My friend Kate always has a lovely literary quote as the signature for her emails. (We’re book nerds; it happens). She changes the quotes every so often, depending on what has struck a chord with her.
It’s a wonderful practice—I’ve found myself thinking more often about what quotes have meaning for me. I find myself going back to quotations that have shaped my worldview: “The nobility of our lives depends upon the manner in which we come to understand and fulfill our assigned role.” (Thomas Berry) or my theology: “The truth of human freedom lies in the love that breaks down barriers.” (Jürgen Moltmann). Some I find using in fairly regular conversation, whether they reflect my love of theatre: “The lady doth protest too much, methinks” (Shakespeare) or poetry “I ask the tree, “Tell me about God”; then it blossomed.” (Rabindranath Tagore) or from my childhood reading “And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.” (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry)
We live in a beautiful age where we can be formed by words (“words, words, words!”) They mark our being, and support our speech, our thinking, our perspectives. They inform our reading of other passages; including our reading of scripture. (Tagore’s poem brings to my mind the tree of knowledge in Genesis and Revelation; Berry reflects 1 Corinthians 12.12; de Saint-Exupéry makes me think of the beatitudes…)
I see these as ways to continually remind myself of the great learnings that God is giving to us; how God continues to speak to us all today—and throughout history—through existing words that interconnect over time and space.
What are your favourite quotes? Why do they resonate with you? Do they cause you to relate more directly with the scriptures?
By Matthew Perreault August 10, 2016 - 2:56 pm
“The beautiful work of art brings consolation in sorrow and affirmation in joy.”
– Sir Roger Scruton, Why Beauty Matters
Much like your own quotations which reaffirm Biblical passages, Sir Roger’s work on beauty relates back to the sacred and ultimately in his mind to God himself. One could easily paraphrase his quotation as, “God brings consolation in sorrow and affirmation in joy.”
By Laura Marie Piotrowicz August 10, 2016 - 5:36 pm
Oh, I like that… thanks!
By Tony Houghton August 10, 2016 - 5:32 pm
We just have to back into the Old Testament to see the temple God designed and see the attention giving to detail and beauty. We seem to be ignoring that these days.
By Laura Marie Piotrowicz August 10, 2016 - 5:37 pm
Any favourite quotes, though, Tony?
By Tony Houghton August 11, 2016 - 5:27 pm
“The Church has so little influence on the world because the world has so great an influence on the church”
– Charles Spurgeon
By Laura Marie Piotrowicz August 11, 2016 - 9:06 pm
so going back to my original questions, then, does this resonate with you? does it cause you to relate more directly with the scriptures?
By Tony Houghton August 12, 2016 - 1:11 am
Yes ,the more we get into the scriptures, the more we see how the church has a tendency to follow the ways of the world rather then being conformed to what scripture is teaching us.
By Julia August 11, 2016 - 8:31 pm
Words bring such meaning to my life. Often certain phrases of Scripture or quotes inspire my poetry.
Here’s one on the living word inspired by Genesis 1 and John 1
https://lyricalpoems.wordpress.com/2015/12/25/the-living-word/
By Laura Marie Piotrowicz August 11, 2016 - 9:10 pm
Thanks for sharing, Julia – that’s lovely!
By Matthew Griffin August 21, 2016 - 8:51 pm
I’m oscillating between two. I’ve long used a line from F.D. Maurice’s _Theological Essays_:
“We are dwelling in a Mystery deeper than any of our plummets can fathom, –a Mystery of Love.”
Of late I’ve also used an idea from a sermon from St. Bernard of Clairvaux on the Song of Songs: “Love is its own justification. It pleases of and for itself; it is its own merit and reward. It requires no cause beyond itself and no further fruit, for its fruit is in its very exercise. I love simply because I love, and I love in order to love. Love, then, is a splendid thing, provided it keeps returning to its source, flowing back into the fountain whence it came and drawing thence its power to continue flowing forth.”
By Laura Marie Piotrowicz August 22, 2016 - 5:32 pm
Lovely, both of them. Thanks Matthew!