Keep It Simple

Keep It Simple

Matthew 13:10-17[1]

Most of you know that I’ve been talking about some of the slogans of the “Twelve Step” movement lately. They’re not necessarily biblically based, but they represent the wisdom of those who’ve faced and overcome debilitating hardships in their lives. Their experiences of making the journey from trauma through healing to serenity provide lessons for us all. That’s true of today’s slogan as well: “Keep It Simple.” Of course, these days, that’s a slogan that’s not confined to the Twelve Step movement. But it is one of the Twelve Step slogans. And in that context, it refers to focusing on what you can actually do about the people, circumstances, and events in your life. And that means letting go the things you can’t do anything about. “Keeping it simple” this way helps us keep our heads on straight when we feel overwhelmed by the parts of our lives that we cannot control.

That’s not something we do naturally. At least I don’t. When life feels like it’s spiraling out of control, we pull out all the stops to try to make things run the way we want them to. It’s a normal response to stress and anxiety. But the problem is that the “normal” ways we respond to stress and anxiety usually make things worse. We misuse substances to numb our feelings. We take those feelings out on the people closest to us. We ramp up our efforts to control our lives to get the outcomes we want, which only increases our stress and anxiety, especially when there really is nothing we can do about whatever may be causing the problem in the first place. The only real solution is to accept that the problem is out of our control and focus on maintaining healthy attitudes and life choices. Usually that means “keeping it simple” by sticking to our daily routines. In the Twelve-Step movement, they speak of doing the “next right thing.” When that’s our focus, it helps us to keep things “simple.”

I think our strange lesson from the Gospel of Matthew reflects this in a way. It’s a strange lesson because it sounds like Jesus was saying that he was trying to prevent people from turning to God. I would say that in reality, he was trying to get people to acknowledge that all their efforts to control their own sense of self-righteousness was getting in the way of the simplicity of how God actually wanted them to live their lives! It was their own obsession with measuring their piety by external means that was preventing them from examining their hearts and responding to Jesus and his message. In a very real sense, they had “shut” their own eyes and “stopped” their own ears from hearing Jesus.

Even that perspective sounds pretty edgy. Part of the problem is that the Gospel of Matthew came out of a time of extreme crisis. The early Christians for whom Matthew was writing his Gospel were likely Jewish converts. But because of their faith in Jesus, they had not only been expelled from their synagogues, but also likely had been shunned by their families. They were treated like heretics and blasphemers. When we have to live with that kind of hostility, it can affect the way we treat people. We tend to react to hostility by becoming defensive and even angry toward those who are attacking us. We tend to “circle the wagons,” so to speak, and we may attack everyone outside the circle. When we do, we not only only harm others, including those who just happen be “in the way,” we also harm ourselves. When we adopt that kind of attitude, we see “enemies” everywhere.

Unfortunately, that seems to be the context in which Matthew’s Gospel was written. The problem comes up when we internalize the attitude that everyone who is not “with us” is “against us” (contrast Mk 9:40!). When we do that, our religion becomes a convenient outlet for the stress and anxiety we may feel about the normal conflicts we face in life. Those conflicts come about simply because we live in a world full of other people who differ from us in all kinds of ways. When we view “difference” as a threat, it turns us into people who are closed-minded and hard-hearted, wielding our faith like a club, so focused on defending ourselves that we attack everyone who is “outside” what we perceive to be “our circle.”

But Jesus cut through all of that toxic religion and taught that our faith is about what God is doing in this world to bring peace, justice, freedom, and love to all people everywhere. Jesus called that the “kingdom of God.” He knew that his vision for the world was very different from the way things work. The Romans were still in power, and they wielded that power with cruelty and brutality. The wealthy oppressed the poor with no accountability. Religious leaders used their position not to serve the people but to gain wealth and power for themselves. Suffering, violence, injustice, and just plain meanness were overwhelming the world when Jesus was teaching about the “kingdom of God.” I can understand why some of his followers withdrew from the world in fear and hostility. And of course, we still face those challenges to this day. And it still leads many good people to retreat behind their faith like it’s a castle wall.

