“Innumerable times a whole Christian community has broken down because it had sprung from a wish dream. The serious Christian, set down for the first time in a Christian community, is likely to bring with him a very definite idea of what Christian life together should be and to try to realize it. But God’s grace speedily shatters such dreams. By sheer grace, God will not permit us to live even for a brief period in a dream world. The sooner this shock of disillusionment comes to an individual and to a community, the better for both.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
(These words are especially poignant as we seek to build missional community on Santa Barbara's Westside, since Spring 2013)
To thee, O God, we turn for peace; but grant us, too, the blessed assurance that nothing shall deprive us of that peace, neither ourselves, nor our foolish, earthly desires, nor my wild longings, nor the anxious cravings of my heart.
Søren Kierkegaard, 1813-1855
Søren Kierkegaard, 1813-1855
“When we are really honest with ourselves, we must admit that our lives are all that really belong to us. So it is how we use our lives that determines what kind of men we are. It is my deepest belief that only by giving our lives do we find life. I am convinced that the truest act of courage, the strongest act of manliness is to sacrifice ourselves for others in totally nonviolent struggle for justice.”
Cesar Chavez
“We can do not great things, only small things with great love. What is important is not how much you do, but how much love you put into doing it.”
Mother Teresa
You hollow us out, God, so that we may carry you, and you endlessly fill us only to be emptied again. Make smooth our inward spaces and sturdy, that we may hold you with less resistance and bear you with deeper grace.
Jan Richardson
Thou wilt never be spiritually minded and godly unless thou art silent concerning other men's matters and take full heed to thyself.
Thomas a Kempis, Of the Imitation of Christ, 1380-1471
“The Good News of the resurrection is not that we shall die and go home with him, but that he is risen and comes home with us, bringing all his hungry, naked, thirsty, sick, prisoner brothers with him.”
Clarence Jordan
And from the sublime to the ridiculous. My friend Nancy sent me this:
"From a non-cat person. This is good. Turn the sound off so you don't have to hear the giggling in the background and it's even better."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quMsDiGd0Ho
“We can do not great things, only small things with great love. What is important is not how much you do, but how much love you put into doing it.”
Mother Teresa
You hollow us out, God, so that we may carry you, and you endlessly fill us only to be emptied again. Make smooth our inward spaces and sturdy, that we may hold you with less resistance and bear you with deeper grace.
Jan Richardson
Thou wilt never be spiritually minded and godly unless thou art silent concerning other men's matters and take full heed to thyself.
Thomas a Kempis, Of the Imitation of Christ, 1380-1471
“The Good News of the resurrection is not that we shall die and go home with him, but that he is risen and comes home with us, bringing all his hungry, naked, thirsty, sick, prisoner brothers with him.”
Clarence Jordan
And from the sublime to the ridiculous. My friend Nancy sent me this:
"From a non-cat person. This is good. Turn the sound off so you don't have to hear the giggling in the background and it's even better."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quMsDiGd0Ho
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