The Church does not exist to lift human beings to heaven. It exists so that there may be a space where human beings let themselves be lifted, and those who lead the Church, who minister in the Church, who nourish the spirit and the imagination of the Church, need, above all, to be those who are capable of letting people be lifted

Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury, at a choral evensong in memory of Robert Willis, Salisbury Cathedral, 2 February

There’s this . . . Christian concept . . . that you love your family, and then you love your neighbor, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens and your own country, and then, after that, you could focus and prioritise the rest of the world

J. D. Vance, US Vice-President, Fox News, 29 January

A bizarre take on John 15:12-13 — less Christian and more pagan tribal. We should start worrying when politicians become theologians, assume to speak for Jesus, and tell us in which order to love. . .

Rory Stewart, X, co-presenter of The Rest is Politics, 30 January

We can do nothing to control what life throws at us; but what we can do is to learn emotional skills that can help us navigate the worst moments of life, face what is happening, and provide us with the strength to hold on. We all need these skills, no matter what our age; but, as the world gets ever more complex, it is never too early to start learning them

Paula Gooder, Canon Chancellor of St Paul’s, Thought for the Day, Radio 4, 5 February

There are Jacobins — of left and right — who use this latest scandal to argue for its [the Bishops’ Bench’s] destruction. Everywhere this has happened before — France, Russia and even in the awfulness of Puritan England itself — attacks on the Church have been precursors to restrictive and evil regimes

Fergus Butler Gallie, priest and writer, The Daily Telegraph, 1 February

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