To confess your sins to God is not to tell [God] anything [God] doesn't already know. Until you confess them, however, they are the abyss between you. When you confess them, they become the bridge.
Frederick BuechnerRead
Turn around and believe that the good news that we are loved is better than we ever dared hope, and that to believe in that good news, to live out of it and toward it, to be in love with that good news, is of all glad things in this world the gladdest thing of all. Amen, and come Lord Jesus.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the importance and joy of believing in being loved and sharing that love with others.
Frederick Buechner's quote reflects on the profound impact of recognizing and embodying the love we receive. It suggests that embracing the idea of being loved not only brings personal joy but also encourages a vibrant and hopeful way of living that transcends challenges, ultimately fostering a sense of community and faith.
In practice
In a sermon about unconditional love, one might say this quote to illustrate the joy of divine love.
To confess your sins to God is not to tell [God] anything [God] doesn't already know. Until you confess them, however, they are the abyss between you. When you confess them, they become the bridge.
By and large a good rule for finding out is this: the kind of work God usually calls you to is the kind of work a) that you need most to do and b) the world most needs to have done. If you really get a kick out of your work, you've presumably met requirement a), but if your work is writing TV deodorant commercials, the chances are you've missed requirement b).
When you remember me, it means you have carried something of who I am with you, that I have left some mark of who I am on who you are. It means that you can summon me back to your mind even though countless years and miles may stand between us. It means that if we meet again, you will know me. It means that even after I die, you can still see my face and hear my voice and speak to me in your heart.
We find by losing. We hold fast by letting go. We become something new by ceasing to be something old. This seems to be close to the heart of that mystery. I know no more now than I ever did about the far side of death as the last letting-go of all, but now I know that I do not need to know, and that I do not need to be afraid of not knowing. God knows. That is all that matters.
To be wise is to be eternally curious.
if you don't have doubts you're either kidding yourself or asleep. Doubts are the ants-in-the-pants of faith. They keep it alive and moving.
Amour is the one human activity of any importance in which laughter and pleasure preponderate, if ever so slightly, over misery and pain.
Perfect love is the most beautiful of all frustrations because it is more than one can express.
The most exciting thing is not doing it. If you fall in love with someone and never do it, it's much more exciting.
If I were hanged on the highest hill, Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine! I know whose love would follow me still Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine!
No specter assails us in more varied disguises than loneliness, and one of its most impenetrable masks is called love.
People are weird. When we find someone with weirdness that is compatible with ours, we team up and call it love.
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