Category: Quotes (Page 1 of 10)

What if what you’re growing is not actually the Church?

November 20, 2024 / Joseph Ginder

…this theme of church Unity across ethnic boundary lines was absolutely vital in the New Testament and not a sort of odd add-on thing and see I’m I’m deeply suspicious in my own country as well as in America of this idea that oh well homo homogeneous churches grow faster undoubtedly that may be may have some truth to it but what you’re growing is not actually the church because according to Paul very very clearly… Galatians, Ephesians, Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians… it’s the community of all believers and in Revelation chapter 7 it’s a great community of every nation and language and tribe and tongue and that’s not for some future date.
N.T. Wright

I was listening to the Holy Post Podcast today. Skye Jethani was interviewing N.T. Wright. And N.T. Wright said something that made me sit up straight. It was quite encouraging to me, coming from someone I respect so deeply!

Over the years, I was hammered with the “homogeneous unit principle” so many times… And my response was that it wasn’t Jesus’ teaching or New Testament teaching, and that I couldn’t, in good conscience, embrace it. It seemed to me that the Spirit amplified to me quite the opposite approach. And it was more difficult. And so worth it. Frankly speaking, it remains more difficult today!

That comes across as self-serving, I suppose. It is not, I hope. It wasn’t my insight or wisdom. It is God’s purpose in the church, of which I am only a follower. It is good news for all humans everywhere – for the nations.

Brian Zahnd’s Christian Voter Guide

October 22, 2024 / Joseph Ginder

Brian Zahnd wrote a “voter guide” for Christians some 12 years ago. (I’m writing in 2024 so that would be 2012.) It was a breath of fresh air – an encouragement to Jesus people! What he entitled BZ’s Ten Point Christian Voter Guide 12 years ago is quoted below.

1. The political process, while necessary, has little to do with how God is saving the world.

2. The fate of the kingdom of God does not depend upon political contests.

3. Don’t be naïve, political parties are more interested in Christian votes than they are in Christian values.

4. The bottom line for political parties is power. The bottom line for a Christian is love. And therein lies the rub.

5. While in pursuit of the Ring of Power, you are not permitted to abandon the Sermon on the Mount.

6. If your political passion makes it hard for you to love your neighbor as yourself, you need to turn it down a notch.

7. Your task is to bring the salt of Christian civility to an ugly and acrimonious political process.

8. To dismember the body of Christ over politics is a grievous sin.

9. Exercise your liberty to vote your conscience and conviction, while accepting that other Christians will do the same and vote differently than you.

10. It’s more important that your soul be filled with love than it is for your political team to win the game.

A few days ago in his online blog, BZ published his guide once more, and included some, shall we say, supporting texts. It’s quite a good meditation for us who say we intend to follow Jesus. It is called Election Season and Your Soul. I highly recommend it.

“We order our lives around the rhythm of our relationship with God”

September 27, 2024 / Joseph Ginder

The Long Beach Church Collective sponsored a leadership luncheon with Pastor-in-Residence for 2024 Bishop Kenneth Ulmer. The luncheon was held at Antioch Church in downtown Long Beach. Bishop Ulmer shared a number of helpful observations from his lifetime in ministry. I wrote down a comment he made as he quoted a Dominican Catholic nun speaking in a class he was in at Oxford University. Here it is:

We order our lives around the rhythm of our relationship with God.

Bishop Ulmer used this comment as a springboard for a number of profound observations about his life in ministry. I’m still thinking about it. It was a blessed time and event.

Jacob’s Ladder Climbing into Today

September 25, 2024 / Joseph Ginder

Hmmm. This morning I read a roughly 2000 year-old thought that seems particularly relevant for today. Here it is:

“Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.

“But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.”
James 3.13-18 [NIV]

Jacob’s ladder? Climbing right up to today?

Note: "James" is how the name "Ya’akov," (or the Greek version of the same name, "Iakobus") was translated into English by John Wycliffe back in the 14th century. Most translations into non-English languages use a version of what would be "Jacob" in English as the name of the New Testament book most often called "James" in English translations. Here's an article for further reading.

“The Infinitely Compelling Christ”

August 28, 2024 / Joseph Ginder

A friend sent me a link to this short video comment by David Bentley Hart. (Thanks, AJ!) I appreciated it a lot. You can see it here or watch below inline.

I’d simply add that the experience of the risen Christ is not only an infinitely compelling historical event. It isn’t only for the likes of Paul, but for Jesus’ followers today. I don’t mean to imply that Hart thinks or said otherwise. However, just to clarify, the experience of the risen Christ is central to following Jesus today. It is what makes faith impossible to abandon for me and many others.

May you also experience Him – “the presence of God in time” – in spite of the all too prevalent personal and institutional shortcomings of those who claim to be his – including my own.

