Christianity is not a purely intellectual, internal faith. It can only be lived in community.

The promise of pleasures so alluring that we may devote our lives to their pursuit, and then the haunting realization that these pleasures ultimately do not satisfy.

Jesus never tried to hide his loneliness and dependence on other people. He chose his disciples not as servants but as friends. He shared moments of joy and grief with them, and asked for them in times of need. They became his family, his substitute mother and brothers and sisters. They gave up everything for him, as he had given up everything for them. He loved them, plain and simple.

Often, it seems, we're [Christians] perceived more as guilt dispensers than as grace dispensers.

If my activism, however well-motivated, drives out love, then I have misunderstood Jesus’ gospel. I am stuck with law, not the gospel of grace.

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

People instinctively know the difference between something done with a profit motive and something done with a love motive.