Therefore I tell you, the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you

and given to a people producing its fruits.

~ Jesus ~

Matthew 21:43

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I prefer a Church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a Church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security. I do not want a Church concerned with being at the centre and which then ends by being caught up in a web of obsessions and procedures. If something should rightly disturb us and trouble our consciences, it is the fact that so many of our brothers and sisters are living without the strength, light and consolation born of friendship with Jesus Christ, without a community of faith to support them, without meaning and a goal in life. More than by fear of going astray, my hope is that we will be moved by the fear of remaining shut up within structures which give us a false sense of security, within rules which make us harsh judges, within habits which make us feel safe, while at our door people are starving and Jesus does not tire of saying to us: “Give them something to eat” (Mark 6:37).

~ Jorge Mario Bergoglio ~

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"Take Me to the Alley"

~ Gregory Porter ~

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qj5z4SbrH20

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[Jesus] is described … as the man of God who dies outside the gate of the Holy City. …The death of Jesus outside the gate implies a new place of salvation. In the Old Testament the temple, which had replaced the ancient tabernacle, was understood not just as a place of worship, but especially as the central location of salvation. …
In this context salvation was confined to the temple, inside the walls of the Holy City. It was understood as a “benefit”; the continuous liberation (or forgiveness) of the people from the wrath of God. Through animal sacrifices the people were made whole and kept in communion with God. With Jesus there came a foundational shift in the location of salvation: the center was moved to the periphery. Jesus dies in the
wilderness among the outcast and disenfranchised. The unclean and defiled territory became holy ground as He took upon Himself the function of the temple. With the change of location came also a shift in focus. The concept of salvation was now seen in a broader and more radical perspective. No longer was it understood in
terms of a mere benefit. The focus was now on commitment to a life of service.
 

​~ Orlando Costas ~

 

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In as much as

you have done it

to the least of these

you should know in-

deed that you have

done it unto Me

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In as much as

you denied it

to the least of these

you should know in-

deed that you de-

nied it unto Me

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~ Jesus ~

Matthew 25:40, 45

 

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I simply argue that the cross be raised again at the center of the market place as well as on the steeple of the church. I am recovering the claim that Jesus was not crucified in a cathedral between two candles, but on a cross between two thieves, on a town garbage heap; at a crossroads so cosmopolitan that they had to write the title in Hebrew, and in Latin and in Greek [or shall we say in isiZulu, and in Afrikaans and in English - or even in street argot set in irresistible rhyme by a formerly violent, blasphemous thug?]; at the kind of place where cynics talk smut, the thieves curse and soldiers gamble. Because that is where church men ought to be and what church men ought to be about.

 

~ George Fielden MacLeod ~

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"Kingdom in the Streets"

~ Ken Medema ~

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjTBusY7SDc

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In the history of God's work you will nearly always find that it has started
from the obscure, the unknown, the ignored, but the steadfastly true to Jesus Christ.
 

~ Oswald Chambers ~

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​If change is to come, then, it will have to come from the outside. It will have to come from the margins. ... It was the desert, not the temple, that gave us the prophets; the colonies, not the motherland, that gave us Adams and Jefferson.

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~ Wendell Berry ~

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Recognize, understand and operate according to the law of stunning reversals.

The operating principles of the Kingdom of God run counter to those of this world.

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I don’t know what your future is, but if you are willing to take the harder way, the more complicated one, the one with more failures at first than successes, the one that’s ultimately proven to have more victory, more glory, then you will not regret it.

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This is your time.

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~ Chadwick Boseman ~

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