Believing in the Church

The Church is an object of faith. In the Apostles' Creed we pray: "I believe in God, the Father ... in Jesus Christ, his only Son - in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting." We must believe in the Church! The Apostles' Creed does not say that the Church is an organization that helps us to believe in God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. No, we are called to believe in the Church with the same faith we believe in God.

Often it seems harder to believe in the Church than to believe in God. But whenever we separate our belief in God from our belief in the Church, we become unbelievers. God has given us the Church as the place where God becomes God-with-us.

The success of failures

 Failures, repeated failures, are finger posts on the road to achievement. One fails forward toward success - C.F. Kettering.

good friends

Oh, the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person; having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but to pour them all out, just as they are, chaff and grain together, knowing that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and then, with a breath of kindness, blow the rest away.
George Eliot

C.S. Lewis nails it

"He wants them to learn to walk and must therefore take away His hand." C.S. Lewis, Screwtape letters. Once again Lewis nails it.

Christ's victory

The signs of Christ's victory are all around us. They can be seen in the conversions that take place daily, in the healing of lives and homes, in the faithful and sacrificial service of millions of Christians, in the renewing of old churches and the planting of new ones, the groth of trust and confidence, the thoughtful engagement with the world. There are indeed setbacks and failures, but Christ is building his church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. . . . The time will soon dawn when Christ's victory will finally be revealed and the power of darkness will have had its day - Nigel Wright

Bonhoeffer quotes

It is very easy to overestimate the importance of our own achievements in comparison with what we owe others.  

One act of obedience is better than one hundred sermons.  

The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves to its children.

To endure the cross is not tragedy; it is the suffering which is the fruit of an exclusive allegiance to Jesus Christ.

We must learn to regard people less in light of what they do or omit to do, and more in the light of what they suffer.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer