quotes...

so, grad school is going well...it's tough, but it's good. i've never felt such a peace about being somewhere doing something in my life. it's incredible. i know that God has great things instore for me as i learn more about being a social worker and what that looks like in the context of the church. here are some of the quotes that have really stood out to me as i have worked the last couple of weeks...they have all to do with church social work/community ministry...they've changed my life...

“Good deeds and good news can’t and shouldn’t be separated. It’s not really ‘church’ if it’s not engaged in the life of the community through ministry and service to others.” –Rick Rusaw & Eric Swanson, The Externally Focused Church (2004)

“It is not you who shapes God, it is God who shapes you
If then you are the work of God, await the hand of the artist
Who does all things in due season.
Offer God your heart, soft and tractable,
And keep the form in which the artist has fashioned you.
Let your clay be moist,
Lest you grow hard and lose the imprint of God’s fingers.”
-Irenaeus Shalem News, www.shalem.org

“We love because God first loved us; worthiness is not a factor.” –Legacies of Care

“Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.” -1 Peter 4:8-10 (NIV)

“To believe you can approach transcendence without drawing nearer in compassion to suffering humanity is to fool yourself. There can be no genuine personal religious conversion without a change in social attitude.” –William Sloane Coffin, Credo

“To find the kingdom is the easiest thing in the world but also the most difficult. Easy because it is all around you and within you, and all you have to do is reach out and take possession of it. Difficult because if you wish to possess the kingdom you may possess nothing else. That is, you must drop all inward leaning on any person or thing, withdrawing from them forever the power to thrill you, or excite you, or to give you a feeling of security or well-being. For this you first need to see with unflinching clarity this simple and shattering truth: Contrary to what your culture and religion have taught you, nothing, but absolutely nothing can make you happy. The moment you see that, you will stop moving from one job to another, one place, one spiritual technique, one guru to another. None of these things can give you a single minute of happiness.” –Anthony de Mello, The Way to Love