The history of Christianity if filled with misfits. This collection of sermons intruces us to heretics and mystics from the very earliest church to the present day, including the Gnostics, Origen, Julian of Norwich, Michael Servitus, Emanuel Swedenborg, Soren Kierkegaard, Madame Blavatsky, Teilhard de Chardin and many, many more. With humor and compassion for these misunderstood characters, John Mabry explores their teachings and how they can speak to us today, helping us be better people of faith, regardless of one's denomination or even religion. Mabry holds a PhD in World Religions and serves as co-pastor of Grace North Church in Berkeley, CA.

Heretics, Mystics & Misfits

Religion & Spirituality

Mabry PhD, REV John R

Christian Books & Bibles

Apocryphile Press

Description: The task of preparing and delivering a weekly homily can paralyze even the bravest seminarian. Sermons that Connect can help. A simple, nuts-and-bolts guide, it provides new preachers with a simple and effective model for powerful and compelling sermons. It then shows preachers how to flesh out sermons in a simple step-by-step process that is insightful and painless. As a beginner's guide, it provides in one sitting everything someone will need to create meaningful sermons for years to come. For those who have been preaching for a while, it will be equally instructive, helping preachers polish their sermons into even more effective works of art, providing invaluable suggestions for recognizing and articulating the essential elements of good sermons.   About the Contributor(s): John R. Mabry, PhD, is Pastor at Grace North Church (Congregational) in Berkeley, California. He teaches homiletics, theology, and spiritual direction at the Chaplaincy Institute for Arts and Interfaith Ministry (Berkeley) and serves as Assistant Director of the Master's Degree in Spiritual Guidance at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology in Palo Alto, California. He is the author of numerous books on spirituality and spiritual guidance, including Noticing the Divine: An Introduction to Interfaith Spiritual Guidance (2007).

Sermons that Connect

Wipf and Stock

”Who would have believed that a baby everyone thought such a tragedy would turn into such a blessing?” When a baby is abandoned on the loading dock of the second-largest Christmas store in the world, it kicks off a heartwarming mystery that will fill you with the Christmas spirit. Welcome to the small town of Munich, Michigan, where it is always just a little bit Christmas, and the people are…well, pretty much like people everywhere. In What Child is This, we meet Jerry, the soft-hearted but indecisive manager of Bremmer’s Christmas emporium, who struggles to keep his eccentric employees on task. We are also introduced to the town sheriff who recently lost his daughter and struggles with guilt and grief. And we meet Rev. Katie, Munich’s first female clergy person, who is not feeling at all welcome in her new town. And yet, somehow, all of them will find their lives changed and their hopes restored by the arrival of a mysterious baby in this inspirational “happily ever after” Christmas novel. Page Up and Order Now

What Child is This?: A Christmas at Bremmer's Novel

Literature & Fiction

Genre Fiction

The Monster God: Coming to Terms with the Dark Side of Divinity

Agnosticism

"Whoever finds the meaning of these words will not taste death." Gospel of Thomas
 Christians have been thirsting for the wisdom and sayings of Jesus Christ for over 2000 years, constantly looking for new meaning to discover in Jesus' words, as offered in the ancient gospels of the New Testament in the Bible. Yet, the most accurate portrayal of the teachings of Jesus may have been intentionally hidden from Christians by the Church.
 With the discovery of the Gnostic Gospel of St. Thomas in Nag Hammadi, Egypt in 1945, scholars of biblical history now believe that we have a document that contains some of Jesus' actual words--original quotes from Jesus Christ, as recorded in writing by one of his closest confidants, Saint Thomas.
 In The Way of Thomas, author John Mabry, PhD in World Religions and professor of Comparative Theology at the Chaplaincy Institute offers new and relevant evidence about Thomas' gospel and the sayings of Jesus: <ul>
<li>What were Jesus' original teachings, and how do they differ from the story told today by the Christian church?</li> <li>What is the real story of early Christianity?</li> <li>Can we find a Jesus that is relevant as a spiritual guide for people today?</li> <li>These and many other questions are addressed in this popular presentation of the teachings of this mystical Christian text.</li> </ul>
Page Up and Order Now.

Way of Thomas: Insights for Spiritual Living from the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas