For Douglass, there was an intimate link between individual conversion and social reform. The path of reform flowed outward from self to society. Before eradicating social evil, you first had to purify the self.

We need a reawakening that focuses attention away from the differences that keep our nation divided and away from the individualist "anything goes" values of a celebrity consumerist culture.

A doorkeeper must love both the inside and the outside of his or her group, and know how to move between these two loves.

In the midst of overscheduled lives, do we create space for God's surprises? Mary and Joseph pleaded with the innkeeper to make room for Jesus. Do we?