"The practice of sobriety also requires us to reframe addiction. We find it hard to speak honestly about our addiction because we have fixated ourselves on the act and not on the pain the addiction is trying to soothe" (154).
Marva Dawn's exegesis of Genesis 1 and 2 in which she "distinguished genital sexuality from social sexuality. She made the important point that many people anxiously rush for genital sexuality when what they need is social bonding and closeness" (156).
"In many Christian traditions, doing is often at the expense of being. In others, being is often at the expense of doing. We need a life of doing that flows from being" (173).
"[When we practice doing without being] Our engagement in the world becomes marked by a kind of stale obligation rather than a joyful participation.
"The remedy for this kind of missional engagement is not total withdrawal but creative withdrawal" (175).
"God is in the business of rescuing people. We are all called to play a part in facilitating this salvation, but in ways that bear witness to the loving winsomeness of Jesus" (181).
The nice summary in the afterward: "So, to come full circle, when I speak of being deeply formed, I'm specifically referring to a way of being in the world that's marked by new rhythms, contemplative presence, and interior awareness, which results in lives that work for reconciliation, justice, and peace while seeing the sacredness of all of life. It is this kind of life that God wants to form in us. Why? Because our transformation in all these areas is one of the most effective ways to see a world come to experience God's saving love" (217).
