Ken Wilson Quotes

#1. I have learned that there's no way to open yourself to the experience of God while retaining your cool, your sense of ironic detachment.

Ken Wilson

#2. In the deepest, most central place of our being, we don't want to cross God and our not wanting to is the beginning of wisdom.

Ken Wilson

#3. Too many congregations look to their pastors for simple answers to problems that their pastors see as anything but simple. And too many pastors don't trust their congregations enough to say, "It's not that simple from my point of view and here's why.

Ken Wilson

#4. We are supposed to listen to the voice within us that says, "Gosh, this just doesn't sound loving, even though it sounds correct!" Of course, there's much sorting to be done: what does love really call for in a given situation? Nevertheless, the warning in Scripture is there for a reason.

Ken Wilson

#5. RELIGION IS NO ESCAPE FROM THE MESSY BUSINESS OF HUMANITY.

Ken Wilson

#6. The conscience is a communal organ - a way of knowing that we do with others formed always in reference to others.

Ken Wilson

#7. Get ready for some more mind-numbing detail that doesn't make for snappy, easy-to-digest sermons.

Ken Wilson

#8. we have to be thoughtful about the burdens we insist that other people carry, especially when we don't have to carry those same burdens ourselves.

Ken Wilson

#9. I've been working for years in my local congregation to undermine the idea that the conservative-liberal divide is reliable shorthand for "faithful to God" vs. "unfaithful to God.

Ken Wilson

#10. This informal "pre-exclusion" is probably the more powerful and widely exerted form in many churches. It is in my denomination. As the divorced and remarried don't seek communion at a Roman Catholic parish, gays and lesbians don't seek to participate in most evangelical churches.

Ken Wilson

#11. Over four decades of pastoral ministry - I got started early - you make mistakes. But the mistakes you most regret are the ones that obscure the gospel and hurt the people you love, by saying in effect, "You do not belong," to those for whom Christ died to provide a place of belonging.

Ken Wilson

#12. If we have a hair trigger on the exclusion gun, shouldn't it be aimed at those who are using their power to abuse someone who is in a weaker, more vulnerable position?

Ken Wilson