Jesus comes for sinners, for those outcast...and those caught up in squalid choices and failed dreams.

The trouble with our ideals is that if we live up to all of them, we become impossible to live with.

We miss Jesus' point entirely when we use His words as weapons against others.

The anything-goes passiveness of the religious and political Left is matched by the preachy moralism of the religious and political Right. The person who uncritically embraces any party line is guilty of an idolatrous surrender of her core identity as Abba's Child. Neither liberal fairy dust nor conservative hardball addresses our ragged human dignity.

Shame--what happened when my mother, the dragon, huffed and puffed and blew my self down.

Assured of your salvation by the unique grace of our Lord Jesus Christ" is the heartbeat of the gospel, joyful liberation from fear of the Final Outcome, a summons to self-acceptance, and freedom for a life of compassion toward others.

Silent solitude makes true speech possible and personal. If I am not in touch with my own belovedness, then I cannot touch the sacredness of others. If I am estranged from myself, I am likewise a stranger to others.