The Juice - Week of Jan 5-11, 2013

Each week, perhaps each month (depending on how I feel and when I get to it), I am posting my favorite quotes, in no particular order.  I might have read them, heard them, or spoken them (unlikely).  They might be funny.  They might be thoughtful.  They might be weird.  But they fuel me on some level.  Hence, "The Juice".

Christena Cleveland's speech: "Loving Well Across Cultures" 
Talk is from 11/3/2013, but I just found it.  Very insightful Christian social psychologist.
"As a non-group member, I don't think about the variability and diversity within another group."
"On the Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit empowered not the outsider to speak the church's language, but the church to speak the world's language."

Mother Theresa:
If you really love one another, you will not be able to avoid making sacrifices.

Henri Nouwen:
What else is anger than the impulsive response to the experience of being deprived.

Florence Littauer, "Words of Kindness, Source of Healing":
Not a direct quote and it aired 12/23/2013 (but I didn't listen 'til today).  She beautifully sums up Ephesians 4:9 rather well in saying that "edifying" and "to minister grace" means "to build up...give a favor like giving a present" with our words.  Our words are to be like silver boxes with bows on top.

Littauer also says "Mother was afraid we'd be humiliated, so she never encouraged us to take risks.... Many die with the music still in them."

Gates Foundation's post "On Miracles and Justice Through Community"
The redefinition of family and responsibility for our fellow human beings is at the very heart of the Kingdom Jesus preached.  He scandalized his listeners by declaring that his mother and brother and sisters were not merely his biological kin, but included all those who did the will of God.  He revolutionized our concept of the "neighbor" whom we are to love as we love ourselves to include not just those who are ethnically, religiously, or geographically close to us, but even those who are our enemies.  Many people were offended by these teachings because they believed that Jesus was devaluing the relationships between parents and children, or between people of the same nation or religion.  Those people didn't understand him.  He was actually telling us that we owe that same level of committed care and compassion to whoever is in need of it, whether they're biologically family or not.

Larry James, "Wendy"
"She resisted shelters, mainly because submitting to their rules and routine would have meant surrendering the last vestige of dignity and self-respect that remained in her life." 

Later, after securing housing of her own, Wendy's daily visits to the streets reveals yet another insight.  "Homeless persons who work out housing, often simply cannot just walk away from their friends no matter how good their personal fortunes may have turned.  Community trumps personal progress on the streets."

Bianca Winfrey, "battle of the bulge [again]..."
"We as Christians tout being honest and vulnerable with our struggles, but mostly in retrospect.  Rarely do we stand up and say, Hey, listen, this is what I'm struggling with right now.  See, it's easy to talk about our issues once we have victory over them.  But what about the pain of being in the middle of it?  Shouldn't we share in or struggles as well as our victory?"


Charlie Strong, newly-hired Head Football Coach, Texas Longhorns
"I don't care if I was the 15th choice, I'm the head coach at the University of Texas."

Ken Sande, "Successfully Managing Family Conflicts"
"What we are to grieve are the murders that take place in 1 John 3:15.  If you hate your brother in your heart, you're a murderer.  And by that definition, every Sunday there's a group people sitting there, glaring at the pastor - some disappointment over what he's done or not done - or the elders, deacons, or someone else - murdering them in their hearts.  AND THAT GRIEVES GOD. [emphasis mine]"

Kate Harris, discussing the language of "Calling"
"Learning to see the heart of God in what it is that we're doing, no matter how ordinary or random it might feel to us.  It's watching for hints about what is the little piece of God's heart that He has set in us as His image-bearer to curate, convene, heal, clarify, or nurture, or establish order. ... The work that God calls us to is often work that heals the wounds in our own souls."

Alison Vesterfelt on missing our calling, "Are You Living Your Plan B Life?" 
What I really wanted to be was a writer, but if you asked me I wouldn’t have told you that. I would have told you I wanted to be a writing teacher. Do you see the connection there? Because I couldn’t conceptualize what it would look like to become a professional writer, I chose to find a way to express my passion and dreams within a life I could conceptualize... Writing teacher was so much easier for me to conceptualize than professional writer.  I didn’t know how to achieve Plan A, so I accepted Plan B instead.