Christianity is not some ideal toward which we ought always to strive even though the ideal is out of reach. Christianity is not a series of slogans that sum up our beliefs.
Stanley HauerwasRead
The church doesn’t have a social strategy, the church is a social strategy.
Interpretation
The church's existence and function serve as a strategy for social engagement and community building.
This quote by Stanley Hauerwas emphasizes that the essence of the church transcends mere programs or strategies; rather, the church itself embodies a way of living and connecting within society. It suggests that the church’s presence and its communal aspects inherently create a strategy for social interaction and transformation, highlighting the fundamental role of faith communities in addressing social issues.
In practice
During a sermon about community service, this quote can be used to emphasize the church's role in social engagement.
Christianity is not some ideal toward which we ought always to strive even though the ideal is out of reach. Christianity is not a series of slogans that sum up our beliefs.
My way of putting it is that Christians are called to live nonviolently not because we believe nonviolence is a strategy to rid the world of war, but in a world of war as faithful followers of Christ, we cannot imagine being anything other than nonviolent.
Advent is patience it's how God has made us a people of promise, in a world of impatience.
War is America's central liturgical act necessary to renew our sense that we are a nation unlike other nations.
To kill, in war or in any circumstance, creates a silence. It is right that silence should surround the taking of life. After all, the life taken is not ours to take.
The most creative social strategy we have to offer is the church. Here we show the world a manner of life the world can never achieve through social coercion or governmental action. We serve the world by showing it something that it is not, namely, a place where God is forming a family out of strangers.
Fame is damaging when people become reliant on it for their sense of self, and their identity, when fame is linked to how you see yourself.
When...we, as individuals, obey laws that direct us to behave for the welfare of the community as a whole, we are indirectly helping to promote the pursuit of happiness by our fellow human beings.
But what about the End of the Universe? We'll miss the big moment." I've seen it. It's rubbish," said Zaphod,"nothing but a gnab gib." A what?" Opposite of a big bang. Come on, let's get zappy.
Tis so much to be a king, that he only is so by being so.
A retaliator behaves like a hawk when he is attacked by a hawk, and like a dove when he meets a dove. When he meets another retaliator he plays like a dove. A retaliator is a conditional strategist. His behaviour depends on the behaviour of his opponent.
We do not merely destroy our enemies; we change them.
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