“Sex is sinful to the degree that, instead of drawing you closer to other human beings in their humanness, it unites bodies but leaves the lives inside them hungrier and more alone than before.”
— Frederick Buechner
Gounded, Radical, Cosmic Hope (Ezekiel 37:1, 11-14)
“Gandalf! I thought you were dead! But then I thought I was dead myself. Is everything sad going to come untrue?”
—JRR Tolkien, The Return of the King
Radical Solidarity (Ezekiel 20:33-38)
“We follow One who stood and wept at the grave of Lazarus – not surely, because He was grieved that Mary and Martha wept, and sorrowed for their lack of faith (though some thus interpret) but because death, the punishment of sin, is even more horrible in his eyes than in ours.”
—C.S. Lewis
A Heart to Desire, A Spirit to Inspire (Ezekiel 11:14-21)
“High King of heaven, my victory won
May I reach heaven’s joys, O bright heaven’s sun
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall
Still be my vision, O ruler of all”
—Be Thou My Vision
Jesus Shares! (Acts 14)
“Go, then, earthly fame and treasure, come disaster, scorn and pain.
In Thy services, pain is pleasure, with They favor, loss is gain.
I have called Thee Abba Father, I have stayed my heart on Thee.
Storms may howl, and clouds may gather; All must work for good to me.”
—Henry Lyte, Jesus I My Cross Have Taken