Warren Hicks

“God may be the source of love, but people are often the vessels.”
― Michael B. Curry, Love is the Way: Holding on to Hope in Troubling Times

“When you commit to being yourself in any environment, even your presence can be a powerful corrective. Barbara Harris said it so well: “One way to help combat [systemic racism] is to stand firm and be who you are and to force people, therefore, to deal with you as you really are, and not try to become acceptable to people by being something or someone you are not, in the hope of changing their perception about you. I think you stand up to systemic racism by being true to who you are and what you believe, and what you stand for.”
― Michael B. Curry, Love is the Way: Holding on to Hope in Troubling Times

“Durstan Reginald McDonald, whom everybody called Dusty. Dusty became one of my most important mentors. Aside from being chaplain, he taught philosophy and had a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. Probably in his late forties at the time, Dusty was a married father with a crew cut—in other words, a grown-up. Contrary to the iconic proclamation of the ’60s to “never trust anyone over thirty,” Dusty was trusted by every kid on campus, from conscientious objectors to conservative fraternity guys. Dusty helped me arrive at answers in the way a good chaplain does: He listened, asked questions, and maybe made a few suggestions. He never made a conclusion for you, instead helping light the way as you eked out your own path. We had one particularly influential conversation on an airplane, on our way to a student conference. I was still considering law school but starting to think more and more about ordination. I told Dusty about my father’s financial struggles. “I’ve seen what that’s like. I don’t need to be rich, but maybe I could go to law school and make some money and do good at the same time,” I said. “It’s true, you don’t get rich by being ordained,” he said. “But you’ll never starve, either. Your family will have enough to get by.” Thinking about my own family again, I realized that even under extreme circumstances, it was true. In the worst crises, we never starved, or even wanted. “You have to ask yourself what you want out of life. If it isn’t money, then maybe having enough is enough.” This conversation helped me get much clearer on myself. It wasn’t my dream to be rich. I knew I wanted to work for a better world. But should it be through law or public administration, or in the church? I meditated and prayed on that question, and I always felt myself coming back to my grandma.”
― Michael B. Curry, Love is the Way: Holding on to Hope in Troubling Times

“The worst were the Christians who would try to have ‘a quiet word’ with him before the meeting, trotting out the usual shit. They based the twelve steps of recovery on the Bible. He needed to say his prayers every morning. Fire and brimstone. Nothing worse than a converted alcoholic who then becomes a bullying AA zealot.”
― Simon McCleave, The Snowdonia Killings