That’s why he told the disciples that there were some who wouldn’t get the point of his parables. He used parables to teach them about the “mystery” or the “secret” of the kingdom of God. And that secret is this: despite appearances to the contrary, God’s kingdom is working now to change all things and all people. God really is working to bring peace, justice, freedom, and love to all people everywhere. We see it in the “Parable of the Sower,” where the “fruit” produced by the good soil far exceeds all expectations. We see it in the “Parable of the Mustard Seed,” where a tiny seed becomes a “large tree.” We see it in the “Parable of the Leaven” where the yeast inevitably works its way through a large batch of dough. The idea is that the change the kingdom of God is bringing will inevitably work its way through this whole world.

One of the lessons I think Jesus wanted believers to come away with is an attitude toward others that differed from the religious people of his day. Despite all that remains wrong with this world, I think Jesus wanted those who followed him to fully embrace the hope that one day the kingdom of God will right all the wrongs. One day, God will restore all people and all creation to the way God intended when he made it “very good.” When we embrace this vision of what God is doing in the world, it makes it possible for us to extend the same generous welcome that God has given us to those we may see as “outsiders.” When we embrace Jesus’ vision of what God is doing in the world, we don’t have to worry about who’s “with us” and who’s “against us.” Because God’s plan is to bring us all together in his love. That means we can “Keep It Simple” when it comes to how we live our Christian lives. We can set aside our fears and hostilities and do our best to love God with all our hearts and to love our neighbors as ourselves. We “Keep It Simple” by keeping love as the focus of our faith.

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[1] © 2026 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Brehm PhD on 7/19/2026 for Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.

New Things

New Things

Isaiah 49:1-7; 1 Corinthians 1:1-9[1]

  There’s something special about new things. In these weeks after Christmas many of us are enjoying new things. We may be sporting new coats or jackets. That’s a fun thing when the weather turns cold. Some of us may be wearing new outfits. It’s nice to have a new outfit to wear. Others of us may be playing with new “toys,” whether our toys are video games, or electronics, or sporting gear, or crafting supplies, or even perhaps new books! There is something undeniably special about new things. The feel, the smell, just the notion of something new can be uplifting. But, of course, as with all things, that “new” feel will fade eventually. The new things we’re enjoying today will become “old” things tomorrow.

  Newness can take on different forms than just the “things” we use. We may have plans to do something we’ve never done before this year, to make that trip that’s always been on our “bucket list.” We may be embarking on a new venture in our lives. New directions can be frightening and exciting at the same time. We get used to familiar routines, and getting out of our “comfort zones” can be a challenge. But once we take the step, we may find entirely new ways to thrive that we may never have even been able to imagine before we took that new step. I think one of the truly rewarding aspects of the Christian life is that, if we stay open to the future, God is always doing something new.

  Our Scripture lessons for today addressed two communities among whom God was doing something new. In our lesson from Isaiah, the prophet was addressing people who desperately needed something new in their lives. They had been ripped away from their home by the conquering Babylonians. Everything familiar had been taken from them. They were stuck in a place that was strange and seemed very far away from God. Their greatest challenge was maintaining their faith in that difficult situation.  One of the Psalmists sums up their dilemma well: “How can we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?” (Ps. 137:4). In their minds, the past was where their lives lay, and the past was gone for good.

  In a situation where they all felt like refugees, the Lord spoke through the prophet to change their focus.  The people of Israel had been worrying about the seemingly impossible task of restoring what they had in the past. But through the Servant, the Lord God commissioned them to something new, something much bigger than they had imagined. He said that simply rebuilding the fallen house of Israel was “too small a thing.” Instead, God was sending them to be “a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth” (Isa. 49:6). They had been worried about how to rebuild their former lives, and the Lord was calling them to build a living sanctuary for him among the all the “foreigners” of the world! I’m quite sure they had more than a few doubts about this “new thing” the Lord promised through the prophet that he would do among them. Perhaps that’s one reason why Isaiah reminded them constantly that the Lord ruled over all things, and that he would accomplish this seemingly impossible task through them.

  I think the people St. Paul addressed in Corinth had some similar doubts. The Apostle had started the church in Corinth, but after he moved on they became confused about how they were supposed to live their lives together in Christian community. They were divided, and the factions were pulling the congregation in very different directions. Ironically, the situation at Corinth came about from the fact that the mission of shining a light to the nations was well underway, and it was causing some big problems! One of their challenges was how Christians with many differences could live together in one community of faith. I would imagine they saw that task as next to impossible. 

