"At this moment in my journey of discernment, I sense Jesus calling us to think about how he would have us live now, not to accept uncritically teachings offered for particular reasons at particular moments. And this is frightening. Grace is frightening. When God takes on the flesh in Jesus, God calls us beyond neurotic haggling over rules to the task of being fully human, like Jesus of Nazareth was.

"To follow rules mindlessly is to live as those whom Jesus scolded, the Pharisees. It is to live in fear of our own humanity. But to live as Jesus did, trying to understand what it means to be a faithful child of God, is to embrace both Jesus' humanity and our own. And so, like Jesus, we change our minds, get mad, and feel discouraged. We can do this because we know God did so too in the person of Jesus Christ."