Status Updates From The Wounded Healer

"The beginning and the end of all Christian leadership is to give your life for others." (77)

If there is any posture that disturbs a suffering man or woman, it is aloofness. The tragedy of Christian ministry is that many who are in great need, many who seek an attentive ear, a word of support, a forgiving embrace, a firm hand, a tender smile, or even a stuttering confession of in-ability to do more, often find their ministers distant people who do not want to burn their fingers. (77)

My pile keeps growing

"...the authority of compassion is the possibility for each of us to forgive our brothers and sisters, because forgiveness is only real for those who have discovered the weakness of their friends and the sins of their enemies in their own hearts, and are willing to call each human being their sister and brother." (46)

Compassion must become the core, and even the nature, of authority. Christian leaders are people of God only insofar as they are able to make the compassion of God with humanity—which is visible in Jesus Christ—credible in their own world. (45)

"...all ministers are called to recognize the sufferings of their time in their own hearts, and to make that recognition the starting point of their service." (4)