Bryan Burke

“Spending extended amounts of time inside other religious worldviews has loosened the screws on my own, which is beginning to seem like a good thing. Disowning God has been a great help to me. Owning my distinct view of God has helped me understand it much better. Although I can see the places where religious truth claims collide, this does not bother me as much as it could. I am far more interested in how people live than what they believe. When other Christians threaten or disappoint me, I work as hard to see God in them as in people of other (or no) faiths. It helps to remember that these are often the same Christians whom I threaten and disappoint in equal measure. The only clear line I draw these days is this: when my religion tries to come between me and my neighbor, I will choose my neighbor. That self-canceling feature of my religion is one of the things I like best about it. Jesus never commanded me to love my religion.”
― Barbara Brown Taylor, Holy Envy: Finding God in the Faith of Others

“If you’re lost in the past, or if you’re carried away by the future, you’re not really living your life. Only by deeply touching the present moment can you touch true life and be truly alive.”
― Hanh, WORK: How To Find Joy And Meaning In Each Hour Of The Day

“The Bible refuses to provide a single view or center to its theology, despite the hope of biblical theologians and canonical critics that a center can be found. The biblical God is too mysterious, too magisterial, and too much interested in a relationship with humanity to be stuffed into a theological box.”
― Douglas A. Knight, The Meaning of the Bible: What the Jewish Scriptures and Christian Old Testament Can Teach Us

“If you take good care of the present, there is no need to worry about the future. By taking care of the present you are doing everything you can to assure a good future.”
― Hanh, WORK: How To Find Joy And Meaning In Each Hour Of The Day