“If anybody didn't have a messiah complex, it was Jesus”

“As a pastor, you get invited into the most poignant moments of people's lives. Whether it's a wedding or a funeral or a hospital visit, you get invited into the center of the event, whether or not you know the people.”

“The myth of redemptive violence - Caesar, peace, and victory - is in people's bones so deeply, we aren't even aware of it. You crush the opposition; that's how we bring peace.”

“Suffering, it turns out, demands profound imagination. A new future has to be conjured up because the old future isn't there anymore.”

“I believe the discussion itself is divine.”

“If it is true, if it is beautiful, if it is honorable, if it is right, then claim it. Because it is from God. And you belong to God.”

“Jesus is God's way of refusing to give up his dream for the world.”

“Freedom is not having everything we crave, it's being able to go without the things we crave and being OK with it. ”

“God is in the best, and also the worst. God is in the presence, and also in the absence. God is in the power, and also in the powerlessness.”

“Take faith, for example. For many people in our world, the opposite of faith is doubt. The goal, then, within this understanding, is to eliminate doubt. But faith and doubt aren't opposites. Doubt is often a sign that your faith has a pulse, that it's alive and well and exploring and searching. Faith and doubt aren't opposites, they are, it turns out, excellent dance partners.”

“We want a little risk in our lives because it keeps things interesting. It wakes us up, it gives us a sense that we're alive and breathing and doing Something! Throwing yourself into it begins with being grateful that you even have something to throw yourself into.”