ion (Text)#LiveLent: God’s Story, Our Story invites each of us to reflect on our own story of God and how we might share it through our everyday lives as part of our Christian witness. It encourages us to take a fresh look at evangelism, exploring how Jesus and his first followers communicated the good news of God’s love by inviting, listening and responding creatively to others. For each of the 40 days of Lent, this booklet includes a short Bible passage, a reflection and a prayer. The daily reflections follow weekly themes – each with an accompanying action – drawn from the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lent Book 2021, Living His Story: Sharing the extraordinary love of God in ordinary ways by Hannah Steele (SPCK). #LiveLent: God’s Story, Our Story is the Church of England’s Lent campaign for 2021. This booklet is part of a wide range of resources for individuals, groups and churches available via www.churchofengland.org/livelent
We're all going to die. Yet in our medically advanced, technological age, many of us see death as a distant reality--something that happens only at the end of a long life or to other people. In The End of the Christian Life, Todd Billings urges Christians to resist that view. Instead, he calls us to embrace our mortality in our daily life and faith. This is the journey of genuine discipleship, Billings says: following the crucified and resurrected Lord in a world of distraction and false hopes. Drawing on his experience as a professor and father living with incurable cancer, Billings offers a personal yet deeply theological account of the gospel's expansive hope for small, mortal creatures. Artfully weaving rich theology with powerful narrative, Billings writes for church leaders and laypeople alike. Whether we are young or old, reeling from loss or clinging to our own prosperity, this book challenges us to walk a strange but wondrous path: in the midst of joy and lament, to receive mortal limits as a gift, an opportunity to give ourselves over to the Lord of life.
Are you looking for a way to teach your child about Holy Week and Easter? What if your child could also receive, open, and read his or her own personal mail from God to make the lessons come alive? Easter Love Letters from God contains seven beautifully illustrated Bible stories, each accompanied by a special Bible verse and an encouraging letter tucked away in its own lift-the-flap envelope that can be personalized to your child. Easter Love Letters from God is part of the Love Letters from God series written by Glenys Nellist. Unique features include: 7 letters from God on a pull-out page enclosed inside an envelope, with space to write your child’s name on each letter Endearing text that applies each Easter story directly to your child’s life and helps grow their faith Gorgeous, bright illustrations by Sophie Allsopp The wonderous stories leading up to Jesus’s resurrection on Easter Sunday This interactive picture book is perfect for ages 4-8 and is great for Easter baskets or as an addition to your child’s home library. Check out other titles from this series: Love Letters from God, Love Letters from God: Bible Stories for a Girl’s Heart, and Christmas Love Letters from God: Bible Stories.
Design professionalism interwoven with strategic marketing skills and advances in the technologies of digital communication are changing the interface and conceivably the future image of religious institutions. How and to what extent does corporate design influence the identity of religious institutions in the digital era? Six denominational case studies, including multifaith, in Europe were investigated. The concluding hypotheses outline principal response indicators, supplemented by a Religious Branding Compass, to assist in identifying the religious institutions' visual identity projections.
Your Story Matters presents a dynamic and spiritually formative process for understanding and redeeming the past in order to live well in the present and into the future. Leslie Leyland Fields has used and taught this practical and inspiring writing process for decades, helping people from all walks of life to access memory and sift through the truth of their stories. This is not just a book for writers. Each one of us has a story, and understanding God's work in our stories is a vital part of our faith. Through the spiritual practice of writing, we can "remember" his acts among us, "declare his glory among the nations," and pass on to others what we have witnessed of God in this life: the mysterious, the tragic, the miraculous, the ordinary. With a companion video curriculum from RightNow Media, this is a "why not" book as opposed to a "how to" book. Leslie asks each of us an important question: "Why not learn to tell your story, in the context of the grander story of God?"
“Like many evangelicals who love the gospel, I had my doubts about Lent.” It’s true, Lent can often seem like an empty ritual. But what Aaron Damiani came to find, and what he describes inside, is something else entirely. Something exceedingly good. In The Good of Giving Up, Anglican pastor Aaron Damiani (who comes from a low-church background) explains the season of Lent, defends it theologically, and guides you in its practice. You’ll learn: The history and purpose of Lent How to practice it with proper motivation Ways it can reform your habits and convictions How to lead others through it, whether in the home or church Lent has been described as a “springtime for the soul,” a season of clearing to make room for growth. The Good of Giving Up will show you why, encouraging you to participate in what many know as a rich spiritual journey. “When I was finally ready to take the plunge, I learned that observing Lent is not a forced march of works-righteousness. But it was good medicine for [my soul], for the painful split between what I knew about God and what I experienced of Him.”
This is a charming children's book that walks through the traditional Catholic liturgical year in its seasons and symbols, while highlighting some of our most beloved saints. The graphic design is brilliantly done -- no book compares with this one for a striking and memorable overview of the liturgical year. It makes a superb catechetical tool.
Sharon Garlough Brown tells the moving story of four strangers as they reluctantly arrive at a retreat center and find themselves drawn out of their separate stories of isolation and struggle and into a collective journey of spiritual practice, mutual support and personal revelation.
Based on the popular spiritual healing program designed by Bob Schuchts and the John Paul II Healing Center, Lenten Healing offers a twist to traditional Lenten fasting: instead of giving up chocolate, give up your sin. This daily Lenten devotional offers a unique approach to fasting, helping you reexamine the psychological and spiritual roots of sin in your life while sharing reflections and prayer exercises for overcoming sinful habits and acquiring virtuous ones. Lent is the ideal time to identify and address "spiritual blind spots"—unacknowledged emotional wounds and false ideas that hinder your prayer life and worship. During each week of Lent, Ken Kniepmann of the John Paul II Healing Center breaks open one of the seven deadly sins (pride, lust, gluttony, sloth, anger, envy, and greed) and its corresponding virtue (humility, chastity, abstinence, diligence, patience, kindness, and liberality). You'll start by learning about the sin and how it manifests itself in daily life and thought patterns. Then you'll move into reflection and prayer exercises that guide you through the process of renouncing that week's sin and resolving to adopt that week's virtue. Fasting, the practice of giving up pleasures or comforts, allows us to grow in holiness by putting our desires to a kind of death. Obvious examples include giving up a habit such as a favorite food, sleeping in, or late-night TV—but what happens when you try to give up your sins while recognizing the deeper reasons you commit them in the first place? By seeing those connections and praying specifically for God's insight, healing, and revelation, you’ll be able to experience God’s mercy and love to a greater capacity. Kniepmann helps you see how the depth of Catholic teaching is connected to your daily life. Sin isn't just an activity; it is a place of the heart (the interior life) and the movement of the heart (toward or away from sin) as related to thoughts, beliefs, and emotions. By the time Easter arrives, you'll possess a deeper understanding of sin and emotional wounds as impediments to intimacy with God and come away with tangible, practical tools for addressing those impediments in your life.