  But the Apostle began his instructions to them with the assurance that they already had everything they needed. He reminded them that all they did was built on “the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus” (1 Cor. 1:4).  He told them that they had already been fully equipped by the Spirit to carry out their work: “in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind ... so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift” (1 Cor. 1:5, 7). And just in case they had any lingering doubts, Paul encouraged them that God who is always faithful would strengthen them to the end (1 Cor. 1:8).

  We are living through a time of sweeping changes: changes in culture, in family structures, in our economy, and also in the church. Many of us may feel like the people of Israel: we may feel like refugees living in a strange land! All that may have been familiar to us was in the past, and we may find ourselves grieving that the past is gone. Others of us may see ourselves more like the people at Corinth. We may be eager for the future to come, so eager that we’re not willing to practice patience and understanding toward sisters and brothers, fathers and mothers who may seem to be “dragging their feet.” We may be thinking that it’s impossible to forge a true community from people who have so many differences in the way they look at life.

  I think in both cases, the challenge of our Scriptures for today is to re-direct our focus toward the “new things” God is doing among us. Instead of wringing our hands about the way church “used to be,” I would say that we must always be open to the possibility that our God is calling us on to something new, something bigger than we can imagine. That means having the courage to let go of the past and letting God lead us into the future he has planned for us. At the same time, instead of getting stuck in frustration that things aren’t changing fast enough, I think it’s important to remember that the Spirit has fully equipped us with everything we need to carry out our mission. As we do so, Scripture reminds us that our faithful God will complete the “new things” he is doing among us.

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[1] ©2020 Alan Brehm.  A sermon delivered by Rev. Dr. Alan Brehm on 1/19/2020 at Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.

A Better Way

A Better Way

1 Corinthians 13:1-13[1]

Most pastors have a way of developing routines or habits in the way they go about their ministries. For example, when I lead a wedding rehearsal, I try to take a light-hearted approach. I go through the elements of the service and say, “Now I’m reading Scripture, blah, blah, blah.” “Now I’m praying, blah, blah, blah.” Well, as many of you know, I recently performed the wedding service for my son Michael and his new wife Jaime in Canada. And I did my usual routine with the rehearsal. But as I was actually reading this scripture, 1 Corinthians 13, during the wedding, my adorable 5-year-old granddaughter Helen started saying “blah, blah, blah.” Right in the middle of the service. Out loud. I guess I may have to re-think my approach to wedding rehearsals.

But, as they say, often times “from the mouth of babes” comes truth we’d rather not hear. I wonder if, because of the fact that we’ve heard this passage so many times, we’ve gotten to the place that all we really hear is “blah, blah, blah.” I’m afraid that can be true for a lot of us. We’ve heard familiar passages from the Bible so many times that, while we may have warm feelings from hearing favorite verses, I wonder if we really hear the message. Unfortunately, time and familiarity have dulled the edge those Scriptures were originally meant to have.

One of the most helpful ways to try to get around this over-familiarity is to take a closer look at what’s actually going on behind the scenes. In the case of our lesson from 1 Corinthians for today, St. Paul was addressing a congregation that was troubled and torn by factions and divisiveness. He has spent most of his effort in the previous 12 chapters trying to sort out the issues that were causing problems. At this point, he’s dealing with “spiritual gifts.” These were the various abilities that Paul said the Holy Spirit had given to the members of the church in order to build it up, gifts like preaching, teaching, leadership, service, and others.

One of the gifts practiced in the church at Corinth was “speaking in tongues.” While there has been some confusion about what this means, it would seem that it was some kind of non-rational prayer language. Though this may look strange to people who value clear communication, Paul validated it as a genuine gift of the Spirit. He even admitted that he himself had “spoken in tongues.” Unfortunately, those who practiced this gift at Corinth seemed to have developed the attitude that because they could speak a “heavenly” language, they were on a higher spiritual plane than others.

As you can imagine, it didn’t set well with folks in the church at Corinth that there was a group that basically saw themselves as spiritually superior to the rest of them. And part of what St. Paul was trying to accomplish with them was to bring some balance to the congregation by pointing out that all of the gifts are important for the welfare of the church.[2] He used the analogy of the parts of the body to try to help them understand that everyone in the church has something of value to contribute.

