New ideas
There are very few new ideas and there are even fewer new good ideas. If you ever spent time around young people who suddenly get inspired by an idea they think is new, you know that the vast majority of the time it’s because they don’t know that the idea is in fact very, very old.
Jonah Goldberg
Return to church
Many will not return after the pandemic.
You can watch a performance more comfortably at home…
Phoenix Preacher
The Cause
…the Cause is very compelling, it’s a vision of the good that is really, really attractive. Evil results because you’re pursuing the true, the good, and the beautiful.
Richard Beck
Fixing Others
When we assume that people won’t change unless we fix them—as if we don’t ourselves need fixing—we show that our ultimate trust is in ourselves, not God.
When we don’t simply trust God to change others, we effectively claim that our ability to shame, intimidate, or otherwise manipulate people into change is greater than God’s transforming Spirit.
Greg Boyd – Repenting of Religion
the meaning of the Cross today:
”We kill one another. We killed our best. We killed God who came to save us. When we kill another, we kill the God who made them and loved them, who was in them and who came to save us. This is what I see these days when I look at the cross.”
David Gushee
Not everything that is faced can be changed; but nothing can be changed until it is faced. —James Baldwin (1924–1987)
Restorative Justice
…sin and failure are an opportunity for the transformation of the person harmed, the person causing harm, and the community. Mere counting and ledger-keeping are not the way of the Gospel. Our best self wants to restore relationships, and not just blame or punish. This is the “economy of grace” and an operative idea of restorative justice.
Richard Rohr
Fixers
Some of the people struggling most during the pandemic are the “fixers”… remember that you’re only responsible to be faithful, not for outcomes…
Phoenix Preacher
Fire Insurance
If there is nothing distinctly Christian about how you approach politics, there’s probably nothing distinctly Christian about how you approach anything else…and your faith is basically fire insurance…
Phoenix Preacher
Leading people to love
We think fear, anger, divine intimidation, threat, and punishment are going to lead people to love. Show me where that has worked. You cannot lead people to the highest level of motivation by teaching them the lowest. God always and forever models the highest, and our task is merely to “imitate God” (Ephesians 5:1).
Richard Rohr
Fire Lighters
Isa 50:10-11
Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the word of his servant?
Let him who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God.
But now, all you who light fires and provide yourselves with flaming torches, go, walk in the light of your fires and of the torches you have set ablaze.
For those who enjoy discovery because they know a good God is moving through the chaos toward a wonderful conclusion, mystery poses no problem. It is welcomed. Explain what you can, and relax even when you can’t. But for those ruled by a passion to explain, for those who insist on feeling confident in their own plans, mystery is offensive. They want to know exactly what they must do to provide for their economic future, to restore harmony in their relationships, to succeed in their career or ministry. Confusion is an enemy. Certainty is a challenge to overcome.
God’s words through Isaiah tell us one way we can know if we are living in the flesh or in the Spirit. When we bump into something we can’t explain, when we find ourselves in a dark tunnel and aren’t sure how to get out, is our stronger impulse to trust God or figure out what to do? Do we quickly reach for a flashlight to help us see the road ahead? Or do we firmly grasp the hand of the only one who can see in. the dark?
Where is our confidence—in God or in our ability to come up with a good plan? If we walk confidently in the light of our own torches, Isaiah informs us that we are not relying on God. The demand to walk a path with a predictable outcome is an urge of the flesh. It needs to die.
Larry Crabb
