For all its rooted loveliness, the world has no continuing city here; it is an outlandish place, a foreign home, a session in via to a better version of itself-and it is our glory to see it so and to thirst until Jerusalem comes home at last. We were given appetites, not to consume the world and forget it, but to taste its goodness and hunger to make it great.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the transient nature of the world and the importance of seeking a greater purpose beyond mere existence.
Robert Farrar Capon's quote emphasizes the idea that, although the world we live in is beautiful and full of wonder, it is not our permanent home. Instead, it serves as a journey towards a more fulfilling existence, encouraging us to recognize the inherent goodness in life while nurturing a desire to improve it and aspire towards a greater ideal, symbolized by 'Jerusalem.' This perspective invites us to appreciate our experiences without losing sight of our ultimate aspirations.
In practice
This quote can be shared during discussions about environmental conservation to highlight our responsibility towards the world.
Grace is the celebration of life, relentlessly hounding all the non-celebrants in the world. It is a floating, cosmic bash shouting its way through the streets of the universe, flinging the sweetness of its cassations to every window, pounding at every door in a hilarity beyond all liking and happening, until the prodigals come out at last and dance, and the elder brothers finally take their fingers out of their ears.
If God seems to be in no hurry to make the problem of evil go away, maybe we shouldn't be, either. Maybe our compulsion to wash God's hands for him is a service he doesn't appreciate. Maybe - all theodicies and nearly all theologians to the contrary - evil is where we meet God. Maybe he isn't bothered by showing up dirty for his dates with creation. Maybe - just maybe - if we ever solved the problem, we'd have talked ourselves out of a lover.
Christianity is NOT a religion; it is the proclamation of the end of religion. Religion is a human activity dedicated to the job of reconciling God to humanity and humanity to itself. The Gospel, however - the Good News of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is the astonishing announcement that God has done the whole work of reconciliation without a scrap of human assistance. It is the bizarre proclamation that religion is over - period.
The world is by no means averse to religion. In fact, it is devoted to it with a passion. It will buy any recipe for salvation as long as that formula leaves the responsibility for cooking up salvation firmly in human hands. The world is drowning in religion. But it is scared out of its wits by any mention of the grace that takes the world home gratis.
Human life without death would be something other than human; consciousness of mortality gives rise to out deepest longings and greatest accomplishments.
I can only become perfectly free by serving the will of God.
The splinter in your eye is the best magnifying-glass available.
Seeking can become stressful when you apply the same laws that you apply in the material world - hard work, exacting plans, driving ambition, and attachment to outcome.
Every little increase in human freedom has been fought over ferociously between those who want us to know more and be wiser and stronger, and those who want us to obey and be humble and submit.
They tell him that there is no why, since the moment simply is and since all of them are trapped in the moment, like bugs in amber.
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