Brian Zahnd, from a January 29, 2016 message titled “Silence”:

The church is not a special interest group that has to make its demands known. We don’t have to fight for our rights. That is the exact opposite of the Jesus way. The church is the new temple that is sustained by the Spirit and by lives of faith, and the church can afford to be quiet and trust because it is not dependent on anything other than the Holy Spirit. The church doesn’t have to make things happen. It can simply be that part of the world living under the peaceable reign of Christ. In fact I would highly advocate we reduce the hyperbole when we talk about ‘changing the world’. That just wears me out. ‘Change the world’? Wow, who do you think I am? I think I am far more content just to say ‘let us be that part of the world that has been changed by Christ.’ Instead of changing the world, let’s just be the part of the world that is changed. And think that maybe people might notice a difference and say ‘I like that world of Christ better!’ For if there is no marked distinction between the world and us then what would be the point anyway? That’s when ‘changing the world’ becomes a euphemism for ‘getting my way’. Christ doesn’t call His church to go into the world and get its way; Christ calls His church to simply be His people in the midst of the world and living presently under the peaceable reign of Christ. So in a world that must surely be growing weary of the endless noise of ideological anger, the church is to be a haven of quietness and trust, a quiet refuge of peace, even at times an oasis of silence. The sound of the church is the sound of mustard seeds growing, and of bread rising, of lost children coming home, and what noise there is a joyful noise, not an angry noise.

I love it. Really looking forward to attending Brian’s prayer conference in April.