“I believe the power of God is lodged in the very marrow of our substance and is pressing, constantly pressing, for release in order to permeate every fiber of our being. And the demand is not for self-denial, as is so often preached, but rather for self-discovery and self-realization, which includes the commitment to God that is the final fulfillment of human life. This I think is what St. Paul means when he says, ‘God searches our inmost being’ and ‘The kingdom of God consists not in words but in power.’ To think we can escape wrestling with this power is to dream.” (p. 122)
“The Church, of all the institutions in society, interprets the memory and proclaims the message of the coming kingdom. The Church may distort Jesus into a white middle-class pillar of American respectability; it may pervert his image into that of a religious Babbitt pushing the cult of successfulness; it may distort and pervert his image, but the Church cannot forget Jesus. And in spite of its best efforts to domesticate that Jesus, the Church knows and frequently fears that his message will be rediscovered. The Church cannot help but keep the name in circulation, and where the name is remembered there is hope.” (p. 138)
William Sloan Coffin quotes from the book, Credo
