Sixth Sunday in Lent

It's Palm Sunday - the last Sunday in Lent. On Sundays, I change the format to share a few interesting quotes from things I've read lately. To see quotes from past Sundays, visit http://lentendevotions.blogspot.com/search/label/Sundays%20in%20Lent

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[Pastor Lisandro Orlov] said a lot of intriguing and challenging things about the relationship between the church and those in the world who are stigmatized and excluded. A few statements, in particular, really stood out for me. These aren't exact quotes, but they are close:

• Be more than the boundary established in your culture.
• My job each Sunday is to scandalize my parish.
• Be a sanctuary for the dignity of all people.

Pastor Lisandro was emphasizing that living the Gospel is not easy. It can mean walking with people and in places that are unfamiliar, uncomfortable, and sometimes unacceptable to people around you. But it's also incredibly important, enriching, and ultimately just.
- Nancy Michaelis, From http://blogs.elca.org/hungerrumblings/2008/02/scandalous.html

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Christians also worked off of the fact that hospitality was an expectation, a fundamental practice in the Christian community. It was also the way the Gospel was spread, by people who were traveling.

The other piece is that the church met in homes initially, so to be welcomed into households was to be welcomed into the church, which is God's household. There was this wonderful mix of theology and practice: the Church as the household of God. One of the key practices in God's household is to be as hospitable as God.
- Dr. Christine Pohl, From http://thewearypilgrim.typepad.com/the_weary_pilgrim/2008/02/the-church-as-g.html


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Inherent in a fast is a feast. When we fast from food, we feast on prayer and God's bountiful love. When we fast from divisive patterns of relating with others, we feast on the amazing awareness that each face we see is the face of Christ. When we fast from building social, economic, and political walls, we feast on our universal oneness with the One.
- Marilyn Brown Oden (Wilderness Wanderings), From http://blog.beliefnet.com/godspolitics/2008/03/voice-of-the-day-when-we-fast.html

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Jesus Christ was far less mainstream and far more controversial than Christians are willing to be. His lifestyle was well beyond the acceptable range for behaviour in your average Baptist or Free Methodist Church. He was accused, apparently in light of some supposed evidence, of living flagrantly and with moral license.
- Scott Williams, From http://scott.club365.net/2008/03/musings-from-salem-oregon.htm

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If loving other people is a bit of heaven then certainly isolation is a bit of hell, and to that degree, here on earth, we decide in which state we would like to live.
- Donald Miller, in "Blue Like Jazz"