Thunderously, inarguably, the Sermon on the Mount proves that before God we all stand on level ground: murderers and temper-throwers, adulterers and lusters, thieves and coveters. We are all desperate, and that is in fact the only state appropriate to a human being who wants to know God. Having fallen from the absolute Ideal, we have nowhere to land but in the safety net of absolute grace.

Forgiveness is the only way to break the cycle of blame-and pain-in a relationship...It does not settle all questions of blame and justice and fairness...But it does allow relationships to start over. In that way, said Solzhenitsyn, we differ from all animals. It is not our capacity to think that makes us different, but our capacity to repent, and to forgive.

Grace means that God already loves us as much as an infinite God can possibly love.

Prayer is a declaration of dependence upon God.

I have found that living with faith in an unseen world requires constant effort.

Prayer is the act of seeing reality from God's point of view.

... we need to reclaim the "goodnewness" of the gospel, and the best place to start is to rediscover the good news ourselves.