Quotes About Community

Time and again I hear how important the darker environment is to those at our vintage-faith worship gathering. Attenders feel they can freely pray in a corner by themselves without feeling that everyone is staring at them.

When organized religion organizes around the things Jesus would be pleased with, amazing things can happen.

This might sound odd, but I believe that one of the biggest reasons there are so many negative perceptions of Christianity and the church is that Christians hang out with each other too much.

God's house is now in the people of God wherever they are, whether it's in the parking lot, in a bowling alley, or in an office cubicle.

But when we understand that we are called to be the church, not just go to church, it changes our identity. No longer do we go to a building where religious activities happen and that is "church." We now are the church all week long.

When we think of church primarily as a place or an event we go to, we minimize the theologically rich identity of the church as the people of God. And this identity — of being the church — is more than a passive statement about who we are; it's also a call to action. As representatives of Jesus, those called to communicate and live out his message and the message about him, we are on a mission.

Whatever the tradition is, if that tradition becomes more important than the mission of seeing people come to know Jesus, then it's time for the whip.

Social capital is a following of people who like you, trust you, support you, and are willing and capable of buying from you.

As an aside: I urge you to count the non-white faces in that Halloween photo and consider the claim about "daring to be different.")

He was good at life, and, with his support, so were we.

Next time you meet someone, try asking, "How are you making the world a better place?" rather than the normal, "What do you do?

We will invest in our people, quality education, job opportunity, family, neighborhood, and yes, a thing we call America.

It is important not to confuse "patriotism" with "nationalism." As I define it, nationalism is a monologue in which you place your country in a position of moral and cultural supremacy over others. Patriotism, while deeply personal, is a dialogue with your fellow citizens, and a larger world, about not only what you love about your country but also how it can be improved.

Art is an attempt to capture the truths of the world as you see it in a medium you can share with others. It is about lending your voice, your perspective to local, national, and global conversations. And that is why, in the United States in particular, our definition of what is art and who is an artist must be as varied as our citizenry.

People can disagree politically and philosophically on all the issues that confront our nation, but if more of our elected officials had served in causes other than their own advancement, I believe they would approach their jobs with less certainty in their own assumptions and more sympathy for the needs of others.

The true foundations for those buildings are not brick and stone, but our Constitution, our rule of law, our traditions, our work ethic, our empathy, our pragmatism, and our basic decency. As I have seen over the years, when we cultivate these instincts, we soar. When we sow seeds of division, hatred, and small-mindedness, we falter.

What sticks with me more than even that act of kindness was how my mother talked to me about it... So I asked my mother why we gave those families gifts at Christmas when we ourselves didn't have much. I remember then answering for myself: "It was because we felt sorry for them, right?" "We do not feel sorry for them," my mother said sternly, "We understand how they feel.

Much has been written about how tribal we are getting. We see it in our social media feeds, and it is reflected in the increased polarization of our political parties along geographic and social divisions.

New York is never a megalopolis of however many millions; it's always just your neighborhood—the shoe repair guy, the carpenter, the grocer, the post office—like any small town in Texas, really. (Dan Rather, from My First New York)

Our own history has shown that we are stronger as a mosaic than a melting pot.

I remember Mexican children, the sons and daughters of migrant farmworkers, starting each fall at my elementary school. By the time we got to Thanksgiving, the harvest and livestock roundups were complete, and all of those schoolmates would be gone.

We either choose to be part of a community that stretches beyond ourselves, our material needs, and our creature comforts, or we do not. In our society, it is possible for the selfish and self-centered to live at the expense of the rest of the population.

And that is how it was during World War II: There was a sense of service that permeated all of society, even down to young boys like me. I remember the rationing of food and materials. The idea that we all had to go without, that we were all asked to sacrifice in even small ways, created a sense of togetherness. It was everyone's war, and everyone was encouraged to participate.

We know that homosexuality is not limited to any race, religion, or socioeconomic class—it is part of human diversity.