“To become neighbors is to bridge the gap between people. As long as there is distance between us and we cannot look in each other's eyes, all sorts of false ideas and images arise. We give them names, make jokes about them, cover them with our prejudices, and avoid direct contact. We think of them as enemies. We forget that they love as we love, care for their children as we care for ours, become sick and die as we do. We forget that they are our brothers and sisters and treat them as objects that can be destroyed at will. Only when we have the courage to cross the street and look in one another's eyes can we see there that we are children of the same God and members of the same human family."- Henri Nouwen
If you want to know if a person is good, don't ask what they say, think or believe; rather ask what they love."
- St. Augustine of Hippo
"What we think, or what we know, or what we believe is, in the end, of little consequence. The only consequence is what we do."- Ruskin
Church can be a beautiful expereince when God is at work. When diverse people are learning to love one another, grow and follow Jesus. When people are coming alive to God and choosing to reach out to people they normally would have avoided is evidence that God is present. The apostle John said it best: "God is love and the one who abides in love abides in God and God abides in him." (1 John 4:16)
3 comments:
I mean't for this to go under this post!!! lolol I love this post and agree 100%
By B.G. Wetherby
A homeless man or woman,
Another child of God.
You'll turn your back. and then walk away,
Because you find them odd.
No fireplace or warm, dry bed,
No family to call their own.
In the cold is where they sleep,
That's where they call home.
Exposed to natures elements,
On a frozen bench they lie.
While you sleep in your warm house,
Fed, secure, and dry.
That could have been you instead,
You are but one bad break away.
Then everyone can treat you
Exactly the same way.
Buy them a warm and hardy meal,
And stop being critical.
Give them shoes with out holes,
You can be the MIRACLE!
"Cast aside a brother, so too, shall I cast you."
Jesus Christ
http://www.authorhouse.com
ISBN: 978-1-4343-0806-1
Authors Address
Enchanted Mountain
63 Kings Street
Eldred, PA 16731
Great post and I love that line-
"..... rather ask what they love."
Dad
If you've got Jesus helping set up the tables that's a good start for a church! ~Matt
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