace, if we can hold each other together, with patient expectation and prayer, we just might be able to join St. Paul as servants of this gospel.”
Freedom From, Freedom For
“Christian freedom doesn’t serve us; we serve Christian freedom. And it is a freedom that frees us from trying to save ourselves, and moves us into a freedom for others.”
Go Home!!
“So what do we do with a Jesus who doesn’t convert or condemn, but simply heals and sets free? What do we do with a Jesus who doesn’t seek a follower but a thankful heart? What do we do with a Jesus who isn’t interested in how big his church is… errr, I mean… his parade of followers is?”
God and the Wise Little Girl
“God is verb. God is movement, dance, flow. If God is love, love requires both a lov-er and a lov-ee. God contains both. And anything that lives in relationship with anything else, therefore, lives within God. God doesn’t just cause things to exist, God is present within the relationship of those things.”
The Ongoing Story
“And so, Pentecost is the story of a Christianity that doesn’t end with me and Jesus, and my worship of him, but a story that continues on in you and me. A story of us continuing on and doing the works of Jesus, and even greater things, as he has promised.”
Forgiveness Leads to Repentance
“But here’s the thing. We don’t need to run and hide like Adam and Eve. We don’t need to live in fear and dread. We know what kind of God we have. We know whether God, at God’s core, is forgiving or vengeful.”
No Distinction
“This is what seems to most irritate the other disciples about what Peter did. It wasn’t that he didn’t invite those others to join them and become a part of them. They and we would have been good with that.”