A word from us...
The Living Spirit - January 5th
“But sometimes I think what the church needs most is to recover some of its “weird”. There’s no sense in sending her through the makeover montage of the chick flick when she’ll always be the strange, awkward girl who only gets invited to prom on a dare. In the ritual
of baptism, our ancestors acted out the bizarre truth of the Christian identity:
We are people who stand totally exposed before evil and death and declare them powerless against love.
There’s nothing normal about that.” Rachel Held Evans, “Searching for Sunday: Loving, Leaving, and Finding the Church.”
From Ephesians 1:
"According to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above
every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.
And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all."
“But sometimes I think what the church needs most is to recover some of its “weird”. There’s no sense in sending her through the makeover montage of the chick flick when she’ll always be the strange, awkward girl who only gets invited to prom on a dare. In the ritual
of baptism, our ancestors acted out the bizarre truth of the Christian identity:
We are people who stand totally exposed before evil and death and declare them powerless against love.
There’s nothing normal about that.” Rachel Held Evans, “Searching for Sunday: Loving, Leaving, and Finding the Church.”
From Ephesians 1:
"According to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above
every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.
And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all."
The Living Spirit - December 22nd
"Nothing, worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime;
Therefore we must be saved by hope.
Nothing, which is true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore we must be saved by faith.
Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore we must be saved by love.
No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as it is from our standpoint.
Therefore we must be saved by the final form of love, which is forgiveness.”
Reinhold Niebuhr
From Luke 6:
"But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.
Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful."
"Nothing, worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime;
Therefore we must be saved by hope.
Nothing, which is true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore we must be saved by faith.
Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore we must be saved by love.
No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as it is from our standpoint.
Therefore we must be saved by the final form of love, which is forgiveness.”
Reinhold Niebuhr
From Luke 6:
"But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.
Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful."
The Living Spirit - December 15th
“The joy and hope, the grief and anguish of the people of our time, especially of those who are poor or afflicted in any way, are the joy and hope, the grief and anguish of the followers of Christ as well. Nothing that is genuinely human fails to find an echo in their hearts. For theirs is a community composed of men who, united in Christ and guided by the Holy Spirit, press onwards towards the Kingdom of the Father and are bearers of a message of salvation intended for all. That is why Christian communities cherish a feeling of deep solidarity with the human race and its history.”
Gaudium et spec - the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World from the 2nd Vatican Council
From Philippians 3:
"But one thing I do: Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think in this way, and if any of you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have obtained...For we await a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform this lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself."
“The joy and hope, the grief and anguish of the people of our time, especially of those who are poor or afflicted in any way, are the joy and hope, the grief and anguish of the followers of Christ as well. Nothing that is genuinely human fails to find an echo in their hearts. For theirs is a community composed of men who, united in Christ and guided by the Holy Spirit, press onwards towards the Kingdom of the Father and are bearers of a message of salvation intended for all. That is why Christian communities cherish a feeling of deep solidarity with the human race and its history.”
Gaudium et spec - the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World from the 2nd Vatican Council
From Philippians 3:
"But one thing I do: Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think in this way, and if any of you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have obtained...For we await a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform this lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself."
The Living Spirit - December 8th
“We run the risk of concealing Christmas behind bourgeois customs and sentimentality, behind all those traditions that make this holiday dear and precious to us. Yet perhaps the deep meaning is still hiding behind all those things. What this celebration is about is the founding of a final order for the world, a new centre of meaning for all existence. We are not celebrating some children’s holiday, but rather the fact that God has spoken His ultimate Word to the world. Christ is the ultimate Word of God to the world.”
Alfred Delp SJ, Murdered by the Nazis, 2 February 1945
From 1 Timothy 1
"I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honour and glory forever and ever. Amen
“We run the risk of concealing Christmas behind bourgeois customs and sentimentality, behind all those traditions that make this holiday dear and precious to us. Yet perhaps the deep meaning is still hiding behind all those things. What this celebration is about is the founding of a final order for the world, a new centre of meaning for all existence. We are not celebrating some children’s holiday, but rather the fact that God has spoken His ultimate Word to the world. Christ is the ultimate Word of God to the world.”
Alfred Delp SJ, Murdered by the Nazis, 2 February 1945
From 1 Timothy 1
"I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honour and glory forever and ever. Amen
The Living Spirit - December 1st
“In a world marked by indifference and cynicism, hopelessness and division, it is our task to stand for something different: to point towards the Light that no darkness can overcome, to nurture good will, to enable communication founded on trust, in peace, to bear witness that death has lost its sting, that life is meaningful and beautiful, and of inviolable dignity.”
Eric Varden
From 1 John:
"This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us."
“In a world marked by indifference and cynicism, hopelessness and division, it is our task to stand for something different: to point towards the Light that no darkness can overcome, to nurture good will, to enable communication founded on trust, in peace, to bear witness that death has lost its sting, that life is meaningful and beautiful, and of inviolable dignity.”
Eric Varden
From 1 John:
"This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us."