Here's how pastors can cope with the sinking feeling that Sunday morning is coming again, and they have to preach another sermon. There are no magic formulas for creativity, but with this practical book, Robert Spain guides pastors to discover a systematic process that will ease the burden of sermon preparation. The book includes worksheets and forms to help with planning and organizing.

Getting Ready to Preach

Christian Books & Bibles

Abingdon

Spain, Robert H.

Ministry & Evangelism

ABINGDON PRESS *

These uplifting tales of a person's best friend provide illustrations of the Christian life--helping one another out in tragic situations, the meaning of unconditional trust, and the nurturing care of God. A perfect gift for the faithful pet lover.

Cat Tales: Lessons in Love from Guideposts

Religion & Spirituality

Worship & Devotion

Cries for the elimination of welfare rise at the very time that the amount of poverty in the United States grows. And the Poor Get Welfare is an ethical and theological analysis of both of these realities. It sets the context for this analysis by surveying the current situation and the histories of poverty and welfare as public policy issues in the United States. The heart of Copeland's ethical analysis is the critical reading of the very different approaches to poverty and welfare of four recent influential writers on poverty and welfare: Charles Murray, Lisbeth Schorr, Lawrence Mead, and Frances Fox Piven. In each case, he describes the author's basic policy position but also asks how each views individuality, community, worth, motivation, and hope. On the basis of the answers to these ethical questions, Copeland identifies theological parallels to each of the four positions. He then offers his own contemporary public theology rooted in process theology, but expressed in everyday language about his own experience. He uses this theology to explore the deeper meaning of individuality, community, worth, motivation, and hope. In the final three chapters, this volume proposes fuller understandings of poverty and of welfare and then returns to contemporary public policy and proposes principles for reform. All of this is based upon Copeland's contemporary public theology and the ethical insights drawn from it.

And the Poor Get Welfare: The Ethics of Poverty in the United States (Churches Center for Theology and Public Policy)

Copeland, Warren R.

The Bible in Time was written to help persons who want to read the Bible regularly for themselves find their way through the Bible by presenting 130 passages and commentary in chronological order.
Each Bible passage selected is accompanied by comments desinged to help the reader think about and act upon the biblical massage. In this way, readers can deepen their relationship with God. This book guides readers through different sections of the Bible, helping them to travel on a journey of faith and get sense of how the different parts of the Bible "fit together".
In an opening section, "Getting Started: How to use this book", Stephen Travis writes: "What is the Bible? It is not, as I once thought, a black book full of small print and abscure religious language. It is a collection of books which tell how God has made himself known to human race and what is involved in responding to his love. It deals with the big questions I really want to ask -- What is the meaning of life? How can I know God? Is death the end? Can I make any sense of suffering? What makes a happy and stable society? How can I help build a world that is safe for my children?"
Contents include: Beginnings; Prophets and Kings; Life and Worship; Exile and After; Good News; For All the World; Letters to Young Churches; and The Lord Is King.

The Bible in Time: A Chronological Exploration of 130 Passages

This volume is intended as a companion to the story already told in Makers of Christian Theology in America (Abingdon, 1997) by scholars who sketched intellectual portraits of 91 thinkers formative in Christian theological discussion. Emphasis is on theologians or theologies which reach considerably beyond their denominational, regional, ethnic, or "school" support bases. The volume thus has selections of the sort standard and revisionist histories alike have cause to take into account in their field surveys. The focus is on the traditions of scholarly Christian church theology, and the selections offer access to substantive content at some considerable length, using complete and self-contained samples when possible, instead of snippets. The four eras of Christian theology's history in America covered by these sixty readings are the colonial, early national, post-Civil War to World War I, and twentieth-century developments.

Sources of Christian Theology in America

History

Toulouse, Mark G.

Duke, James O.

World

This book is offered as a resource for those taking services connected with death and dying, those who offer pastoral care to the bereaved, and all who are asked to help plan a funeral or memorial service. It may be used in its own right or as a supplement to the authorized liturgies of the various Christian churches. In Sure and Certain Hope provides a range of liturgies, from simple rites to formal orders of service for use in church, for each stage of a process that is both universal and unique for every individual: - a simple rite at the time of death - a ceremony for receiving a body into church - prayers and readings before leaving home for a funeral - an order of service for a funeral in church - an order of service for a funeral at a cemetery or crematorium - alternative Bible readings, printed out in full - alternative prayers and readings for differing circumstances of death - prayers for returning home after a funeral - a memorial service - a commemoration for All Soul's Day - a remembrance for the anniversary of a death - an affirmation of the living In Sure and Certain Hope also includes a short selection of readings from literature and poetry on the themes of death, loss and enduring love. They are chosen for their resonance with the Christian hope of eternal life and may help family and friends to find a reading appropriate for their own circumstances. For clergy and others who minister at such an intensely painful time, theological reflection is included on the primary Christian understanding that underpins the Church's ministry to the dying and the bereaved.

