Archives by: Gary Hoag

Then [Jesus] said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world and yet lose or forfeit their very self. Luke 9:23-25

“The spiritual consequences of attachments…need to be healed…We choose to be greedy, lustful, selfish because we like what these things bring us, but we give no thought (no effective thought) to their consequences for ourselves and others. Because of the element of choice involved and because our will, as well as our woundedness, maintains our attachments, letting go of them can be like dying…To let it die is part of what Christ meant when he spoke about losing our life in order to save it. We must lose the things we fasten on to because we think them essential to our lives, so that we can save the true life we live in God.”

Frances Teresa in Living the Incarnation (London: Darton, Longman & Todd, 1993) 78.

“Thou shalt not turn away the needy, but shalt share everything with thy brother, and shalt not say that it is thine own, for if you are sharers in the imperishable, how much more in the things which perish?”

Clement of Alexandria (c. 150-215) in Two Ways, as cited by L. Wm. Countryman in The Rich Christian in the Church of the Early Empire (New York and Toronto: The Edwin Mellen Press, 1980) 76.

“Our life does not consist in making up beautiful phrases but in performing beautiful deeds.”

Athenagoras (second century Christian thinker) as recounted in Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010) 353.

“He who has possessions and, according to this [the early church] example of equality, shares on earth his returns and income with his brethren, in being universal and equitable in his gratuitous generosities, is an imitator of God the Father.”

Cyprian of Carthage (c. 200-258) as cited by L. Wm. Countryman in The Rich Christian in the Church of the Early Empire (New York and Toronto: The Edwin Mellen Press, 1980) 196-197.

“Following Jesus will mean surrendering the power that masquerades as security in order to love the neighbor and welcome the stranger. It will mean avoiding the safe path in order to pursue the good. But in a culture of fear, we find such risks all the more difficult since our natural inclinations lead us to close in on ourselves when we face danger. How can we maintain the posture of the open hand in a world that scares us?”

The righteous will live by faith. Romans 1:17b (cf. Habakkuk 2:4)


Scott Bader-Saye, contemporary theologian, in Following Jesus in a Culture of Fear (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2007) 22.

“The way to Christ is first through humility, second through humility, third through humility. If humility does not precede and accompany and follow every good work we do, if it is not before us to focus on, if it is not beside us to lean upon, if it is not behind us to fence us in, pride will wrench from our hand any good deed we do at the very moment we do it.”

Augustine of Hippo (c.354-430) in Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010) 298.

“We must love God, but let it be in the work of our bodies, in the sweat of our brows. For very often many acts of love for God, of kindness, of good will, and other similar inclinations and interior practices of a tender heart, although good and very desirable, are yet very suspect when they do not lead to the practice of effective love.” (cf. 1 Corinthians 13)

Vincent De Paul (1581-1660), in Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010) 456.

Then [Jesus] said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” Luke 12:15

“A rich industrialist from the North was horrified to find a Southern fisherman lying leisurely beside his boat. ‘Why aren’t you fishing?’ asked the industrialist.

“Because I have caught enough fish for the day,” said the fisherman.

“Why don’t you catch some more?”

“What would I do with them?”

“You could earn more money,” was the reply. “With that, you could fix a motor to your boat, go into deeper waters and catch more fish. Then you would make enough money to buy nylon nets. These would bring you more fish and more money. Soon you would have enough money to own two boats…maybe even a fleet of boats. They you would be a rich man like me.

“What would I do then?”

“Then you could really enjoy life.”

“What do you think I am doing right now?” said the fisherman.

Anthony de Mello (1931-1987) in Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010) 293.

If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you. Luke 6:29b-31

“A companion of Francis of Assisi, Brother Juniper is remembered as a “fool for Christ” and there are all sorts of wild stories about his antics. He was notorious for constantly giving his possessions away and living with a winsomeness that sometimes got him in trouble. At one point he was ordered by a superior not to give away his outer garment to the beggars anymore. But it wasn’t long before he met someone in need who asked him for some clothing. He said, “My superior has told me under obedience not to give my clothing to anyone. But if you pull it off my back, I certainly will not prevent you.” Francis is said to have joked about how he wished for a forest of Junipers.”

“Lord, you did not withhold even your life for our benefit. If nothing is too much to offer you, remind us that nothing is too much to sacrifice for our brothers and sisters. Amen.”

Brother Juniper (d. 1258) in Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010) 278-79.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:21

“Jesus himself speaks of desire, of love, but also of ambition, personal striving, and self-dispossession in terms of treasure. Here treasure is not simply what we possess; it is what we love, what we cherish, what captures the human heart. Our treasure, whether God, another person, pleasure, reputation, status, wealth is that which we trust, what we count on, where we place our security. The treasure is that for which we will sacrifice all other good, sell all, making it the pre-eminent value that has no equal in our lives. All human striving is directed, whether we recognize it or not, to finding this treasure.”

Constance Fitzgerald in The Monastic Way by Hannah Ward and Jennifer Wild (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007) 101.