The blueprint of the household of God looks nothing like the blueprints of our own cultural and social cliques. If we want to know how to embody the household of God, we need look no further than to Jesus. While on earth, Jesus modeled this new reality by connecting with every type of person around - conservative theologians, liberal theologians, prostitutes, divorcees, children, politicians, people who party hard, military servicemen, women, lepers, ethnic minorities, celebrities, and so forth - and inviting them to be part of his group and to work together to bring wholeness to their cracked and crumbling world. - Christena Cleveland, Disunity in Christ: Uncovering the Hidden Forces that Keep Us Apart
Jesus in Nazareth - 2.9.25 | Rev. Chris Currie
Many and varied are the interpretations dealing with the teachings and life of Jesus of Nazareth. But few of these interpretations deal with what the teachings and life of Jesus have to say to those who stand, at a moment in human history, with their backs against the wall.... This is a matter of tremendous significance, for it reveals to what extent a religion that was born of a people acquainted with persecution and suffering has become the cornerstone of a civilization and of nations whose very position in modern life has too often been secured by a ruthless use of power applied to weak and defenseless peoples. - Howard Thurman, Jesus and the Disinherited
The Temptation of Jesus - 2.2.25 | Dr. Cyndi Parker
(formatted as poetry) There is not a place in this world where I am not asked to prove it./ Substantiate my belonging./ Verify that my body is qualified to occupy this space,/ as if the miracle of my enfleshment weren't enough./ But I am asked to be superhuman. Divine even. More than mediocre,/ like the rest of them,/ to demonstrate that my placement on this earth is not the mere result of affirmative action./ But I will not eat the bread of your cunning. My sustenance is found elsewhere. -Drew Jackson, "Prove It" in God Speaks Through Wombs