Never do I see Jesus lecturing people on the need to accept blindness or lameness as an expression of God's secret will; rather, he healed them.

The Old Testament anticipates [Jesus] all the way through.

C. S. Lewis observed that almost all crimes of Christian history have come about when religion is confused with politics. Politics, which always runs by the rules of ungrace, allures us to trade away grace for power, a temptation the church has often been unable to resist.

Jesus gave us a model for the work of the church at the Last Supper. While his disciples kept proposing more organization - Hey, let's elect officers, establish hierarchy, set standards of professionalism - Jesus quietly picked up a towel and basin of water and began to wash their feet.

Prayer enters the pool of God's love and widens outward.

Grace is the most perplexing, powerful force in the universe, and, I believe, the only hope for our twisted, violent planet.

At the heart of the gospel is a God who deliberately surrenders to the wild, irresistable power of love.