The people I’ve met on Twitter have been offering up 140-character jolts of wisdom, insight, and provocation all year long. I don’t follow all of them but they’ve intersected with my network and contributed to my thinking regardless.
I’ve broken down the compilation into 3 categories:
- Seeing the Real: on religion, spirituality, morality, and the big picture;
- Evolving Deliberately: on growing up, self-evaluating, improving, and moving beyond one’s personal status quo;
- Changing the World: on social development, justice, activism, politics, and progress.
Check out Part 2 and Part 3 as well, and bookmark them to review in your quiet time and affirm or argue with them then. I’ll be filing each compilation post on my Resources page.
Thanks, Twitter! And happy new year to you all.
—@mackenzian
1. Seeing The Real
Why, to many, do I have to believe that God hates me before I can know that God loves me? I’d never tolerate that dysfunction from a human
— A_Fool (@AndAFool) January 2, 2013
If you believed X for bad reasons and stop believing X for good reasons, you are never believing X again, no matter how pleasant it was.
— Kirk Cowell (@KirkCowell) January 20, 2013
Religious fundamentalism is ugly. Bigotry is ugly. Christianized patriarchy is ugly. But my God is Black church culture beautiful.
— Asia Chloé Brown (@AsiaChloeBrown) January 26, 2013
The Lord spoke unto me, in Aramaic or Hebrew or Arabic or one of those languages. I’m American. Please translate & tell me what to believe
— Peterson Toscano (@p2son) February 2, 2013
There once was an outgoing Pope, who came to the end of his rope. Will the day ever come for a Most Holy Mum? Fat chance, but in God we hope
— Tomi Ajayi (@trustTomi) February 11, 2013
Adam Gopnik on Galileo. He provided every argument for toleration, and still the Church couldn’t tolerate him: http://t.co/MDaqjn3g
— Open Culture (@openculture) February 13, 2013
Knitted into the DNA of institutions is the threat against change in order to ensure its survival and preserve its identity.
— David Hayward (@nakedpastor) March 18, 2013
This wins. RT @malawijay: Afraid Be Not #JediHymns
— Unvirtuous Abbey (@UnvirtuousAbbey) February 22, 2013
We celebrate the release from bondage that most of us take for granted. Some are still enslaved. Wishing freedom for all. Good Passover LLAP
— Leonard Nimoy (@TheRealNimoy) March 25, 2013
It’s okay to let grace get a little out of control. That’s the whole point.
— Rachel Held Evans (@rachelheldevans) April 4, 2013
Trust in God means not having to have a particular result, but rather, knowing that whatever results is for our highest good.
— Neale Donald Walsch (@_NealeDWalsch) April 24, 2013
“People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.” ~Soren Kierkegaard
— CharterForCompassion (@TheCharter) May 4, 2013
It’s amazing how often “objective” biblical exegesis correlates with a general white, Protestant, heterosexual male reading.
— Alan Hooker (@awhooker) May 29, 2013
“God does not have an ego that can be wounded by our disbelief about God’s existence.” – Samir Selmanovic, “It’s Really All About God”
— Brian D. McLaren (@brianmclaren) May 30, 2013
If for any reason your choices do not result in peace, harmony, and balance, you are always free to choose again.
— Iyanla Vanzant (@IyanlaVanzant) June 17, 2013
May the God of all creation bless and keep you today and fill you with all good things.
— Kirk+ Jeffery (@kirkjeffery) June 18, 2013
God is like a mirror. The mirror never changes but everybody who looks at it sees something different. Harold Kushner #spirituality
— Frederic Brussat (@FredericBrussat) June 27, 2013
“The spiritual life does not remove us from the world but leads us deeper into it” ― Henri J.M. Nouwen
— HuffPost Religion (@HuffPostRelig) June 29, 2013
It’s very hard to learn to love a God you think you need to be saved from.
— Jonathan Martin (@renovatuspastor) July 3, 2013
It’s weird that Christians, a group that says God loved humans so much God BECAME a body, sort of don’t like actually being bodies.
— Emily Maynard (@emelina) July 7, 2013
This morning we’re singing about how broken & sinful we are & how unworthy of God’s love & this is not the right church for me anymore.
— Abi Bechtel (@abianne) July 7, 2013
Consider those that have come before you. Respect them. Honor them. Seek their wisdom. Be teachable. Learn from their successes and scars.
— Eugene Cho (@EugeneCho) July 10, 2013
“Bible believing church” = “Church that interprets the Bible the same way I do” #christianese
— Heretic Husband (@HereticHusband) July 8, 2013
A good post by Josh Sowin, “The Power of the Unwritten Word”, where Jesus, Buddha and Socrates left no writings: http://t.co/It9is75QmC
— David Hayward (@nakedpastor) July 11, 2013
“Apocalypticism emerges as a system of interpretation and power relations indebted to a negative view of humanity, nostalgic renderings…
— Carol Howard Merritt (@CarolHoward) July 17, 2013
of the past, required chaos in the present, & a profound yearning for a future utopian society created upon the ruins of our current world.”
— Carol Howard Merritt (@CarolHoward) July 17, 2013
Previous quote by @kelly_j_baker in “The Zombies are Coming!”
— Carol Howard Merritt (@CarolHoward) July 17, 2013
There is nothing wrong with tradition as long as you 1. know that it has an expiry date & 2. resist elevating it to doctrine #simplelife
— Damian (@damianmchandler) July 25, 2013
#BeyondOrdinary pic.twitter.com/YUEcqNSDJv
— Nerdy Gypsy™ (@GypsyNerd) July 27, 2013
If there were ever a religion based on the teachings of Jesus it might be pretty good.
