Skye Jethani

"Jesus says God isn't like a gumball machine; he's more like the wind: unpredictable, uncontrollable, no more containable than wind in a bottle."

"Consumer Christianity seeks to construct programs to capture God's power and produce predetermined outcomes, rather than surrender to the mysterious movement of God's grace which, like the wind or fire, is beyond our control."

"Properly understood, the church is not an institution. It is the community of Jesus' followers on earth - men, women, an children filled with God's Spirit, living in communion with him, one another, and the world."

"The influence of consumerism has led us to confuse institutions for people, means for the mission, and programs for the Spirit's power."

"Let's break free from artificial relationships with unfeeling, uncaring, unloving institutions that cannot contain the unpredictable wind of God's Spirit, and focus instead on building soulish connections with real people filled with the breath of God."

"In less than a century, Christians have gone from opposing over-consumption at Christmas to demanding it be done in Christ's name alone."

"Scripture champions contentment and self-control, not the endless pursuit of personal desires. Teaching and modeling these increasingly un-American values is not a high priority in most churches."

"To believe that employing consumer methods in the church will produce spiritually mature Christians is delusional thinking akin to expecting a dog to hatch from a chicken's egg."

"Scripture and tradition tell us that formation into the likeness of Christ, also known as spiritual maturity, is not achieved by always getting what we want."

"The dilemma posed by consumerism is not the endless manufacturing of desires, but the temptation to settle for desires far below what we were created for."

"We do not desire too much, but too little."

"Self-denial, the surrendering of immediate desires, is a prerequisite of the Christian life. This is noticeably absent in the gospel of Consumer Christianity."

"Jesus isn't interested in negotiating. He knows that death, the surrendering of our immediate desires, is how we can take hold of an even greater joy."

"Jesus is offering us a holiday at the sea, but we must be willing to abandon our mud pies in the slums."

"The transformation of our desires happens like all spiritual transformation - by following in the steps of Jesus. In a word, I believe the answer is suffering."

"The "trials of ordinary existence" are the divine curricula for spiritual maturity."

"Disciplines teach us to overcome the temptation to gratify our immediate desires so that we may attain a higher one."

"We are more than our base desires, and our lives are not sustained by gratifying them."

"By conducting a media fast - turning off the television, radio, and computer - we stop the influx of poison that keeps us buying and desiring more."

"Whether by trials of circumstance or by disciplines of choice, we cannot escape our calling to suffer with Christ."

"Although the forces of consumerism would have us remain forever in Neverland by running after every product promising to satisfy our desire and alleviate our suffering, the invitation of Christ is precisely the opposite."