With ample unison passages to ensure quick preparation during a busy season, this creative presentation by Ruth Elaine Schram expresses a fervent plea for Christs return. The optional cello accompaniment provides an additional dimension of warmth.
An Anthology of Advent readings, collected from the works of 22 classic and contemporary theologians with a high view of Scripture, it will help in preparing your heart to honor the sacredness of each Christmas season.
Following Jesus is a journey none of the people in this book ever expected to take. Why did they?What difference did it make?The book you’re holding is dangerous. If you read it, you’ll see that God is still active in saving even the most unexpected people: An atheist woman who viewed Christians as “idiots.” A married couple high in the leadership ranks of the Mormon church. An African-American man who became a Black Muslim out of hatred for white Christians. You’ll be amazed, moved, and encouraged as you read their compelling stories and the stories of nine others who made The Unexpected Journey from non-Christian beliefs to faith in Jesus Christ. You’ll rediscover the power of the gospel. You might even be emboldened to tell others about Christ yourself.Unexpected journeys beyond• Mormonism• Judaism• Hinduism• Atheism• Jehovah’s Witness• Agnosticism• Wiccan Paganism• Buddhism• Unitarianism• Astrology• Islam• Satanism
Meditations for each day of Advent and Christmas, based on the well-loved hymns of Charles Wesley, Anglican priest and co-founder of Methodism. Each daily meditation, keyed to the scripture reading for the day and to portions of Wesley's texts, concludes with a brief prayer based on the day's theme. Reflective material on the hymns place Wesley in the rich soil of his Anglican heritage. Daily readings, including all of these materials, are between 500-600 words in length.
It's the greatest story never told: that of a boy who met Jesus and dared to ask Him all the questions that have consumed mankind since the dawn of time. His name was Segatashya. He was a shepherd born into a penniless and illiterate pagan family in the most remote region of Rwanda. He never attended school, never saw a bible, and never set foot in a church. Then one summer day in 1982 while the 15-year-old was resting beneath a shade tree, Jesus Christ paid him a visit. Jesus asked the startled young man if he'd be willing to go on a mission to remind mankind how to live a life that leads to heaven. Segatashya accepted the assignment on one condition: that Jesus answer all his questions-and all the questions of those he met on his travels-about faith, religion, the purpose of life, and the nature of heaven and hell. Jesus agreed to the boy's terms, and Segatashya set off on what would become one of the most miraculous journeys in modern history. Although he was often accused of being a charlatan and beaten as a result, Segatashya's innocent heart and powerful spiritual wisdom quickly won over even the most cynical of critics. Soon, this teenage boy who had never learned to read or write was discussing theology with leading biblical scholars and advising pastors and priests of all denominations. He became so famous in Rwanda that the Catholic Church investigated his story. The doctors and psychiatrists who examined Segatashya all agreed that they were witnessing a miracle. His words and simple truths converted thousands of hearts and souls wherever he went. Before his death during the 1994 Rwandan genocide, Segatashya continued his travels and conversations with Jesus for eight years, asking Him what we all want to know: · Why were we created? · Why must we suffer? · Why do bad things happen to good people? · When will the world end? · Is there life after death? · How do we get to Heaven? The answers to these and many other momentous, life-changing questions are revealed in this riveting book, which is the first full account of Segatashya's remarkable life story. Written with grace, passion, and loving humor by Immaculée Ilibagiza, Segatashya's close friend and a survivor of the Rwandan holocaust herself, this truly inspirational work is certain to move you in profound ways. No matter what your faith or religious beliefs, Segatashya's words will bring you comfort and joy, and prepare your heart for this life . . . and for life everlasting.
From mourning to discernment, from invitation to intimacy, and from community to the charge to go forth and witness: With Burning Hearts calls us to experience all of this journey, to know that what we celebrate and what we are called to live are one and the same.
Was Jesus Christ a fallen human being, like us? Was His human nature corrupt and sinful, inherently and necessarily subject to suffering and death? Did He inherit a fallen humanity? If His humanity was fallen how was He sinless? Did He have human ignorance? In what way was His human will involved in the plan of salvation? What effect did the hypostatic union have on His humanity? In Jesus: Fallen?, Emmanuel Hatzidakis, a Greek Orthodox priest, addresses these and other controversial questions pertaining to the human nature of Christ, which are debated in many Christian denominations, and in his own Church. The theology advanced in the book is the traditional theology of the historic Church. In all the modern confusio of multiple Christs, here we have the perennial image of the incarnate God, the Theanthropos Christ. The book should appeal to every serious Christian and student of theology, history of dogma and Church History who is comfortable neither with liberalism nor fundamentalism, but who is searching for the authentically true teachings of Christianity. Hatzidakis draws richly from the patristic inheritance of East and West in an original, refreshing, and accessible way. He refutes opinions formed by many eminent postlapsarian theologians. This pivotal study is the first to address this topic from an Eastern Orthodox perspective and in this regard it constitutes an important contribution to Christology. A well-researched study it sheds light from an Eastern Orthodox perspective on this intriguing and crucial topic. It maintains that the subject of Christ’s humanity and its understanding is neither a theologoumenon nor an abstract intellectual cogitation, but a matter of profound soteriological and anthropological import.
"O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel..." The familiar carol rings true with beauty and grace, but few stop to consider the deep theology of this tune. O Come, O Come, Emmanuel: An Advent Study explores Jesus' work on our behalf in the message of Christmas. This study will not only fuel our worship of Jesus, but help the reader foster steadfast love anchored in biblical truth now and all year long. Readers will more fully understand the anticipation and waiting that the Old Testament world endured, the light and life Jesus came to bring us, and the eternal promise that Jesus is yet ushering us into. This beautiful resource will also include advent activities to help kids, students, and adults celebrate the Christmas season together. This Christmas season, set your focus on the anticipation and joy that only Christ can bring in this study of Advent. Features: Leader helps for group discussion 4 weeks of personal study to be completed between the 5 group sessions Beautiful 4-color interior to enhance the reader's experience Specific Advent activities for kids, students, and adults Benefits: Allow a deeper understanding of Advent to fuel your worship of Christ. Understand deeper theological truths of Christmas. Learn more about Jesus and how His coming brings us hope, light, wisdom, and gospel unity.
Advent, says Fleming Rutledge, is not for the faint of heart. As the midnight of the Christian year, the season of Advent is rife with dark, gritty realities. In this book, with her trademark wit and wisdom, Rutledge explores Advent as a time of rich paradoxes, a season celebrating at once Christ’s incarnation and his second coming, and she masterfully unfolds the ethical and future-oriented significance of Advent for the church.