"The Christian must discover in contemplation, and in the giving of his life, those symbolic actions which will ignite the people's faith to resist injustice with their whole lives, lives coming together as a united force of truth and thus releasing the liberating power of the God within them." - James Douglass, Contemplation and Resistance.

Friday, May 12, 2006

The Chains Begin to Hurt

"The more the patient detects the tokens of returning health, the more restless and expectant he will be. That is the paradoxical situation of the children of God in the world. The hope that sways them is due largely not to what they are lacking but to what they have already received..."

"When freedom is close, the chains begin to hurt. If there were no such thing as freedom, or if every hope for liberation in us were dead, we should get used to our chains and, once having got used to them, should no longer feel them." - Jurgen Moltmann, The Spirit of Life.

But we feel them yet. We know what freedom feels like - we see it in the eyes of those we are free with, in the eyes of our brothers.

"There is an important struggle going on for the soul of Christianity, which should be of concern to everyone, Christian or not. The debate is not just at the level of arguments over whether, for example, certain Old Testament passages should be interpreted to condemn homosexuality. The deeper struggle is over whether Christianity is to be understood as a closed set of answers that leads to the intensification of these boundaries, or as an invitation to explore questions that help people transcend boundaries." - Robert Jensen, "Why I am a Christian (Sort of)", March 6, 2006.

"The chains begin to hurt, for we already sense that we have the power to break them." - Jurgen Moltmann.

"It's a little disconcerting, but it offers one enormous consolation: we do not have to wait until 'after the revolution' to begin to get a glimpse of what genuine freedom might be like. Freedom only exists in the moment of revolution." - Andre Grubacic, "Power and Revolution", May 11, 2006.

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