“Sins are like grapes, they come in bunches . . . Sins tend to cluster, and when you go down into the middle of that crowd, you are more likely to find a pot dealer there than, say, if you were at a quilting bee.”
Devoured by Cannabis, p. 20
Catching at Words
“When someone says that Paul prohibited ‘drunkenness’ but not ‘getting high,’ we have an example of this kind of catching at words. Paul also says not to get drunk with wine. Does that mean gin is all right? Beer? Rubbing alcohol?”
Devoured by Cannabis, p. 17
Keep the Center Central
“Fasten yourself to the center of your ministry; not to some point on the circumference. The circumference must move when the center moves”
Phillips Brooks, The Joy of Preaching, p. 82
Pot and Alcohol?
“Maybe this is simply a generational divide. One generation likes a dry martini after work, and a new generation prefers a smoky kick. Couldn’t it just be a matter of generational taste? One prefers a smoky kick with actual smoke, while the other wants the smoky kick of Laphroaig, which, as the ad copy once put it, ‘ tastes like a burning hospital’”
Devoured by Cannabis, p. 10
Aim Higher
“The bringing of truth, of Christ the Truth, to man, of the whole Christ to the whole man, you can think of no work larger in its idea than that.”
Phillips Brooks, The Joy of Preaching, p. 80
. . . Are Soon Parted
“The worshipers of Mammon have known for a long time that there is big money to be made from large numbers of people who have acquired a bad habit. There’s gold in them thar potheads”
Devoured by Cannabis, p. 3
On the Calendar
“The great procession of the year, sacred to our best human instincts with the accumulated reverence of ages—Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Good Friday, Easter, Ascension, Whitsunday—leads those who walk in it, at least once every year, past all the great Christian facts, and, however careless and selfish be the preacher, will not leave it in his power to keep them from his people”
Phillips Brooks, The Joy of Preaching, p. 79
Some Rotgut Likker
“The toxicity of a Woodstock joint was relatively low—a modest amount of THC. Today the levels can get a lot higher, just like the user. And there are a number of people who are now using extracts that are almost entirely pure THC. Whatever kick that mule had back in the seventies, it is about four to six times greater than that now. This is kind of like the difference between a Bud Light and a shot of Old Gym Sock Corn Whiskey”
Devoured by Cannabis, p. 2
Think, Then Say
“They all involve the simple truth that he who works for God must work with his best powers; and since among the effective powers of man the powers of plan and arrangement stand very high, the whole of the New Testament really implies that he who preaches must lay out the methods and ways of preaching as a merchant or soldier lays out a campaign of the market or the battle-field.”
Phillips Brooks, The Joy of Preaching, pp. 77-78
Not an Even Match
“It wouldn’t do to let her debate Billy Jerome, which would be like throwing a stick of cotton candy at a flame thrower.”
Ecochondriacs, p. 175