“The remaining four elders were confident of their pastor’s innocence for all the normal reasons, and they looked at him expectantly, waiting for the next reassuring evangelical cliche, like so many show poodles waiting for their treat” (Evangellyfish, p. 31).
Against the Caricature
“Anyone who comes away from a careful reading of the apostle Paul’s teaching on marriage with the idea that the husband is ‘the boss’ and the wife is ‘the slave’ is someone not to be trusted with any text” (For a Glory and a Covering, p. 8).
Industrial Agrarianism
“The pitcher can’t stall indefinitely, but seventeen foul balls in a row take up time. It is not for nothing that the player run counterclockwise. The whole game is counterclockwise. But baseball is exciting because something might happen at any time” (5 Cities, pp. 170-171).
Well On the Honest Side
“Rourke knew the department rules up and down, how real non-departmental police work was done, up and down, and was on the honest side of not too scrupulous” (Evangellyfish, p. 26).
An Incarnational Loop
“God has revealed the Trinity to us through a marriage. We learn about the triune God through an understanding of Christ and the Church, but we are also called to understand Christ and the Church by applying what we are taught about that to our own marriages . . . We don’t really learn anything …
A Skeezy Aura Then
“Chad had been all aura then — charisma, smiles, and eyes that penetrated what you thought at first was your soul, but then just turned out to be your clothes” (Evangellyfish, p. 25).
Coal and Diamond
“The essence of this gift is that God took a ragtag bunch of sinners and transformed them into the fullness of His Son” (For a Glory and a Covering, p. 6).
Invisible Patience
“And by ‘waited patiently,’ John had been a pastor long enough to know it meant he was actually waiting impatiently. Whenever he was waiting patiently, he didn’t notice that he was waiting patiently, and John was noticing” (Evangellyfish, p. 19).
Love in Motion
“God is not a static unit with static glory. The triune God is the One in whom there is an eternal and mutual bestowal and receiving of glory. As the Father loves the Son, and has loved us, so husbands and wives love one another” (For a Glory and a Covering, p. 5).
Very Important Prayer Requests
“It rang again, and John pursed his lips and picked it up, hoping it wasn’t Deidre Hannock. She was a solo-obsessed soprano in their makeshift choir and was always calling with criticisms of the choir director disguised as prayer requests” (Evangellyfish, p. 12).