Sunday

"Were I to be the founder of a new sect,

I would call them Apiarians, and, after the example of the bee,

advise them to extract the honey of every sect."  

- Thomas Jefferson

When we enter into the life of God, we can no longer call unclean
that which God has made and those whom God loves.
We can no longer use religion to suggest that there is anyone
that God has made who is condemned to live beyond the boundaries
of the love of God. Prejudice dies in that moment and universalism
is born. That is what atonement is all about.
How badly we have misread its meaning.
God’s love is not and can never be bound by the limits of our love.  

John Shelby Spong

EACH OF US IS BUT ONE IN ALL OF TIME.

“And what does the Lord require of you?

To act justly and to love mercy

and to walk humbly with your God.”

Micah 6:8

"Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot

of others, or strikes out against injustice,

he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other

from a million different centers of energy and daring,

those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls

of oppression and resistance."

Robert Kennedy, South Africa 1966.

Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us,

that we should be called the sons of God:

therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.

Beloved, now are we the sons of God,

and it doth not yet appear what we shall be:

but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him;

for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope

in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

I John 3:1–3

Remember me with smiles and laughter

For that's how I will remember you all.

If you only can remember me with tears

Then don't remember me at all.

~unknown~

“In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty.

He is always in alliance with the despot,

abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own.

It is error alone that needs the support of government.

Truth can stand by itself.”

~Founding Father Thomas Jefferson,

in a letter to Horatio Spofford, 1814

"Gay people are victims not of the Bible, not of religion,

and not of the church, but of people who use religion as a way to devalue

and deform those whom they can neither ignore nor convert...

These realities, which are unreconcilable to some,

are reconciled in me by a loving God, a living Savior, a moving,

breathing, healthy Holy Spirit whom I know intimately

and who knows me."   

Rev. Prof. Peter J. Gomes, Minister at Harvard's Memorial Church.

Sometimes it is the people no one imagines anything

of who do the things that no one can imagine.

- “The Imitation Game”

“Never look down on anybody unless you're helping them up.”

― Jesse Jackson

When children learn that giving is more rewarding than taking;

when they learn that they can't control everything,

but they are masters of their own souls; when they learn

to accept people whose difference they fear,

and that pleasure is found in the power in helping others;

when they learn that the value of one's life is best measured

not by possession acquired, but by wisdom shared, hope inspired, tears wiped,

and hearts touched; when they learn that happiness

and lasting contentment are not to be found in what a person has,

but in what he or she is; when they learn to withhold judgment of people,

knowing that everyone is blessed with good and bad qualities;

when they learn that every person has been given the gift

of a unique self and the purpose of life is to share

the very best of that gift with the world. . . .

When children learn these ideals, they will no longer be children--

they will be blessings to those who know them, and worthy models

for all the world's children.

~David L. Weatherford