In the passage for today, Paul says he is showing them “a still more excellent way” (1 Cor. 12:31). The “better way” that Paul advocates is the way of practicing the gifts of the Spirit with an attitude of love for one another. In fact, he goes to some effort to make it clear that even the most impressive spiritual gifts are essentially useless if they are not practiced in an attitude of love for others.[3] And so he describes the kind of attitude he has in mind when he says, “Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful” (1 Cor. 13:4-5). It would seem, in fact, that he is speaking rather bluntly to them here. Earlier in the letter, Paul has already called them out on the fact that they were being envious and boastful towards each other. Here he makes it clear that is not the “better way.”[4]

On the contrary, I think the “better way” that he wants them to practice is the way of Jesus Christ.[5] It is the way of God’s love for us. Paul describes it this way, love “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Cor. 13:7). He’s not talking about love as a feeling, but rather love as a way of life, love as a basic attitude toward others, love as a commitment to follow Jesus’ example. It is a love that sacrifices for the sake of others; it is a love that is essentially unselfish and giving and generous; it is a love that bears with others with all their flaws and shortcomings.[6] This is the “better way” according to Paul.

This passage of Scripture wasn’t written primarily for married people. Paul is addressing the whole church about the way we are to live in the community of faith. I would hardly say that this church is one that is torn by factions and divisions. But the reality is that the kind of love the Bible teaches us to practice towards one another requires a great deal of us, and we don’t always live up to it. Let’s face it: sometimes it’s not easy to love one another in the church. Sometimes people in the church can rub each other the wrong way. And yet it is the love that we maintain for one another that sets the church apart from any other civic organization. Since we can all fall short, I think it’s important for us to see that the love that St. Paul says “never ends” is God’s love for us.[7] That is, after all, what enables us to keep trying to love one another.[8] It is the love that God shows us day by day, and the love that Jesus taught us by his life and death, that call us all to keep seeking “the better way.”

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[1] © 2016 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Dr. Alan Brehm on 1/31/2016 at Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.

[2] Cf. Richard B. Hays, First Corinthians, 221: “The purpose of chapter 13 is to portray love as the sine qua non of the Christian life and to insist that love must govern the exercise of all the gifts of the Spirit. … Paul is trying to reform the Corinthians’ understanding and practice of spiritual manifestations in worship.”

[3] Cf. J. Paul Sampley, “The First Letter to the Corinthians,” New Interpreters Bible X:952, where he says, “no matter how magnificent the accomplishment, power, or action, when love is missing the exercise in question becomes vain, selfish, fruitless, and individualistic.”

[4] Cf. Hays, First Corinthians, 222, where he quotes John Calvin as saying, “I have no doubt that Paul intended it [1 Corinthians 13] to reprimand the Corinthians in an indirect way, by confronting them with a situation quite the reverse of their own….” Hays himself says (p. 227), “the Corinthians will surely have gotten the picture: Paul is implying that everything about their behavior contradicts the character of love.”

[5] Cf. Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics 1.2:330, where he says of this chapter, “which we shall best understand if for the concept ‘love’ we simply insert the name Jesus Christ.”

[6] Cf. Hays, First Corinthians, 232: Where he says, “Love is not just a matter of feelings: feelings come and go, while love abides.” He continues by insisting that the actions that define love “are learned patterns of behavior that must be cultivated over time in the context of a community that models and supports such behavior. We must learn patience, we must be taught not to keep score of wrongs done against us.”

[7] Cf. Barth, Church Dogmatics 1.2:372, where he says, “Paul expressly says of love in 1 Cor. 13:8 that it οὐδέποτε πίπτει [never fails]. He means that it will still apply to the being and activity of the redeemed in the world to come.” Cf. also Hays, First Corinthians, 231: “Love is the greatest of the three because—unlike the revelatory gifts and even unlike faith and hope—it will endure eternally when the love of God is all in all (1 Cor. 15:28). It is also the greatest because, even in the present time, it undergirds everything else and gives meaning to an otherwise unintelligible world….”

[8] Cf. Sampley, “The First Letter to the Corinthians,” NIB X:955: “Faith, hope, and love endure; gifts do not. Gifts are finite; they are given to persons who employ them for a period within the community. Love is the matrix of the life of faith; God’s love for people becomes the force that enables them to love others.”

Open Hearts

Open Hearts

2 Corinthians 6:1-13[1]

As I look at our society, it seems to me that one of our fundamental problems is that we are filled with anger. Bitterness, hatred, and meanness seem like a virus that spreads and grows day by day. We can get so angry so quickly these days. All you have to do is accidentally pull out in front of someone to experience road rage. Or bring up the subject of politics at the local donut shop or coffee house spot. We get pretty hostile pretty fast. And we start throwing all kinds of hateful words at each other. We shouldn’t be surprised at this, since that’s the way very visible people behave—from politicians to news commentators to social observers of all stripes. The level of nastiness in the way we speak to and about each other can be overwhelming. And we’re shocked that our news cycle is continually filled with acts of violence!

What’s perhaps more disturbing is the fact that we in the church have adopted this approach for dealing with our differences. We seem to have lost the ability to sit down across the table with someone who holds a different opinion on a matter that concerns us deeply and have a conversation that is based on mutual respect. Instead, we are like those around us, our anger ready to come spilling out at any moment. And when it does our words can match the intensity of the “talking heads” in our world—they can be bitter and mean, if not positively hateful. [2]   My brothers and sisters, to borrow from Scripture, in the Body of Christ it ought not be so!

In our lesson from the St. Paul for today, we find the Apostle dealing with hostility that has arisen in one of his beloved churches. The church at Corinth was founded by Paul. He had served them faithfully until he was forced to leave. And after he left, other teachers came along and began to call into question whether he was truly worthy of the respect due to an Apostle of Christ.[3] Apparently, they criticized him for his looks, for the way he talked, and even for the content of his teaching. The end result was that this church which owed its very existence to Paul’s labor of love began to fracture and turn against him. It would seem, in fact, that on one of Paul’s visits, he was publicly humiliated by one of the ringleaders among those who had decided to turn against him.

Not only was this damaging to the church’s health, it was also damaging to the cause of Christ in general. Paul likened it to yeast that could spread its way throughout a whole lump of dough. Since they didn’t know about viruses in that day, it was probably the best analogy he had. But I think a better one is the image of a virus. If left to spread unchecked, it will eventually destroy whatever body it has infected. And Paul knew that to be true for a church as well: bitterness, anger, and nastiness can poison any church and kill it.

Paul’s approach to this problem was to tackle it head-on. Some in his day (and perhaps also in ours) might say this was the wrong approach to take.[4] Nevertheless, Paul insisted that he had been an open book to them. He had not tried to deceive them or manipulate them in any way, but rather had served them in love. In our lesson for today, he says it this way, “We have spoken frankly to you …; our heart is wide open to you” (2 Cor. 6:11). Even though he says that many of them had “closed their hearts” to him, his heart remained open and full of love and concern for them.

If you’ve ever been in a situation like that, you’ll know how difficult it is to keep your heart open. When we come under fire our tendency is to protect ourselves by closing our hearts. But I’m afraid that’s the first step toward hardening our hearts to others. And that leads, in turn, to bitterness and the anger that we may verbalize in ways that aren’t so kind. We can see this at all levels of church life especially when we disagree about the convictions we hold dear. When we take that protective and defensive stance, it’s hard to recognize that our convictions may not necessarily be the final truth, and that others might have some valid points to make, even if they hold different views.

Again, Paul’s approach to this problem is the direct one. He appeals to the people of the church at Corinth straightforwardly: “It is not we who have closed our hearts to you; it is you who have closed your hearts to us” (2 Cor. 6:12, TEV). And so he asks them directly: “open wide your hearts also” (2 Cor. 6:13)! This is where some might fault Paul in his approach. And yet he goes straight to the crux of the problem: they had hardened their hearts and had broken their relationship. Since Paul has just explained to them the importance of being reconciled to God through Jesus Christ, he now applies that message to the broken relationship between them: “See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation!” (2 Cor. 6:2). Of course, he’s talking to believers, so he’s not inviting them to the new life in Christ.[5] Rather, he’s inviting them to take the opportunity to be reconciled with him that the present moment affords.[6] And the way to do that is for them to open their hearts to him.

We live in a world where it can seem foolish to live with open hearts. Those who make themselves vulnerable in that way inevitably come under attack. And yet, the way of the open heart is the only way for us in the church.[7] After all, it was God who opened his heart toward us in the first place, pouring out his love and grace and mercy in our lives. And it was Jesus who opened his heart and made himself vulnerable enough to die for us on the cross. In that light, I don’t see how we can do anything less than to follow Paul’s example and open our hearts to all those around us, even those who may disagree with us, even those who may attack us. The way of Jesus is the way of love, the way of the open heart.

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[1] ©2015 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Dr. Alan Brehm on 6/21/2015 at Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.

[2] Our situation reminds me of Thomas Merton’s comment in New Seeds of Contemplation, 73-74: “Strong hate, the hate that takes joy in hating, is strong because it does not believe itself to be unworthy and alone. It feels the support of a justifying God, of an idol of war, an avenging and destroying spirit. … . It is easier to serve the hate-gods because they thrive on the worship of collective fanaticism. To serve the hate-gods, one has only to be blinded by collective passion. To serve the God of love one must be free, one must face the terrible responsibility of the decision to love in spite of all unworthiness whether in oneself or in one’s neighbor.”

[3] Cf. J. Paul Sampley, “The Second Letter to the Corinthians,” New Interpreters Bible XI:97: “Paul’s apostleship has been one of service to others, not self-service and self-aggrandizement, perhaps to the chagrin of some Corinthians who see in him a person of attenuated status, too diminished to be considered a true apostle.” Cf. also Glenn T. Miller, “2 Corinthians 5:11-6:13,” Interpretation, 54 (Apr 2000): 188: “In a passage filled with irony and pathos, Paul rehearses the charges against him in antitheses that contrast his opponents' views with what the Corinthians know to have been the case: "honor, dishonor; good repute, poor repute; imposters, truth-tellers; known, unknown; dying, yet alive; punished, not killed; sorrowful, rejoicing; rich, poor (6:8-10).”  Cf. further, Jürgen Moltmann, The Crucified God, 56–57: “The authentication of his apostolate is given by Christ himself, who reveals himself in his apostle’s cross. Because he follows the mission of Christ, Paul takes ‘his’ cross upon him and reveals the power of Christ through his weakness and the life of the risen Christ through his daily dying.”

[4] Cf. Sampley, “Second Letter to the Corinthians,” NIB XI:102; cf. also 107: “Frankness, now as then, is best suited for strong friendship relations. Outside of friendship, frank speech is likely to be perceived as meddlesome at best. But even among friends, speaking frankly is a delicate undertaking that requires caution as well as a sense of timing and proportion.”

[5] While this is certainly the case, Ernest Best, in Second Corinthians, 58, reminds us that “Just as there is a continual need to be reconciled to God (see 5:20), so there is a continual need to accept salvation day by day, ‘now is the day of salvation.’ No group of Christians can think itself so firm in the faith that it does not need to go back again and again to examine itself lest it accept in vain the grace of God, the gracious way he has acted in Christ.”

[6] Cf. Sampley, “Second Letter to the Corinthians,” NIB XI:98: “Reconciliation is at the heart of life’s business. If the most important single factor about any of our lives is God’s having reconciled us to God’s very self, then the proper celebration of our reconciliation is to share it with others by fostering reconciliation and atonement whenever we can.”  Cf. also Miller, “2 Corinthians 5:11-6:13,” 187: “This is how reconciliation works. First, God reconciles us to God's self through the cross, and we become new creatures. Likewise, others also are made anew. And the fact that we recognize Christ's work in each other means that we have to relate to each other in a new way.” Cf. further Ralph P. Martin, 2 Corinthians, 169, 188. See further, Merton, New Seeds, 67: “Love comes out of God and gathers us to God in order to pour itself back into God through all of us and bring us all back to Him on the tide of his own infinite mercy.”

[7] Cf. Henri Nouwen, Here and Now: Living in the Spirit, 22: “When we see only demons within ourselves, we can see only demons in others, but when we see God in ourselves, we can see God also in others.” Cf. also ibid, 47, where he speaks of the Dalai Lama’s freedom from “any hatred or bitterness toward the Chinese who ravaged his land and murdered his people. He says, ‘They too are human beings who struggle to find happiness and deserve our compassion.’”