Sara Miles Quotes

#1. Imperialism and exploitation," he wrote, "spheres of influence, trade barriers, unequal distribution of the world's goods, starvation in the midst of plenty, slums with gold coasts next door, poverty supporting luxury: These are marks of an unChristian world.

Sara Miles

#2. Feed my sheep, feed my sheep," I repeated. "He didn't say, 'Feed my sheep after you check their ID.

Sara Miles

#3. I was, as the prophet said, hungering and thirsting for righteousness. I found it at the eternal and material core of Christianity: body, blood, bread, wine, poured out freely, shared by all.

Sara Miles

#4. I read the story about the loaves and fishes and thought about Jesus gazing at the hungry crowd, saying to his anxious, doubting, screwed-up followers: "You give them something to eat." So we did.

Sara Miles

#5. While the classic conversion story involves desperation, hitting bottom, and a plea for help, I think now that it was gratitude, as well as the suffering I'd seen, that made room for me to open my heart to something new.

Sara Miles

#6. Thank God for Jesus. Because, you know, he was here like us, so he knows how hard it is to be a person. He must have a sense of humor about us.

Sara Miles

#7. I wanted to stand on the kind of holy ground that wasn't curated by church professionals, where a burning bush could blaze forth in defiance of safety regulations and outside of regular office hours.

Sara Miles

#8. Charity had always slightly creeped me out: There was nothing quite as condescending as the phrase "helping the less fortunate" rolling off the tongue of a white professional, as if poverty were a matter of luck instead of the result of a political system.

Sara Miles

#9. Repentance means turning toward other human beings, our own flesh and blood, whenever they're oppressed, hungry, or imprisoned; it means acting with compassion instead of indifference.

Sara Miles

#10. You get to a point where you just have to give up,"...she deeply understood the "relief" of finding yourself to be small in the face of mystery.

Sara Miles

#11. In a lonely and commercial world, sanctuaries still matter... (they) continue to speak to the deep desire for a set-apart place to rest and pray.

Sara Miles

#12. There's no way to be a Christian at home by yourself.

Sara Miles

#13. There's a hunger beyond food that's expressed in food, and that's why feeding is always a kind of miracle.

Sara Miles

#14. What happened once I started distributing communion was the truly disturbing, dreadful realization about Christianity: You can't be a Christian by yourself.

Sara Miles

#15. Conversion isn't, after all, a moment: It's a process, and it keeps happening, with cycles of acceptance and resistance, epiphany and doubt.

Sara Miles

#16. I'm not always able to think about so much loss without bitterness and anger. I don't know if I'll ever be capable of loving my enemies; I'm not always capable of forgiving myself.

Sara Miles

#17. He's the thrilling, scary Boyfriend who's going to dare you to do things you'd never dreamed of, shower you with unreasonable presents, and show up uninvited at the most embarrassing times. Then he's going to stick with you, refusing to take the hint when you don't answer his calls.

Sara Miles

#18. Faith, for me, isn't an argument, a catechism, a philosophical "proof." It is instead a lens, a way of experiencing life, and a willingness to act.

Sara Miles

#19. The point of church isn't to get people to come to church." "No?" said Steve, cocking an eyebrow. "What is it?" It seemed obvious to me. "to feed them, so they can go out and, you know, be Jesus." Take this Bread, A Radical Conversion by Sara Miles

Sara Miles

#20. Heavenly comfort, rather, is truth, which blows away human fantasies that we can live forever, control everything, or fake our lives before God.

Sara Miles

#21. Respectable Protestant denominations retreated inside...leaving...unaffiliated madwomen to evangelize alfresco...

Sara Miles

#22. The Bible is not a set of instructions that can give us simple answers," wrote Webber, "nor a text with which to prove points ... . The guidance the Bible gives was provided for a society very different from ours ... and any set of words is open to different interpretations.

Sara Miles