James > James's Quotes

“Wind of Inspiration, Creative Spirit of God, teach me not to forget that you come always as gift. Remind me always to be ready to receive and romance and dance with joy wherever and whenever you visit, or risk that you may move on without me. May I ever be sensitive to your gentle breezes and willing to soar with your wild winds.”
― Edward Hays, Prayers for a Planetary Pilgrim: A Personal Manual for Prayer and Ritual

“God’s incomprehensibility to human minds is part of God’s nature. We can’t understand God; that’s part of the mystery. That’s what poetry is for and art and music and creative endeavors of all kinds—all serve as attempts to capture that which cannot be put into words: love, grace, beauty, power, truth. Visions like Isaiah’s remind us that the God we worship lies beyond our ability to describe.”
― Upper Room, The Upper Room Disciplines 2015: A Book of Daily Devotions

“God oft-times doesn’t give a lot of answers but just keeps telling us who we are. God just keeps inviting us into that place where love is alive and where God is in love.”
― Richard Rohr, Radical Grace: Daily Meditations

“began in a garden, but it ends in a city — a beautiful restored city the Scriptures describe as the New Jerusalem, coming on earth as it is in heaven. Christianity is not just about going up when we die; it’s about bringing God’s kingdom down, all the way to the dirt in our gardens.”
― Shane Claiborne, Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals

“us assemble ourselves before you today through our acts of peace and reconciliation with neighbors near and far. Help us to teach the children in our communities what it means to be children of a God who loves us like a mother. Amen.”
― Shane Claiborne, Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals

“God, You know how hard this is for me. Help me to let go of what I’ve lost and treasure what I am to gain.”
― Guideposts Editors, Daily Guideposts 2015

“You who alone know the secrets of hearts, look with love upon my feeble attempts at silent prayer. I am grateful that you do not measure my effort but look only upon my love for you.”
― Edward Hays, Prayers for a Planetary Pilgrim: A Personal Manual for Prayer and Ritual

“Grant me the grace to look with respect upon all I will meet this day and upon every event I encounter. Mindful that I am a pilgrim, may I treat each and every one with reverence and love, as a manifestation of you to whom I journey. May the work of my hands be part of the redemption of the world and its eternal springtime liberation.”
― Edward Hays, Prayers for a Planetary Pilgrim: A Personal Manual for Prayer and Ritual

“us stand up both to the demons that hide behind ungodly laws, and the false religion that props up injustice. Make us into a people who shine out your love so that the world might know another way is possible. Amen.”
― Shane Claiborne, Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals

“Our great daystar floods the Earth with fire in this season of summer. The heart of the sun prays at forty million degrees; grant me a heart of such fierce fire as I now begin this new day in an act of devotion and adoration. Wrap me in the silence of your Spirit and lead me into quiet prayer.”
― Edward Hays, Prayers for a Planetary Pilgrim: A Personal Manual for Prayer and Ritual

“I now turn fully to face you, 0 God, the source of the universe and of my life, as I enter into silence.”
― Edward Hays, Prayers for a Planetary Pilgrim: A Personal Manual for Prayer and Ritual

“Heavenly Father, thank You for giving us prayers and rituals that light our path home.”
― Guideposts Editors, Daily Guideposts 2015

“A Summertime Prisoner's Psalm
O Summer, zenith of the year, I praise your robust life, your hot blood. You are a liberator who calls us out-of-doors into your desert-like sun and heat, just as the God of Moses and Aaron called the children of Israel out of the brickyards of Egypt. Those who work in the warmth of this day are blessed to be outside, while others are stuck in buildings built of brick, constructed with concrete and glass. Chilled-but-artificial air blows upon the new slaves of electric Egypt's indoor brickyards. Fortunate are those children who play today under the great yellow face of our giant daystar, the sun. Free to jump through sprinkler sprays or ride their bikes in the free flight of real air-conditioned coolness. Corporate giants in their stainless steel skyscrapers dream of their treehouse days when every kid was truly a millionaire. O Liberator God, who called your children away from the mile's sweaty slavery, lead me, this day, into the glorious freedom of which the spirit of summer sings.”
― Edward Hays, Prayers for a Planetary Pilgrim: A Personal Manual for Prayer and Ritual

