20th-century Clergy Quotes

Richard Rohr
W. A. Criswell
Suzan Johnson Cook
C. J. Mahaney

When a Christian stops growing, help is needed. If you are the same Christian you were a few months ago, be careful.

Many people I know who are doing truly helpful and healing ministry find their primary support from a couple of enlightened friends, and only secondarily, if at all, from the larger organizations.

Richard Rohr
Richard Rohr
It's not 'those who help themselves' whom God helps; it's those who humble themselves.

C. J. Mahaney
C. J. Mahaney
Joy is not necessarily the absence of suffering, it is the presence of God.

A discerning person (anthropos diakritikos), according to the Orthodox Greeks, is someone perpetually mindful or watchful of God working in all things and at all times. Ever conscious of God's Love, which is God's Will, a vigilant Christian is never taken unawares by circumstances. In the eschatological discourses of the Gospels, Jesus advises us to read the cosmic signs that announce God's recurrent visitations and thus remain watchful and awake every hour of the day and night, that is to say, remain perpetually mindful. Hence there is no better description of biblical spirituality than ceaseless vigilance or perpetual mindfulness.

This is the residue of sin on planet earth. Things are broken. People are hurting. The night is here. Darkness is upon us. Yet shining in the night is a Savior, and He has come to shine on you.

The person of faith, (Henri Nouwen) says, is able to see in that moment the faithful presence of God, the one who has never left us, who keeps his word. He comes and picks up those bricks from the crumbling wall and begins to fashion something new, not a wall but a concave space, where we are invited to a deeper intimacy with the ones we love and with God. It is in that greater sharing, that greater intimacy that we begin to realize that the real stability in life is not the wall of our accomplishments but the faithfulness of the ones we love and the faithfulness of God, because both reveal how rich life is in keeping a promise, in keeping one's word. There is nothing to compare with having someone keep their word to us.

It is not so much the case that God has a mission for his church in the world, as that God has a church for his mission in the world. Mission was not made for the church; the church was made for mission - God's mission.

Believe you receive in the faith realm, and you shall have it in the natural realm.

God sends people into our lives just when we need them, to say the right word, His word, just when we need it.

W. A. Criswell
W. A. Criswell
In the park, the seesaw is more than a piece of wood that goes up and down. It teaches children that if a balance isn't struck, they will not have a smooth and successful ride. Too much weight on either side causes one end to go up and the other down. This is true in life as well.... Our lives require balance.

Suzan Johnson Cook
Suzan Johnson Cook
The content of worship comes from the Bible, the goal of worship is to give praise to God, and the basis for worship is the saving work of Jesus Christ. Put more simply, true Christian worship is Word-communicat ing, God-glorifying, and Christ-confessi ng.