1 Clement 32:4

"And so we, having been called through his will in Christ Jesus, are not justified through ourselves or through our own wisdom or understanding or piety, or works that we have done in holiness of heart, but through faith, by which the Almighty God has justified all who have existed from the beginning; to whom be the glory for ever and ever. Amen."

1 Clement 32:4

An Advent Hymn

"Come to earth to taste our sadness, He whose glories knew no end.
By His life He brings us gladness, our Redeemer, Shepherd, Friend.
Leaving riches without number, born within a cattle stall;
This the everlasting wonder, Christ was born the Lord of all."

- Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus

An Open Hand

"It requires faith to act toward our God with an open hand, but surely He deserves it from us; and all that we can do is a very poor acknowledgment of our amazing indebtedness to His goodness."

- C. H. Spurgeon, Morning by Morning.

The Work of Reconciliation

"Under the conditions of pervasive noninnocence, the work of reconciliation should proceed under the assumption that, though the behavior of a person may be judged as deplorable, even demonic, no one should ever be excluded from the will to embrace, because, at the deepest level, the relationship to others does not rest on their moral performance and therefore cannot be undone by the lack of it."

- Miroslav Volf, Exclusion & Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation.

Wisdom

"Wisdom, which is almost another name for humility, lies in accepting one's own inevitable share in human fallibility."

- Marilynne Robinson, "Imagination and Community."

Good Friday

"For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed."

1 Peter 2:21-24 [ESV]

Where is God?

"If it is I who say where God will be, I will always find there a false god who corresponds to me, is agreeable to me...but if it is God who says where he will be, that place is the cross of Christ."

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship.