“A philosophy may explain difficult things, but has no power to change them. The gospel, the story of Jesus' life, promises change.”

“Yet as I read the birth stories about Jesus I cannot help but conclude that though the world may be tilted toward the rich and powerful, God is tilted toward the underdog.”

“If my activism, however well-motivated, drives out love, then I have misunderstood Jesus’ gospel. I am stuck with law, not the gospel of grace.”

“At the heart of the gospel is a God who deliberately surrenders to the wild, irresistable power of love.”

“[Jesus] invoked a different kind of power: love, not coercion.”

“Absolute ideals and absolute grace: after learning that dual message from Russian novelists, I returned to Jesus and found that it suffuses his teaching throughout the Gospels and especially in the Sermon on the Mount.”

“We whine about things we have little control over; we lament what we believe ought to be changed.”