“If I were to wish for anything, I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of the potential, for the eye which, ever young and ardent, sees the possible. Pleasure disappoints, possibility never. And what wine is so sparkling, what so fragrant, what so intoxicating as possibility!” –Søren Kierkegaard

“Only through love can we obtain communion with God.” —Albert Schweitzer

Here at the Bible Bloodhound, Bob and I are passionate about living into our biblical understanding for the life of the world. The following is our manifesto, that is, what it is we feel called to be and to do. This is a kind of “here we stand” statement.

With God as our help, and with the Old and New Testaments of the Bible as our guide for grateful living, we seek with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength:

• To foster, support, and realize spiritual healing in the world.
• To deliberately, carefully, and patiently cultivate the human spirit and do the work of soul-craft.
• To consult and collaborate with others who share a spiritual vision for blessing the world.
• To engage in spiritual practices individually and corporately which strengthen faith, enlarge a compassionate heart, and expand the soul’s capacity for growth.
• To walk in the way of Jesus through engrafting silence, solitude, fasting, giving, and prayer into regular and habitual rhythms of life.
• To wed integration of learning with an alignment of head, heart, and gut.To embrace suffering and adversity as sacred Teachers of the soul.
• To continually pursue self-awareness and utilize that awareness for the common good of all.
• To generously use the spiritual tools of faith, hope, and love; and, to sharpen those implements with great care.
• To weep with those who weep.

• To keep vigilant presence with the dying.
• To extend mercy, respect, and hospitality to those considered by society as the least, the last, and the lost.
• To eradicate loneliness in all its forms.
• To extend basic human dignity and divine grace to all with mental illness, cognitive disorders, soul-sucking addictions, and suicidal ideation.
• To embody the Beatitudes of Jesus and live by Christ’s Sermon on the Mount.
• To embrace the humble service demonstrated and taught by Jesus in his Upper Room Discourse.
• To imagine a future without poverty, racism, patriarchy, gender bigotry, verbal and physical violence, religious wars, and emotional immaturity.
• To imagine a future with an abundance of the Fruit of the Spirit, clean water, creativity, beauty, and equity of resources.
• To promote an egalitarian spirit and social justice, especially for those without power and/or privilege in the world.
• To see the image of God in persons different from ourselves.
• To grieve and lament our significant changes and losses.
• To express daily affirmations of faith.
• To exercise gratitude in all circumstances.
• To live in a healthy rhythm of receiving and giving.
• To encourage the telling and listening of stories.
• To champion women everywhere and alleviate all barriers to their voice in the world.
• To reform and keep reforming.
• To choose vulnerability and courage in life and leadership.
• To perpetuate in word and deed the ancient Scriptures and ecumenical Creeds, paying attention to the worldwide church’s contribution to scriptural understanding.
• To use Holy Scripture for the encouragement of others and the strengthening of faith, and not as a weapon to damage others and create divisions.
• To observe the Christian Year and conform to its liturgical rhythms.
• To die well, with no regrets and with a legacy of faith.