“When hope is not pinned wriggling onto a shiny image or expectation, it sometimes floats forth and opens like one of those fluted Japanese blossoms, flimsy and spastic, bright and warm. This almost always seems to happen in community.” SometimesSeemsHappensFaithCommunityExpectationsWarmFloats Author:Anne Lamott
“What makes community organizing especially attractive is the faith it places in the ability of the poor to make decisions for themselves.” FaithCommunityAbilityDecisionPoorAttractiveCommunity Organizing Author:Paul Wellstone
“We need not be afraid of the future, for the future will be in our own hands. We shall need courage, energy and determination, but above all, we shall need faith-faith in ourselves, in our communities and in our country.” NeedsCountryHandsFaithEnergyCommunityDeterminationOur CountryOur Community Author:Thomas E. Dewey
“Civilization is a stream with banks. The stream is sometimes filled with blood from people killing, stealing, shouting and doing the things historians usually record, while on the banks, unnoticed, people build homes, make love, raise children, sing songs, write poetry and even whittle statues. The story of civilization is what happened on the banks.” PeopleLoveWritingChildrenSometimesStoriesHomeMotivationalFaithSongCommunityHistoryRecordsHappenedBloodSocietyCivilizationRaisesFilledKillingStealingStreamsHistorianMaking LoveStatuesShoutingUnnoticed Author:Will Durant
“The moment we break faith with one another, the sea engulfs us and the light goes out.” MomentsLightFaithCommunityBreakSeaUnityTeamworkBrotherhoodKwanzaa Author:James A. Baldwin
“A first grader should understand that her or his culture isn't a rational invention; that there are thousands of other cultures and they all work pretty well; that all cultures function on faith rather than truth; that there are lots of alternatives to our own society...Cultural relativity is defensible, attractive. It's a source of hope. It means we don't have to continue this way if we don't like it.” IfsWayShouldFirstsWellsMeanFaithCultureCommunitySourceFunctionInventionRationalAlternativesAttractiveRelativityOther CulturesSociety And Culture Author:Kurt Vonnegut
“We need to make our own the ancient pastoral wisdom which... encouraged Pastors to listen more widely to the entire People of God. Significant is Saint Benedict's reminder to the Abbot of a monastery, inviting him to consult even the youngest members of the community: "By the Lord's inspiration, it is often a younger person who knows what is best".” PeopleKnowsNeedsPersonsInspirationFaithCommunityLordMembersAncientSaintChristian InspirationalSignificantPastorRemindersInvitingMonasteries Author:Pope John Paul II
“The primordial model of the family is to be sought in God himself, in the Trinitarian mystery of his life. The divine "We" is the eternal pattern of the human "we", especially of that "we" formed by the man and the woman created in the divine image and likeness... Man is created "from the very beginning" as male and female: the life of all humanity - whether of small communities or of society as a whole - is marked by this primordial duality.” MenHumansWholeInspirationFaithHumanityCommunityMysteryDivineHe ManEternalModelsFemaleMalesPatternsChristian InspirationalDualitySmall Communities Author:Pope John Paul II
“God reproduces and lives out His image in millions of ordinary people like us. It is a supreme mystery. We are called to bear that image as a Body because any one of us taken individually would present an incomplete image, one partly false and always distorted, like a single glass chip hacked from a mirror. But collectively, in all our diversity, we can come together as a community of believers to restore the image of God in the world.” PeopleWorldBodyChristianTogetherFaithCommunityMillionsTakenMysteryBearsDiversityOrdinaryMirrorsGlassesBelieverSupremeChipsOrdinary PeopleIncompleteGod ImageHacked Author:Philip Yancey
“I believe faith is a human universal. We are endowed at birth with nascent capacities for faith. How these capacities are activated and grow depends to a large extent on how we are welcomed into the world and what kinds of environments we grow in. Faith is interactive and social; it requires community, language, ritual and nurture. Faith is also shaped by initiatives from beyond us and other people, initiatives of spirit or grace. How these latter initiatives are recognized and imaged, or unperceived and ignored, powerfully affects the shape of faith in our lives.” PeopleWorldBelieveHumansKindSpiritFaithLanguageI BelieveSocialGrowsCommunityEnvironmentGraceOur LivesDependsBirthShapesCapacityUniversalLatterRitualInitiativeNurtureIgnoredInteractive Author:James W. Fowler
“I greet you from Smyrna together with the Churches of God present here with me. They comfort me in every way, both in body and soul. My chains, which I carry about on me for Jesus Christ, begging that I may happily make my way to God, exhort you: persevere in your concord and in you community prayers.” WayMaySoulBodyInspirationTogetherFaithJesusChristCommunityChurchPrayerComfortJesus ChristChainsMy WayPersevereBegging Author:Ignatius of Antioch