Ragamuffin Gospel, Part 3

Chapter 7-11 Quotes:

"The dichotomy between what we say and what we do is so pervasive in the church and in society that we actually come to believe our illusions and rationalizations and clutch them to our hearts like favorite teddy bears."

"In order to free the captive, one must name the captivity."

"I have fallen victim to what T.S. Eliot calls the greatest sin: to do the right thing for the wrong reason."

"The spiritual future for the ragamuffins consists not in disavowing that we are sinners but in accepting that truth with growing clarity, rejoicing in God's incredible longing to rescue us in spite of everything."

"We acknowledge that what makes a man righteous is not obedience to the Law, but faith in Jesus Christ." (Galatians 2:16)

"The way we are with each other is the truest test of our faith. How I treat a brother or sister from day to day, how I react to the sin-scarred wino on the street, how I respond to interruptions from people I dislike, how I deal with normal people in their normal confusion on a normal day may be a better indication of my reverence for life than the antiabortion sticker on the bumper of my car."

"Honesty brings an end to pretense through a candid acknowledgment of our fragile humanity. It is always unpleasant, and usually painful, and that is why I am not very good at it. But to stand in the truth before God and one another has a unique reward. It is the reward which a sense of reality always brings."

"Honesty before God requires the most fundamental risk of faith we can take: the risk that God is good, that God does love us unconditionally. It is in taking this risk that we rediscover our dignity. To bring the truth of ourselves, just as we are, to God, is the most dignified thing we can do in this life."

"In love there can be no fear, but fear is driven out by perfect love, because fear is to expect punishment, and anyone who is afraid is still imperfect in love." (I John 4:18)

"Freedom in Christ produces a healthy independence from peer pressure, people-pleasing, and the bondage of human respect. The tyranny of public opinion can manipulate our lives."

"In Christ Jesus freedom from fear empowers us to let go of the desire to appear good, so that we can move freely in the mystery of who we really are."

"For most of us, it takes a long time for the Spirit of freedom to cleanse us of the subtle urges to be admired for our studied goodness. It requires a strong sense of our redeemed selves to pass up the opportunity to appear graceful and good to other persons."

"Living by grace inspires a growing consciousness that I am what I am in the sight of Jesus and nothing more. It is His approval that counts. Making our home in Jesus, as He makes His in us, leads to creative listening."

"The call asks, do you really accept the message that God is head over heels in love with you. I believe that question is the core of our ability to mature and grow spiritually. If in our hearts we don't believe that God loves us as we are, if we are still tainted by the lie that we can go do something to make God love us more, we are rejecting the message of the cross."

"Faith means you want God and want to want nothing else...To be Christian, faith has to be new, that is, alive and growing."

"I could more easily contain Niagara Falls in a tea cup than I can comprehend the wild, uncontainable love of God."

"If we believe in the exciting message of Jesus, if we hope in vindication, we must love, and even more, we must run the risk of being loved."

"God wants us back even more than we could possibly want to be back."

"The nature of God's love for us is outrageous. Why doesn't this God of ours display some taste and discretion in dealing with us?...No, the love of our God isn't dignified at all, and apparently that's the way He expects our love to be. Not only does He require that we accept His inexplicable, embarrassing kind of love, but once we've accepted it, He expects us to behave the same way with others."

"I am being told anew in the unmistakable language of love, 'I am with you, I am for you, I am in you, I expect more failure from you than you expect from yourself.'"

"Most of us spend considerable time putting off things we should be doing or would like to do or we want to do -- but are afraid to do. We are afraid of failure...Each of us pays a heavy price for our fear of falling flat on our face. It assures the progressive narrowing of our personalities and prevents exploration and experimentation. As we get older we do only the things we do well."

"The Christian with depth is the person who has failed and who has learned to live with it."

"What the man of God longs for in shepherds -- daring enough to be different, humble enough to make mistakes, wild enough to be burnt in the fire of love, real enough to make others see how phony we are."

"The ragamuffin who sees his life as a voyage of discovery and runs the risk of failure has a better feel for faithfulness than the timid man who hides behind the law and never finds out who he is at all."

"The secret of the mystery is: God is always greater. No matter how great we think Him to be, His love is always greater."