The Fire I Came to Bring

Carrying God's Suffering

SCRIPTURE Colossians 1:24 (NIV) Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. REFRAIN My suffering is held within something larger. QUOTE Etty Hillesum, from An Interrupted Life "Living and dying, sorrow and joy... it is all as one in me, and I accept it all as one mighty whole... I wish I could live for a long time so that one day I may know how to explain it... And that is why I must try to live a good and faithful life to my last breath: so that those who come after me do not have to start all over again, need not face the same difficulties. Isn't that doing something for future generations?" ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

We Are One Body

SCRIPTURE Ephesians 4:4, 7 (NIV) There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called. But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. REFRAIN I am because we are. QUOTE Desmond Tutu, from Ubuntu: On the Nature of Human Community "A person is a person through other persons. None of us comes into the world fully formed. We would not know how to think, or walk, or speak, or behave as human beings unless we learned it from other human beings. We need other human beings in order to be human. I am because of other people." ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

God Saves by Including

SCRIPTURE Galatians 6:15 (NIV) Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation. REFRAIN God saves by loving and including. QUOTE Richard Rohr, from The Universal Christ "God is the ultimate nonviolent one, so we dare not accept any theory of salvation that is based on violence, exclusion, social pressure, or moral coercion. When we do, these are legitimated as a proper way of life. God saves by loving and including, not by excluding or punishing." ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Carrying What God Carries

SCRIPTURE Philippians 3:10 (NIV) I want to know Christ — yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death. REFRAIN I love God as much as I love the person I love the least. QUOTE Dorothy Day "I really only love God as much as I love the person I love the least." ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

The Cruciform Shape of Reality

SCRIPTURE Ephesians 3:8–10 (NIV) 8 Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ,9 and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. 10 His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of Godshould be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms REFRAIN I hold what cannot yet be resolved. QUOTE Richard Rohr, from The Universal Christ "Following Jesus is a vocation to share the fate of God for the life of the world. To allow what God for some reason allows — and uses. And to suffer ever so slightly what God suffers eternally." ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.