Christian faith is... basically about love and being loved and reconciliation. These things are so important, they're foundational and they can transform individuals, families.

By focusing too myopically on what we want God to do on our behalf, we may miss the significance of what he has already done.

[Jesus] invoked a different kind of power: love, not coercion.

Charles Williams has said of the Lord's Prayer, "No word in English carries a greater possibility of terror than the little word 'as' in that clause." What makes the 'as' so terrifying? The fact that Jesus plainly links our forgiven-ness by the Father with our forgiving-ness of fellow human beings. Jesus' next remark could not be more explicit: 'If you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.'

Whenever faith seems an entitlement, or a measuring rod, we cast our lots with the Pharisees and grace softly slips away.

Only in prayer can we learn to love God with all our heart, mind and soul.

Life with God is an individual matter, and general formulas do not easily apply.