“Jesus never told us to put our trust in the larger institutions of culture or even the church. That doesn’t mean they are bad or that we should abandon them, but we must recognize that they are also subject to the paschal mystery, the dying and the rising of all things. And I think we must be honest that we’re at the downside of the curve. All the indices suggest that we are at the end of the dominance of the United States, Western civilization, and even of Christianity. The question for us becomes: What will we do about it?” (Richard Rohr).
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
I bless this day for the wonderful adventure it can become as I walk through it with the eyes of wonder rather than boredom, use every opportunity to express peace rather than irritation, and choose love over fear” (Pierre Pradervand).
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
Belief, the act of holding a set or system of beliefs, is not the same thing as faith, even though we often use the words imprecisely and interchangeably” (Brian McLaren).
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
“Humility is to see things as they are. It isn’t to think of oneself as a worthless worm who God reluctantly redeemed. It is to fix our heart on God’s worth—which is the literal definition of worship—and know our worth in light of God’s worth. Jesus could be lowly and humble of heart because he knew who and whose he was. He had nothing to prove, so he could come as a baby and grow into a man who loved freely” (Brian Morykon).
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
“I enjoy watching birds. They remind me of that line from the old song by Civilla D. Martin, ‘His eye is on the sparrow/And I know He watches me.’ December in Michigan, where I live means deep snow and frigid temperatures, which makes life hard for birds. So I feed them. And I remember that through the birth of Jesus, God provides for my deepest spiritual needs, too” (Lou Lotz).
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
As I see it . . . God acts in history and in your and my brief histories not as the puppeteer who sets the scene and works the strings but rather as the great director who no matter what role fate casts us in conveys to us somehow from the wings, if we have our eyes, ears, hearts open and sometimes even if we don’t, how we can play those roles in a way to enrich and ennoble and hallow the whole vast drama of things including our own small but crucial parts in it” (Frederick Buechner).
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
“Let me add my bit today. Let me hunger for justice and then do it. Let me show compassion. Let me write an encouraging note or say an uplifting word. Once again, let me live today in such away that on your great day of judgment I can look back on this day and not be ashamed” (Cornelius Plantinga.)
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
“I try to avoid looking forward or backward, and try to keep looking upward” ( Charlotte Bronte).”
Living as Apprentices 