• Archive of "quotes" Category

    New Questions

    April 25, 2008 // 1 Comment »

    I love questions – they have the potential to open up new worlds of possibilities every time they are asked.  Even more, I love supplanting the questions we almost mindlessly often ask with fresh, thought provoking ones.

    I was reading today and came across this quote…

    Instead of asking young people, ‘What are you going to do when you grow up?’ ask them, ‘Who are you becoming?’

    Then, I came across this video which artfully points out what the difference in asking these questions might be.

    For those who follow Jesus, we need to be incredibly intentional and subversive about the questions we are asking ourselves – much hangs in the balance.

    Posted in art, questions, quotes, video

    Suburbia

    October 18, 2007 // 2 Comments »

    Saw this quote on my iGoogle page today and laughed out loud (then wondered why I wasn’t crying instead).

    Posted in quotes, suburban

    My 2nd Naivety

    August 27, 2007 // No Comments »

    I don’t think I know anyone, student, faculty, or staff person, who more personally embodies the ethos of Fuller Theological Seminary than its president, Richard Mouw. Much like Fuller, and to the great frustration of conservatives and liberals alike, he’s happy to call himself an evangelical, but really can’t be placed on the conservative/liberal spectrum. He holds hard and fast to the core tenants and practices of the Christian faith, but prides himself, as does his school, on humbly receiving and genuinely listening to those of different traditions and persuasions.

    I graduated this past December and therefore had the opportunity to participate in the commencement ceremony this past June, but chose to skip it. The only regret I had was missing Mouw’s address. That regret has been remedied by the publishing of the address on iTunes and I offer it to you here.

    It’s only about 15 minutes and is well worth your time. However, if you just can’t swing it, I think it is fair to say that his message is summed up in this quote.

    I would not give a fig for the simplicity this side of complexity, but I would give my life for the simplicity on the other side of complexity.
    – Oliver Wendell Holmes

    As I reflect back on the Christian I was before coming to Fuller, I can honestly say that I would not want to return. It sounds contradictory, but I would say that my faith was naive in an arrogant sort of way. I may have admitted that I had a naive faith, but I would have prided myself on it as though it was better (more childlike) than an informed and overly complex faith. Having spent these last years wrestling through some of those complexities and becoming more informed, I am genuinely excited to move, not backwards toward naivety, but forwards into a different sort of naivety. Whereas my first naivety was marked by existence in the darkness of complexity, I pray that I might find a 2nd naivety in the light of complexity. Thanks Rich for your heart, your leadership, and your commitment to Jesus as the center of the Christian faith.

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download

     

    Posted in evangelicalism, Fuller Seminary, Jesus, quotes

    Bonhoeffer: Life Together

    August 19, 2007 // 2 Comments »

    A new friend shared this quote with me the other day from Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s work, Life Together.

    He who loves his dream of community more than the Christian community itself becomes a destroyer of the latter, even though his personal intentions may be ever so honest and earnest and sacrificial.

    As I was thinking about this, I lamented my tendency to critique church communities based on their failure to embody God’s dream for his people and I quickly began to swing the pendulum the other way, believing that I ought to resign myself to the reality which is the church and push off God’s vision for community to that which will be realized in the fullness of the Kingdom.

    Enter Mark…

    Mark is one of the directors of the MAGL, a good friend, and someone whose life and ministry I’d be thrilled to approximate. As I unpacked the quote and my response Mark was quick to point out that the key to the whole thing is love. It’s not that we should abandon God’s dream and vision for his people, just that we need to love what is more then what should/will be.

    Imagine if God loved us only insofar as we reflected his dream for us? I, for one, am thrilled that God’s love in the here and now gives me strength and hope to step into his vision for me, rather than being contingent on my doing it.

    Posted in church, community, God, love, MAGL, quotes

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