Persecution

Just as stars are brightest on the darkest nights and as spices give off their finest aromas when ground, pounded and burned, so Christianity flourishes not in the arms of kings and princes but when it stands boldly against them–and alone.

~ Roger Williams
The Bloudy Tenent, 112.

Gilead

"You and your mother were making sandwiches with peanut butter and apple butter on raisin bread. I consider such a sandwich a great delicacy, as you are clearly aware, because you made me stay on the porch until everything was ready, the milk poured and so on. Children seem to think every pleasant thing has to be a surprise."


Gilead
by Marilynne Robinson