“Remind me in countless ways, as I walk the sunlit hours of this day, that I am on a sacred journey along with the stars traveling through space, that I am on a pilgrim path.”
― Edward Hays, Prayers for a Planetary Pilgrim: A Personal Manual for Prayer and Ritual

“Giving God, “I am no longer my own, but thine. Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt. Put me to doing, put me to suffering. Let me be employed by thee or laid aside for thee, exalted for thee or brought low by thee. Let me be full, let me be empty. Let me have all things, let me have nothing.”* Amen. *Excerpt from “A Covenant Prayer in the Wesleyan Tradition”
― Upper Room, The Upper Room Disciplines 2015: A Book of Daily Devotions

“Perfection, rather, is the ability to incorporate imperfection! There’s no other way to live: You either incorporate imperfection, or you fall into denial. That’s how the Spirit moves in or out of our lives. —from Breathing Under Water: Spirituality and the 12 Steps”
― Richard Rohr, Radical Grace: Daily Meditations

“Healing brings wholeness instead of brokenness—life instead of death. In New Testament Greek, the word sozo is the same word for both heal and save. The first-century mind intertwined the concepts of healing and salvation.”
― Upper Room, The Upper Room Disciplines 2015: A Book of Daily Devotions

“de Chardin said, “Above all, trust in the slow work of God. We are quite naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay. We would like to skip the intermediate stages. We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new. And yet, it is the law of all progress that it is made by passing through some stages of instability — and that it may take a very long time. Above all, trust in the slow work of God, our loving vine-dresser.”
― Shane Claiborne, Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals

“promise never to leave us or forsake us. Since we are always in your presence, help us always to keep our eyes fixed upon you that we might follow your lead in the never-ending dance of your life as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.”
― Shane Claiborne, Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals

“thank you that we are unable to save ourselves and that each time we try, we fail. Have mercy on us. Be the strength in our weakness. Clear our heads of the foolishness of believing we can be our own gods. Steer our hearts to utter dependence on you. Amen.”
― Shane Claiborne, Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals

“us the ability to think with your mind, to hear with your ears, to see with your eyes, to speak with your mouth, to walk with your feet, to love with your heart. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.”
― Shane Claiborne, Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals

“Grant that when this day concludes and the Earth turns slowly outward to gaze into the night of space, I may bring a harvest of light and love as my gift to you.”
― Edward Hays, Prayers for a Planetary Pilgrim: A Personal Manual for Prayer and Ritual

“strength and purpose come from you. Direct our steps today, and turn us from the perishable things at which we grasp. Cast your light upon us so that our lives may bear witness to the light of Christ. Amen.”
― Shane Claiborne, Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals

“Lord, thank you for using the foolish to confound the wise and the weak one: to shame the strong. Help us live with the shrewdness of serpents and the innocence of doves. Keep our feet from fatigue, our spirits from despair, and our hands from failing to rise in praise to you. Amen.”
― Shane Claiborne, Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals

“Surround us with your subtle and hidden prophets, that we might have help to overcome self-deception and face the truth that sets us free. Amen.”
― Shane Claiborne, Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals

“Whether we realize it or not, we are responding to God’s call to come into God’s presence to praise and worship God.”
― Upper Room, The Upper Room Disciplines 2015: A Book of Daily Devotions

“God of the living and the dead, let our lives sing your praise. Make us the fragrance of your love. Rise in us, and awaken us from our slumber that we might live in your light. Amen.”
― Shane Claiborne, Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals

“May this morning prayer give me the energy to act at all times this day with love and kindness. May I treat each person and each living being as a brother or sister, as a member of your sacred family.”
― Edward Hays, Prayers for a Planetary Pilgrim: A Personal Manual for Prayer and Ritual

“As the sun pours forth its life that we on this Earth may live, may I pour forth my life this day in service to others and in love for you, my beloved God.”
― Edward Hays, Prayers for a Planetary Pilgrim: A Personal Manual for Prayer and Ritual

“Thank You, Lord, for giving us a place in Your heart, not by our works, but by Your mercy and grace. —KAREN VALENTIN”
― Guideposts Books, Daily Guideposts 2015