Still true...

I just read this quote that resonates with something deep inside me. When I looked at the source - Jim Wallis I was not surprised. I have respected his observations. But when I looked at the date I was amazed. 1976. That was the year I was married. So young, so full of ... idealism.

I was going to say, this is even more true today than it was in 1976. But something true can't be "more true". Better to say I see this clearer today than I did back in 1976.

The quote that struck me this morning...

“The renewal of the church will come not through a recovery of personal experience or straight doctrine, nor through innovative projects of evangelism or social action, nor in creative techniques or liturgical worship, nor in the gift of tongues, nor in new budgets, new buildings, and new members. The renewal of the church will come about through the work of the Spirit in restoring and reconstituting the church as a local community whose common life bears the marks of radical obedience to the lordship of Jesus Christ.

“Practically, this means a clear recognition that the demands of obedient discipleship will bring us into conflict with the ordinary social values and normal patterns of the world systems which continually seek to fashion us into their image and conform us to their molds.”

Jim Wallis, Agenda for Biblical People, 1976

I like this Gladys....

I don't have a cemetery plot but I think I found what you can put on my gravestone...

On the culture of debt...

Lifted this straight from Andrew Jones blog (TallSkinnyKiwi) ---

"The only cultures which have NOT been marked by debt have been Biblical cultures, and, with the rejection of the Bible, we should expect the return of the culture of debt – indeed the return of culture of debt was and is inevitable, with all its disastrous consequences. But there is always hope because we are called in every generation on this earth, to the struggle for faith, righteousness and peace.

... the global culture of debt, which is a consequence of a global culture of greed, has been overcome in the past by the actions of our outstanding spiritual ancestors from the Radical Reformers to William Wilberforce. And the good news is that the global culture of greed and debt can be overcome again"

Professor Prabhu Guptara, Executive Director, Organisation Development in Switzerland, from the speech "The Global Culture of Debt" given 20 Sep, 2008.