— God (@TheTweetOfGod) July 28, 2013
Sufis are the mystics of Islam. we reference the Quran for ways to live, but the ultimate goal is to live as if god is in the same room.
— lauren (@lauwiley) July 29, 2013
Gordon Ferguson: That of God in everyone? http://t.co/wHcG0R3RWd #quakers #mustreads
— Quaker Quaker (@quakerquaker) August 1, 2013
Believing that your faith tradition alone contains God is like believing the rain falls only in your cup. pic.twitter.com/Duqs5X0HiM
— John Shore (@johnshore) August 2, 2013
True silence… is to the spirit what sleep is to the body, nourishment and refreshment. William Penn #spirituality
— Frederic Brussat (@FredericBrussat) August 15, 2013
We are the resurrection we have waited for.
— BrianMerritt (@BrianMerritt) August 17, 2013
It’s Complicated: “It is the work of true education. . . to train the youth to be thinkers, and not mere refle… http://t.co/V3ZNtNPNAr
— SPECTRUM (@spectrummag) August 18, 2013
A dualistic understanding of Father/Son, grace/truth, love/justice is incoherent at best & creates frightfully confused disciples.
— Jonathan Martin (@renovatuspastor) August 23, 2013
Any idiot can point out sin. It takes “eyes that see” to see the rhythms of grace at work in a person.
— Joseph Phillips (@josephhamilton) August 24, 2013
God’s original blessing predates original sin, and will outlast it too.
— Brian Zahnd (@BrianZahnd) August 25, 2013
It is foolish to believe that you are on your own, separate from anything or anyone, or separate from God.
— Iyanla Vanzant (@IyanlaVanzant) August 27, 2013
“If your understanding of God made you kinder, empathetic, and impelled you to express sympathy w/ loving-kindness, this was good theology.”
— Crystal S. Lewis (@CrystalLewis) September 3, 2013
“But if your notion of God made you unkind, belligerent, cruel, self-righteous or if it led you to kill in God’s name, it was bad theology.”
— Crystal S. Lewis (@CrystalLewis) September 3, 2013
“I believe that there is a liturgy of the landscape, waiting to be experienced, and all are welcome at the table.” – Elizabeth Julian
— Unvirtuous Abbey (@UnvirtuousAbbey) September 8, 2013
i have a hard time with someone’s solidarity work being contingent on how well the people they are in solidarity with behave.
— Fr. Shay (@anarchistrev) September 19, 2013
I am always interested in how anabaptist groups committed to nonviolence can be so homophobic and misogynistic.
— BrianMerritt (@BrianMerritt) September 22, 2013
I like your Christ but I do not like your Augustine.
— caitlin (@cait_kellogg) September 22, 2013
For those who see a divine image in a grilled cheese sandwich, but not in the person who serves it, we pray.
— Unvirtuous Abbey (@UnvirtuousAbbey) October 15, 2013
Despite meditating as a Buddhist for more than 40 years, I have not tamed my mind nor brought it to a state of peace http://t.co/0IHtEZAwhm
— Tricycle Magazine (@tricyclemag) October 15, 2013
~”Religions at their highest points … are far too interesting to be abandoned merely to those who believe in them,” @alaindebotton
— On Being (@Beingtweets) October 17, 2013
“Gods always behave like the people who make them.” – #ZoraNealHurston
— jesseWilliams. (@iJesseWilliams) October 18, 2013
“Why won’t you beam us up?” Reply: “Because you wish it.”
— Ebony SkyTalker (@sfreynolds) October 29, 2013
Sumerians Look On In Confusion As God Creates World http://t.co/zneixqqDdw
— The Daily Haystacks (@HaystacksNews) November 6, 2013
For [God] is not known by argument, but by what we do and how we love. Richard Rolle
— BrianMerritt (@BrianMerritt) November 10, 2013
Don’t fear disapproval or criticism. Don’t fear judgment. The only energy that has any power in ur life is the gift of breath from God
— Iyanla Vanzant (@IyanlaVanzant) November 16, 2013
@rmnetwork why be inspirational when you can just scare clergy into submission #umcfail #MinistryOnTrial
— Joey Heath (@HeathJoey) November 19, 2013
#listen this is clearly today’s message! #pelc2013 RT @DailyKeller: pic.twitter.com/FRPPMIXHfi
— Dee Knight (@dKnighTweets) December 10, 2013
The purpose of the Cycle of Life is to expand the Reality of God.
— Neale Donald Walsch (@_NealeDWalsch) October 5, 2013
Sometimes we desire to be liked and loved so much that we try to force ourselves on folk, instead of scouting our tribe.
— Josie Pickens (@jonubian) October 9, 2013
I’ll keep the Christ in Christmas as long as you keep the Thor in Thursday #atheistmas
— Rebecca Anthoney (@Bexamous92) December 14, 2013
“The principal purpose of all liturgy, prayer and ritual is to bring us to the awareness of his interior Presence and union w/us.” – Keating
— Trischa (@trischagoodwin) December 15, 2013
I want to affirm a “Religious Liberty” that pairs itself with the realization that faith and belief shares responsibility for a common good.
— Nathan Kennedy (@petrychor) December 19, 2013
“If it’s not mentioned in #TheBible, it doesn’t matter.” #LiesMyChurchToldMe
— Boze Herrington (@SketchesbyBoze) December 19, 2013
“Twice Lao Tzu reminds us that Tao does not rule over us. There is no abeyance to Tao, no worship of Tao, only wise participation in Tao.”
— Crystal S. Lewis (@CrystalLewis) December 25, 2013
[…] is the third and last Twitter-compilation post for 2013 (Part 1: Seeing the Real | Part 2: Evolving Deliberately). Changing the World includes tweets on social development, […]