ONE WORLD AT A TIME

Rev. William Sloane Coffin, former Chaplain of Yale University, Civil Rights activist and former employee of the C.I.A., is our last interview from our Life of Meaning book.
Having become dissatisfied with the global actions of the intelligence community of our country, Coffin turned his efforts toward ministry.
Still a respecter of the U.S, he believes that one should speak out when injustice abounds, or else one is likely to lead a "life of boredom."
So his life became one of direct participation in the civil rights movement of the 60's and 70's. Expressing a Life of Meaning before the world, some of his comments are below for consideration.

"The early church father Irenaeus said: 'the glory of God is a human being fully alive.'"

"You can be more alive in pain than in complacency."

Whenever we ask God how could you let this (tragedy) happen? God is also asking us how could you let this happen?

"We're always undefeated because we keep on trying."

"I think the great trouble now is self-righteousness...it destroys our capacity for self-criticism."

"Faith is important for the ultimate dilemmas of life, humor can take care of the immediate ones rather nicely."

"We are loved by God. He loves us as we are, but too much to leave us that way."

"We don't have to prove ourselves. All that is taken care of. What  we have to do is express ourselves. return God's love with our own."

"God is not confined to Christ, but to Christians, God is most essentially defined by Christ."

"Gratitude is the most important religious emotion. Duty calls only when gratitude fails to prompt."

"It's not enough to pray for it, you have to think...to suffer...and have to endure a lot for it."

"Hope needs to be understood as a reflection of the state of your soul, not a reflection of the circumstances that surround you."

"We have only ourselves to chastise when we feel disillusioned."

On counseling: People who are deeply personal and willing to air their conflicts - that's very satisfying...it's always in the depths of hell that heaven is found and affirmed and praised."

"It's a very good thing we die...It's death that brings us to life."

"Demanding that I know more about the afterlife somehow demeans my faith. One world at a time I think."