If a man can bridge the gap between life and death, if he can live on after he's dead, then maybe he was a great man.
We're not church planters. We are community planters and, as we work in our communities, we join local churches.
Perhaps there is no more dangerous place for a Christian to be than in safety and comfort, detached from the suffering of others.
Philadelphia caught my attention in 1995 when a group of homeless families were living in an abandoned cathedral. Even from the beginning they connected theology with what they were doing. They put a banner on the front of the cathedral that said, "How can we worship a homeless man on Sunday and ignore one on Monday. "
We don't actually have rich and poor together instead we have a family. What does it mean? If you have resources, you hold them with open hands. The mark of the early church was that they began sharing and it said there were no needy persons among them. They ended poverty as they created this new loving community.
We can ignore suffering no matter where we live. There are people who live a few miles from me who never see much poverty or the injustices that live on our doorstep.
The Christian icon is not the Stars and Stripes but a cross-flag, and its emblem is not a donkey, an elephant, or an eagle, but a slaughtered lamb.
So, I mean to say, as for those who are proving their allegiance with what I would call sickening perseverance, and who are urging the president to brush away the constitution, those I would like to remind of a Russian proverb: "Don't spit into the well, it'll come in handy once you're thirsty.
My story has been the story of my generation.
It takes much more energy to ignore things than it takes to deal with them and not be afflicted by them anymore.
Look up, laugh loud, talk big, keep the color in your cheek and the fire in your eye, adorn your person, maintain your health, your beauty and your animal spirits.