Quotes from Mark Townsend

Jesus died (was murdered) not as a divine sacrifice but because he threatened both "church" and "state." He threatened religion by making it superfluous. He pointed to the one-ness that already exists between the divine and the material worlds (us). Temple structures and priesthoods that perpetuate a "separated universe" need to remember this.

3 What is Christianity – the central truths? If every religion has a major gift which I believe they do, then what is Christianity's gift to the world? I believe it is the Christ image of a god being plunged into raw, messy, sinful, human, broken life. He is a powerful symbol of a divine connectedness to all things, even the shit.

Nature is a beautiful gift of magic.

Thus, once again, there need be no real contradictions between Druidry and Christianity here.

Rohr said that dualistic thinking is necessary for us to live/survive, but there comes a point where it can go no further, it hits the ceiling, especially when it comes to describing spirituality or God.

Oh my word, three huge ravens just flew gracefully over my head. Beautiful.

Faith clearly means 'to move forward without knowing.' But for the last 300 years at least it's meant 'to know every-thing with certainty.' How has a word come to mean the exact opposite of what is originally meant?

This faith stuff, this religion stuff, is not about words, or even beliefs, it's about relationships and people.

What perfect timing. Amidst all the turmoil caused by humans God sends his/her animal messengers to soothe our troubled minds.

He said he was both Muslim and Taoist.

Peter Owen Jones really helped me to see how I can be both. I do not need to choose and I do not need to mix them either.

Humanity is walking on the gold mine of the kingdom of God, but does not know it.

the two steps back (the falling) are as important as the three steps forward.

remembering what I had forgotten; of rediscovering what had been submerged under mental clutter.

Spirituality is about seeing, waking up out of a deep sleep, remembering what

One of the things that (we) religious people often do is try to change ourselves into what we think God or the Church wants us to be like.

If we think we can turn ourselves into the perfect Christian, we have missed the point of the entire Gospel, and will be making the Christ within us harder to see, not easier. We will be adding more layers and more clutter that one day will simply have to be removed

Only those who have reached the limit of themselves, with nothing to offer in their own defence, fall into the abyss of love. In fact only sinners understand the gospel. It is not available to anyone else.3 David Runcorn

Brokenness is a fact of life for us all, and I'm not just talking about physical breaking. Many of us have also had more than a taste of emotional brokenness too.

just as we all know what it means to witness something being broken, we also know what it means to hope for restoration.

was mentally creating a God in the image and likeness of humans.

How sad. I've just had a walk down The Grange and passed an angry old man from my old church. He just turned round, stood, and glared, shaking his head at me. I don't understand why people are sometimes so hostile and never seem to be able to let go. This poor chap and many like him have attended church every week of their lives, and yet it seems to have had no impact whatsoever on their characters. Alas, it is a mystery indeed.

The little-me is egocentric, concerned with self-preservation and inward looking. It has a habit of being judgemental, both to self and to others. It is critical, insecure, needy, defensive and proud. The little-me is only ever secure in achievement and is therefore highly fragile and easily offended. The little-me wants to control and manage, and cannot easily let go.

the Divine-Me is God-centred, which also means self-less. It is unconcerned with self-preservation. The Divine-Me is outward looking, forgiving and content. The Divine-Me is secure without the need of achieving; secure because of being made in the image and likeness of God. The Divine-Me has a natural ability to 'Let Go and Let God'. The Divine-Me is un-offendable.