• Boston Celtics pro basketball coach commenting on how to thank God even when you’re not winning!

“You always hear people give glory to God and say ‘thank you’ when they’re holding a trophy, but you never really hear it in times like this.”

• This is a tweet from Chad Bird, whom I do not know. But I love what he says here.

“A little bit of vulnerability among Christians would go a long way toward giving a witness to the world about what the church is really here for.

Jesus didn’t found a gym where we can go and flex our biblical biceps in front of mirrors so everyone see how hard we’ve worked at being holy. He didn’t create a virtual spiritual reality where we can gather together with like-minded virtual reality users and talk about things of virtually little importance.

Christ founded a church, which is a little bit hospital, a little bit mental ward, and a little bit weekly reunion of sinners who’ve made a mess of their lives. It’s a place where self-proclaimed righteous people who have it all together will be bored because there’s nothing for them there. Church is for real sinners who really sin with other real sinners, for here they find the Friend of Sinners, Jesus the Christ.”

• This person named Rich Raho always lifts up things said by Pope Francis. I thought this one fitting for VSCC right now.

“A Church weighed down by structures, bureaucracy, formalism – said the Pope – will struggle to walk through history, in step with the Spirit, meeting the men and women of our time.”

• Greg Laurie is a well-known pastor who thinks he knows more than he does. This is a common trait among pastors – especially the well-known ones, and the ones who want to be well-known. Why is it important for religious leaders to think they have to know the answer to heaven and hell questions? The truth is – we don’t know! Not even Greg Laurie.

“How can a God of love send someone to Hell? My answer…” And then Greg is on a video explaining how he knows as much as God does … 

• Another good Pope Francis quote from Rich Raho.

Pope Francis: “The commandments that God has given us must not be locked up in the airless vaults of formal observance; otherwise, we are limited to an exterior, detached religiosity, servants of ‘God the Master’ rather than children of ‘God the Father.”

• From the Twitter account called @StoicTeacher comes these 10 quotes from a spiritual giant named Rumi who was a Sufi mystic poet from the 13^th

If you feel empty in life, meditate on these 10 soul touching quotes by Rumi:

1. You are not a drop in the ocean, you are the entire ocean in a drop.
2. Your depression is connected to your insolence and refusal to praise.
3. What hurts you, blesses you. Darkness is your candle.
4. Goodbyes are only for those who love with their eyes. Because for those who love with heart and soul there is no such thing as separation.
5. Set your life on fire. Seek those who fan your flames.
6. The wound is the place where the light enters you.
7. This place is a dream. Only a sleeper considers it real. Then death comes like dawn, and you wake up laughing at what you thought was your grief.
8. Stop acting so small. You are the universe in ecstatic motion.
9. Love is the bridge between you and everything.
10. I am not this hair, I am not this skin, I am the soul that lives within.