Grace means there is nothing we can do to make God love us more . . . And grace means there is nothing we can do to make God love us less

Our confused society badly needs a community of contrast, a counterculture of ordinary pilgrims who insist living a different way. Unlike popular culture, we will lavish attention on the least "deserving" in direct opposition to our celebrity culture's emphasis on success, wealth, and beauty.

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

Jesus tended to honor the losers of this world, not the winners. Our modern culture extravagantly rewards beauty, athletic skill, wealth, and artistic achievement, qualities which seemed to impress Jesus not at all.

The problem of pain meets its match in the scandal of grace.

The more we love, and the more unlikely people we love, the more we resemble God - who, after all, loves ornery creatures like us.

... learning humility is a prerequisite for grace.