Doctrine is a wonderful servant and a horrible master.
I embrace the term ‘evangelical,’ if by that we mean a belief that we together can actually work for change in the world, caring for the environment, extending to the poor generosity and kindness, a hopeful outlook. That’s a beautiful sort of thing.
The world is desperately in need of people who will break themselves open and pour themselves out for the reconciliation of all things- that’s what the world needs.
Questions are not scary. What is scary is when people don’t have any. What is tragic is faith that has no room for them.
Being a pastor for 20 years I realized that the labels, agnostic, atheist, believer, everybody’s human and everybody wants to know what kind of universe we’re living in, and everybody’s living according to a story.
Your life is a gift and how you respond to it – what you do with it matters. That’s where I start.
I believe our world desperately needs Good News.
I think what’s happened in the modern world, there’s a lot of people that sound very smart and it’s very compelling and alluring, but it leaves you empty.
I thought that Christian was a noun, a person looking for authenticity. I never understood that idea that a band could be Christian or something could be Christian. But it just can be and is.
You turn the light on, you get all kinds of bugs.
Christian is a great noun and a poor adjective.
This is why for thousands of years Christians have found the cross to be so central to life. It speaks to us of God’s suffering, God’s pain, God’s broken heart. It’s God making the first move and then waiting for our response.
Look at the size of the universe and look at what we’re discovering about string theory. There’s a wide-eyed sense of we’re just getting started here.
You want people who are both great fans and supporters and believers of your work and people who are also ruthlessly honest. People who will tell you the truth about it. Over the years I’ve picked up some friends and I know who to show what to and they’ll give me the proper read.
If we are serious about loving someone, we have to surrender all the desires within us to manipulate the relationship.
I got into pastoring because of the art form. I started a church, but I felt the art form needed to be freed for all people. A particular religion over others was never interesting to me. I wanted to talk to people about what it means to be alive and what it means to be human.
On the Sabbath- we are reminded that we are not human doings, but human beings.
It is better to be fully present and rested and engaged for one thing than rushed, distracted, and scattered for ten.
I believe that God is with you, that there is a presence. I believe this God is for you. I don’t think the universe is a cold, dead place that is indifferent.
For many people, God is primitive, behind, trying to drag everything back to some prehistoric era as opposed to spirit, force, love, drawing us into a better future, which to me is – that story has done something in me and I’ve seen it do things in other people.