Becca Stevens > Quotes

“I’ve learned that our job is not to change the world. Our job is to change ourselves so that we may more fully love the world as it is.”
― Reverend Becca Stevens

“That’s one reason I was so passionate about establishing the Magdalene community. Mary Magdalene was the name of the first person to preach about resurrection, and she experienced deep healing from old wounds. In the accounts of the resurrection stories offered in the Gospels, it seems like in each story Jesus lingers to meet Magdalene. In the account of the resurrection in the Gospel of John, two disciples run into the tomb and see the shroud that Jesus had been wrapped in. They leave scared, and Magdalene is left alone. As she stands outside the tomb, she bends over to look into the tomb. Jesus speaks to her. The bond and power of grace seem to bring her into the heart of God. I wanted to name the community in her honor and for it to be a sanctuary. I knew that in order to heal people, women needed a place to speak their truth in love without fear of being judged, in part because I needed that place.”
― Becca Stevens, Snake Oil: The Art of Healing and Truth-Telling

“Sunrise in the story of Easter is not just a time of day; it is a state of the heart. Sunrise is the space where nighttime fears move aside for hope, where we feel peace about our mortality in the scope of the universal truth that love abides and where we feel light crest the dark horizons of hearts we have kept barricaded.”
― Becca Stevens, Letters from the Farm: A Simple Path for a Deeper Spiritual Life

“But it is hard not to let the historical oppression of women seep into the steeping frothy tea. Beauty and ritual are forever tied into the images of women that keep them from the fullest expressions of being human. At least that is how it feels sometimes. Keep women veiled and cinched and silent, and then they will be honored. In witnessing the scene before me, I know that the women who will work in the cafe will have borne the brutality of the world. I am too keenly aware that faith and ritual can truly be the ties that bind us to violence and complacency.”
― Becca Stevens, The Way of Tea and Justice: Rescuing the World's Favorite Beverage from Its Violent History

“I believe through love, healing is always possible. I believe healing is possible because love never fails.”
― Becca Stevens, Snake Oil: The Art of Healing and Truth-Telling