To know and to serve God, of course, is why we’re here, a clear truth that, like the nose on your face, is near at hand and easily discernible but can make you dizzy if you try to focus on it hard. But a little faith will see you through. Whar else will do except faith in such a cynical, corrupt time? When the country goes temporarily to the dogs, cats must learn to be cicumspect, walk on fences, sleep in trees, and have faith that all this woofing is not the last word.
—Garrison Keillor in We Are Still Married
Life is tough without Jesus
Jesus holds the answers to all of the everyday problems that you face. I am talking about an acceptance and belief in Jesus, heaven, and God. I guess you can deal with your problems on your own without these beliefs, but it’s much, much tougher. With those beliefs, you realize how insignificant the budget deficit debate is in comparison with the big picture.
—Rush Limbaugh, interviewed in The Door (Nov.–Dec. 1993)
Con artists all
One of the enduring images in Christian culture is the praying hypocrite—the slave trader who reads the Bible in the hull of the ship; the preacher whose prayers bring him wealth; the convicted criminal who suddenly embraces religion.
But don’t we all have a bit of the hypocrite or con artist in us? Don’t we all sometimes overlook our faults as we pray with the seemingly uninformed heart of a child? Prayer doesn’t fail us; we fail prayer.
—Jay Copp in U.S. Catholic (July 1992)
Entry or exit?
When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.
—Helen Keller in The Faith of Helen Keller
Hand in glove
I have a glove here in my hand. The glove cannot do anything by itself, but when my hand is in it, it can do many things. True, it is not the glove, but my hand in the glove that acts. We are gloves. It is the Holy Spirit in us who is the hand, who does the job. We have to make room for the hand so that every finger is filled.
—Corrie Ten Boom in Each New Day
The joy of misery
Love for anything is Not News [to journalists]—except in Heaven—and that is why [Dante’s] Inferno is so full of people angrily beating & biting one another; they like that sort of thing. They want to be cross & miserable. They enjoy chewing things to pieces—the little nasties! It must be part of the frustration of Hell that there is nothing good there to chew up—the good is beyond their reach; they can only chew one another.
—Dorothy Sayers in Dorothy L. Sayers: A Careless Rage for Life
Everyone except …
Liberals are always for the inclusion of every possible point of view except those points of view that do not include every possible point of view.
—Stanley Hauerwas, quoted in the Christian Century (Feb. 24, 1993)
While we pray for peace, we need moral clarity about this war.
A Christian reconciliation group in Israel and Palestine warned that war would come. Now the war threatens their relevance.españolالعربيةFrançaisрусскийУкраїнська
The plan would organize UMC churches in four global regions, with each given more leeway around same-sex marriage and other theological issues.
