Live As Brothers

“We must all learn to live together as brothers or we will all perish together as fools. We are tied together in the single garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality. And whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. For some strange reason I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. And you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. This is the way God’s universe is made.” ~ Martin Luther King Jr.

What Doesn't Kill You...

“Adversity will surface in some form in every life. How we prepare for it, how we meet it, makes the difference. We can be broken by adversity, or we can become stronger. The final result is up to the individual'.” ~ Marvin J. Ashton

The Newborn Church

"The newborn Church, as vulnerable as any human child, having neither money, influence nor power in the ordinary sense, is setting forth joyfully and courageously to win the world for God through Christ. The young Church, like all young creatures, is appealing in its simplicity and single-heartedness. Here we see the Church in its first youth, valiant and unspoiled—a body of ordinary men and women joined in an unconquerable fellowship never before seen on this earth. This surely is the Church as it was meant to be. It is vigorous and flexible, for these are the days before it ever became fat and short of breath through prosperity, or muscle-bound by over-organization…. But if they were uncomplicated and naïve by modern standards, we have ruefully to admit that they were open on the God-ward side in a way that is almost unknown today." ~ J. B. Phillips

How to Love God

"I do not know how to love God except by loving the poor. I do not know how to serve God except by serving the poor…. Here, within this great city of nine million people, we must, in this neighborhood, on this street, in this parish, regain a sense of community which is the basis for peace in the world." ~ Dorothy Day

Transformation Is Dependent On...

"Deep in us we know that the transformation of a city is dependent on transformed people and that finally a commitment to the building of the city has to involve a commitment to change in us." ~ Elizabeth O'Connor

Communication

Think like a wise man, but communicate in the language of the people. 

~ William Butler Yeats

An Abundantly Rewarding Day

"Lose yourself in generous service and every day can be a most unusual day, a triumphant day, an abundantly rewarding day!" ~ William Arthur Ward

No Need to Raise Voices...

“Soft and small voice communications with our associates make priceless friendships possible. I am appreciative of people who find no need to raise their voices as they try to impress or convince. It seems most people who argue and shout have ceased listening to what the small voice could powerfully contribute.” ~ Marvin J. Ashton

Definition of Church

Jesus’ definition of church is “the called out ones who are sent.” That’s what church means. ~ Busic

Reflections on Life in a Nazi Concentration Camp

"We had to learn, and we had to teach the despairing men, that it did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and think instead of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life—daily and hourly. Our answer must consist, not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct." ~ Victor Frankl

Expect the Best

“Perhaps the greatest charity comes when we are kind to each other, when we don’t judge or categorize someone else, when we simply give each other the benefit of the doubt or remain quiet. Charity is accepting someone’s differences, weaknesses, and shortcomings; having patience with someone who has let us down; or resisting the impulse to become offended when someone doesn’t handle something the way we might have hoped. Charity is refusing to take advantage of another’s weakness and being willing to forgive someone who has hurt us. Charity is expecting the best of each other” ~ Marvin J. Ashton

Called to Be Different

"Christians are called to be different and should be recognized for being different. Once we acquiesce to societal norms and procedures, we have effectively lost our capacity to be salt of the earth and light of the world. We continue the weary, threadbare legacy of domesticating the message of Jesus." ~ Diarmuid O'Murchu

Hard to Believe Because...

"It is so hard to believe because it is so hard to obey." ~ Soren Kierkegaard

Ambassadors in Chains

Watchman Nee said, "It will help us greatly and keep us from much confusion, if we keep constantly before us this fact, that God will answer all our questions (and prayers?) in one way only, namely by showing us more of His Son."  If we are to really be His ambassadors, even when such means we walk through the darkest, most painful places, literally "ambassadors in chains," that we will have greater and greater revelations of Christ, His Son, and through those revelations, greater and greater degrees of His life.  Life that will flow freely and fully through us, to others. Though kept in our own "prison cells" by so many different things, none can hold us as He, in us, calls others out of theirs.  Ambassadors in chains, vessels of His freedom. ~ Gary O'Shell