Andi M.

“God's grace is not defined as God being forgiving to us even though we sin. Grace is when God is a source of wholeness, which makes up for my failings. My failings hurt me and others and even the planet, and God's grace to me is that my brokenness is not the final word ... it's that God makes beautiful things out of even my own shit. Grace isn't about God creating humans and flawed beings and then acting all hurt when we inevitably fail and then stepping in like the hero to grant us grace - like saying, "Oh, it's OK, I'll be the good guy and forgive you." It's God saying, "I love the world too much to let your sin define you and be the final word. I am a God who makes all things new.”
― Nadia Bolz-Weber, Pastrix: The Cranky, Beautiful Faith of a Sinner & Saint

“Yet in his encounter with Jesus, something dramatic happens: he humbles himself before Jesus, recognizes Jesus’ authority as greater than his own and asks Jesus to heal his servant. Jesus responds with amazement, “I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.”5 This must have come as quite a shock to Jesus’ audience. Within the people of God, the community that carried God’s name in the world, Jesus has not found such great faith as he has found here in this outsider—a Roman centurion identified with the powers and structures of Gentile imperial domination that God has vowed to demolish. Jesus finds faith in unexpected places.”
― Joshua Ryan Butler, The Skeletons in God's Closet: The Mercy of Hell, the Surprise of Judgment, the Hope of Holy War

“We are not born to accommodate tyranny over our hearts, minds, bodies, or souls. We are here to confirm an abundance of love-inspired possibilities greater than such restrictions.”
― Aberjhani, Splendid Literarium: A Treasury of Stories, Aphorisms, Poems, and Essays

“It's the dying that makes the living matter.”
― Kelly Sue DeConnick, Pretty Deadly, Vol. 1: The Shrike