Rich Villodas’ Big Picture Gospel

July 10, 2024 / Joseph Ginder

My kind of big picture definition of of the Gospel is I believe that the gospel is the good news that the kingdom of God has come near in Jesus Christ, and that in his life, death, resurrection, and enthronement the powers of sin and death no longer have the last word, and the primary fruit of the Gospel is a new Humanity. This is Ephesians 2: the dividing wall of hostility coming down, a new Humanity, a new community, a new family.
Rich Villodas, speaking at the Long Beach Church Collective, July 8, 2024

Prayer, Persuasion, Service, and Suffering

July 9, 2024 / Joseph Ginder

I was listening to an interview of John Dickson today on the Holy Post. The way he characterized the means by which Christians are called to change the world stuck with me. It wasn’t that his was a new thought. It was that his simple way of saying it was helpful. I found it worth remembering… and sharing! So, check out the three quotes below regarding our call to prayer, persuasion, service, and suffering.

If Christ is on the throne and He has poured out His Spirit, then prayer, persuasion, service, and suffering are more than enough. They’re the only tools Christ gave His people to change the world. Early Christians took hold of them and exercised them in the power of God’s Spirit, knowing that Christ had already won. They overturned the world with those four things.

I freely acknowledge that I have no special privileges in society. Christians have no right to tell the nation what to do. Persuasion, service, and prayer are all we’ve got, and all we really need… Christ showed us how to profoundly love and profoundly disagree at the same time. I am looking forward to fresh opportunities to embody this twofold ethical feat in His name.

Believers have one course of action when confronted with opposition. They are to follow the Lord Jesus in enduring suffering, refusing to retaliate, and committing to love enemies.
John Dickson

I was refreshed by his clear comments when so many Christians are invested heavily in politics, as if winning elections or seating judges is how Jesus changes the world! It was good to hear him remind listeners that even if Christians are in the majority [and even if all the Christians agree, I would add] our calling is not to coercively legislate those who disagree with us into oblivion, but rather to persuade. Such fresh air!

Quaker Testimonies

June 5, 2024 / Joseph Ginder

I often read Johan Mauer’s fifth day commentaries on CanYouBelieve.me. Recently his writing included an excerpt listing “Quaker Testimonies” taken from the developing Faith and Practice of Sierra-Cascades Yearly Meeting. I found it refreshingly…. er, Quaker?

I mean that in contrast to the drift of many Friends groups toward generic American evangelicalism, abandoning testimonies historically valued by Friends. I’m not advocating a stance that ignores the times in which we live in favor of some idealized past. (Frankly, our past has never been ideal!)

However, these are testimonies that faithfully represent Jesus’ character and teachings that Friends have tried to seriously pursue and embody. They remain Jesus’ teaching and character; they are not obsolete! If we are to follow Him, we try to live these testimonies in an age of 21st century technology and in the face of an often violent global society where living and worshipping in these ways remains relevant and necessary as the life to which Jesus calls.

But let me get to the testimonies! You can read the whole commentary by Johan here. The testimony portion that I want to highlight (by quoting) follows.

We understand the Quaker testimonies as a call:

to live simply and sustainably;

to seek nonviolent responses to conflict, and refuse participation in war and preparation for war;

to speak the truth and keep our promises;

to make common decisions based on our community’s practice of prayer and discernment rather than majority rule or force of personality;

to regard each other—and all people—with a commitment to equality and equity, rejecting all false distinctions based on social, cultural, or economic status;

in the wider world, to support, advocate, and initiate efforts toward peace, justice, care of Creation, and relief of suffering in ways that are consistent with these testimonies;

in all things, to put Love first.

As we set forth these values and commitments, we acknowledge that they are to some extent aspirational, not an inventory of our successes as of today.

Needing Christ

May 2, 2024 / Joseph Ginder

One thing I knew by this time: I needed Christ and not merely His religion… The Bible says that God does not wait for me to merit His love but heaps it upon me without my deserving it. It says also that there is neither male nor female in Christ… How good, how indescribably good! What good news for me a woman, a woman born in India among Brahmans who hold out no hope for me and the like of me! The Bible declares that Christ did not reserve this great salvation for a particular caste or sex.
Pandita Ramabai, An Honourable Heritage: The Pandita Ramabai Story in her Own Words (eBook: Community Christian Ministries, 2019), pp. 27, 28, 30-31.

Fulfilling, or “Filling Full” the Law and the Prophets

April 1, 2024 / Joseph Ginder

I thought this highlight from this week’s Bible Project playlist on the Sermon on the Mount was really helpful and captured an important concept – so helpful and important that I wanted to remember it and pass it on. So, here it is.

When read on its own, apart from the whole biblical story, biblical law often is misinterpreted, leading to religious-looking behaviors that allow ongoing contempt and hatred in our hearts. But Jesus and the apostles say that these commandments, taken together with the rest of the Hebrew Bible, are instructions that restore human beings’ love for one another. In this way, love _fills full_ the Law and the Prophets.
Bible Project