What’s wrong with the church?
The problem with the church today is not corruption. It is not institutionalism. No, the problem is far more serious than something like the minister running away with the organist. The problem is pettiness. Blatant pettiness.
—Mike Yaconelli in
The Wittenburg Door
(Dec. 1984/Jan. 1985)
Don’t leave me, God
The soul that has once been waked, or stung, or uplifted by the desire of God, will inevitably (I think) awake to the fear of losing Him.
—C. S. Lewis in Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer
God and Mrs. Brezhnev
An amazing thing happened at the funeral of Soviet leader Brezhnev. Things were run to a military precision; a coldness and hollowness pervaded the ceremony—marching soldiers, steel helmets, Marxist rhetoric, but no prayers, no comforting hymns, no mention of God. I happened to be in just the right spot to see Mrs. Brezhnev. She walked up, took one last look at her husband and there—in the cold, gray center of that totalitarian state, she traced the sign of the cross over her husband’s chest. I was stunned. In that simple act, God had broken through the core of the communist system.
—George Bush, quoted in the Washington Post (July 18, 1987)
The flippant believer
I am disturbed when I hear believers say “Lord” thoughtlessly. Many Christians are guilty of making Christ only a figurehead while continuing to ran their lives just as they did before. It may be possible to fake the lordship of Christ now, but in the days when Paul wrote the letter to Romans, Lord was not a word used flippantly by the church.
—Calvin Miller in The Taste of Joy
Why, God?
Is not the question “Why is God letting this happen to me?” really a question that seeks to find out how God feels toward me? When I have pursued the “why” question by asking, “Could you tell me what you think might be the answer?” I have usually gotten a response that reveals the person’s perception of their present relationship with God. Often it is concern that the suffering indicates a vindictive God who is angry with them.
—Arthur H. Becker in Ministry with Older Persons: A Guide for Clergy and Congregations
Onward, Christian soldiers!
The gospel is not defense, but rather attack, and it is up to the world to decide its position! The gospel is glad tidings; and we will not allow the gladness it gives to be taken from us!
—Martin Niemoller in Exile in the Fatherland; letters edited by Hubert G. Locke
Where are the Christians?
For some reason, it seems, the modern media moguls have decided that Christianity is to be censored completely from today’s media, in spite of the fact that there are more people that go to church in America than ever before. The attendance at all of the major professional sporting events combined (football, basketball, soccer, hockey, etc.) in a given year does not even come close to the number of people that go to church every year in America.… In spite of this Christians are almost never portrayed on television today.
—D. James Kennedy in NFD Journal (May/June 1986)