In Sure and Certain Hope: Liturgies, Prayers and Readings for Funerals and Memorials

Imperfect Peace is a collection of nine sermons--with a preface--on major controversial topics that trouble Christian pulpits in our era: divorce, homosexuality, God's wrath, dishonesty, and other issues. CONTENTS 1. "Whoever Divorces" (Matthew 5:3132; 19:39) 2. "Women Should Be Silent in the Churches" (1 Corinthians 14:2640; 1 Timothy 2:815) 3. "Uneasy Peace" (Genesis 31:4455) 4. "To Lie With a Male as With a Woman" (Leviticus 18:1930; Acts 8:2640) 5. "The Revenge of Dinah's Honor" (Genesis 34; Matthew 5:3848) 6. "No One Comes to the Father Except Through Me" (John 14:17) 7. "The Flood" (Genesis 6--8; Isaiah 41:4b10) 8. "Can't I Do Anything Right?" (Isaiah 64:19) 9. "Blessed Are the Clever?" (Luke 16:19) These nine sermons deal respectively with Divorce, Exclusion in the Church, The Problem of Mistrust, Homosexuality, Vengeance and Forgiveness, Universalism, God's Wrath, The Pervasiveness of Sin, and Dishonesty.

Imperfect Peace: Teaching Sermons on Troubling Texts (Teaching Sermons Series) (The Teaching Sermon Series)

Reference

Walton, Jon M.

Encyclopedias & Subject Guides

For many people, the most joyful celebration of the year often gets buried under the burden of countless preparations. The Essential Christmas Book brings to light not only the essentials of Christmas, but also the essence of Christmas. Scripture, carols, quotations, poems, stories, ideas, games, and fascinating facts about how our Christmas customs originated combine with traditional elements of the festive Yuletide season: cards, family traditions, delightful decorations, beautifully wrapped gifts, delicious food, and fun-filled parties.
Of course, at the heart of all the celebration is the awesome fact of God's becoming a child born into our world as the infant Jesus. Each chapter introduces an event from the Christmas story, from the angels' message of peace on earth to the birth of the Prince of Peace. Chapter contents include:

The Essential Christmas Book: Family Crafts & Activities to Get to the Heart of Christmas

SERVE A NEW MIXED MENU OF WORSHIP 
Worship Feast – A Broad Menu of Extraordinary Worship Ideas Blending a Vastly Diverse Mix of Spiritual Experiences Serve a multi-sensory worship experience to your youth, mixing a cornucopia of ancient contemplative rituals with modern audio-visuals. Engage them with a mix of group participation, silent meditation, and sacred symbolism. Move them with a recipe of ancient chants blended with contemporary Christian rock. Worship Feast Ideas serves up 100 new worship ideas for an impactful group communion. These worship plans &amp; scripts coordinate and blend a vast range of ancient and modern worship activities from extreme ends of many spectrums. They are like international multi-course meals that mix menu choices from Italian, Mexican, American, and Asian cuisine with more obscure selections from far corners of the globe. For example...in Worship Feast you might find a mix of... ...monastic-style meditation rituals, with modern visuals on slides, formal ceremonies, candles, oil lamps &amp; incense, medieval chants mixed with a hip-hop beat, scripted dramas, ambient music with contemplative silence, plus storytelling, unison group recital readings, movie clips, and participatory scripture interpretations created in paint, sand, clay, or water. Worship Feast Ideas was especially designed for youth workers and pastors who want to reach young people in their worship services by taking the sacred traditions of the worshiping church and blending them with current experiences. This book includes ideas for creating meaningful custom-made services...incorporating multisensory experiential worship elements into existing services (maybe even on Sunday mornings!) Serve youth a worship menu that leaves them inspired…and full.

Worship Feast: Ideas: 100 Awesome Ideas for Postmodern Youth

In 23 letters written after the death of her son, the author describes her pain, exhaustion, guilt and despair. She also draws upon the hope and grace and promise that are the gifts of the Christian Church. The letters, written to family, friends, and members of her congregation, are informed by doctrines of the church, scripture and the wisdom of foremothers and forefathers of the faith. The letters engage with, and sometimes quarrel with, those resources or interpretation of them. It is this well-grounded theological reflection and the shared experience of faith tested and made stronger in the terrible fire of grief which sets this book apart. NOTE: Two of these letters were published in Circuit Rider (March/April 2001). The response was very positive among readers, including Martin Marty who picked up a long quote in his popular publication Context.

And Then Mark Died: Letters of Grief, Love, and Faith

Vogel, Susan Sonnenday

Parenting & Relationships

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