One truth is that suffering raises profound questions with the universe. The other truth is that grace, gift and generosity also raise profound questions.
I get ideas about things I want to make and then I throw myself into it with everything I have.
I’m interested in painting the most beautifully compelling pictures and images and metaphors and stories and explanations possible that will put Jesus in language for a world that desperately needs to hear it.
We live in a world where we have friends, neighbors, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, people we journey with for years who are gay. And we need to love, affirm and all of us together work on the real problems that we have in the world.
Swords appear strong, but they’re actually quite weak. Jesus appears weak, but he’s actually quite strong.
It is such a letdown to rise from the dead and have your friends not recognize you.
For many, ‘desire’ is a bad word, something we’re supposed to ‘give up for God.’ That kind of thinking can be really destructive because it teaches people to deny their hearts, their true selves.
Enjoy mystery and speculation, but don’t drift into dogma.
The cross is Gods way of taking away all of our accusations, excuses, and arguments.
When we get to what happens when we die, we don’t have any video footage. So let’s at least be honest that we are speculating, because we are.
My interest is in what’s true, where is the life, where is the heart and what inspires.
Many people confuse religion with God and walk away from them both. The point isn’t Christianity, the point is being a Christian.
Faith can take many different forms and expressions.
I like to say that I practice militant mysticism. I’m really absolutely sure of some things that I don’t quite know.
I’m very comfortable in a room with thousands of people.
The resurrection confronts our world with wonder, mystery, and miracles.
Often the people most concerned about others going to hell when they die seem less concerned with the hells on earth right now, while the people most concerned with the hells on earth right now seem the least concerned about hell after death.
Suffering, it turns out, demands profound imagination. A new future has to be conjured up because the old future isn’t there anymore.
If your faith is threatened by something that’s true, then it wasn’t much of a faith to begin with, was it?
I believe God gives people the right to say no, to resist, to refuse, to reject, to cling to their sins, to cling to their version of their story.