"We must risk delight. We can do without pleasure, but not delight. Not enjoyment. We must have the stubbornness to accept our gladness in the ruthless furnace of this world. To make injustice the only measure of our attention is to praise the Devil."

"History and Scripture teaches us that there can be no reconciliation without repentance. There can be no repentance without confession. And there can be no confession without truth."

“Looking to the government to define good and evil, what is wise and profitable and what is not, is a bad idea. Civil law is not a reliable indicator of what God approves or of what he disapproves. The Christian is going to have to dig deeper into God's laws to make such judgements.”

"Jesus sought to challenge and change Israel's expectations.  He was conceived by the Holy Spirit but out of wedlock.  He was born in Bethlehem but in the humblest of environments.  His arrival was announced by angels but to a bunch of shepherds.  He lived in Egypt as a refugee.  He grew up in an insignificant backwater town called Nazareth.  Jesus did everything he could to enter into the world in a way that communicated that while he was indeed the Messiah, he did not come in power to militarily or politically overthrow their Roman oppressors and establish another earthly kingdom.  But changing those expectations was one of the biggest difficulties that Jesus faced throughout his earthly ministry."

"The Church is not for ready-made saints. The Church is for sinners, doubters, half-brewed Christians, conversions-in-process, tipsy wagon-riders who tumble off and climb back on again."