Books
Showing 2501–2550 of 3420 resultsSorted by latest
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Lenten Discipline
$12.95Add to cartAn acclaimed Luther scholar revisits the wisdom of Martin Luther’s Small Catechism in this complete Lenten program. Based on the six sections of the catechism, A Lenten Discipline provides instructive homily/meditations and worship services for each week in Lent, including Maundy Thursday. An initial chapter examining the Word of God as Law and Gospel sets the tone for the series and can be used as the basis of an Ash Wednesday sermon. Subsequent weeks explore the basic teachings of the faith on the Ten Commandments, the Apostles’ Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, Baptism, Confession, and Holy Communion.
Though perfectly suited for congregational use during Lent, this series has a multitude of other applications. In addition to catechism or confirmation instruction, it’s also excellent for a sermon series, as a theological resource, or for classrooms, workshops, and retreats. But whatever the setting, these informative homily/lectures and worship experiences will give users new insight into Luther’s genius.
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Life On The Edge Of Faith
$12.95Add to cartFive characters bear witness to a world-changing event that forces them right to the edge of faith in this series of midweek worship services for Lent, which also includes services for Ash Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, and Good Friday. Each service contains a brief sermon, and the five midweek services also feature monologues from the perspective of someone who was present at our Lord’s Passion (a sleeping disciple, the high priest, a maid, a soldier, and a city resident). The bewilderment experienced by these characters will help worshipers find a voice for the confusion that we all feel from time to time.
Life On The Edge Of Faith is a complete package of thematically-related worship resources for the busy pastor looking for midweek programming. The monologues can be read by parishioners, and it’s a great opportunity to have your young people participate in worship activities.
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Empty Spaces Empty Places
$7.95Add to cartWhile we often try to fill the empty spaces in our lives with family, work, and material things, a lingering sense of emptiness and dissatisfaction seems to remain. The connections between biblical characters and these empty spaces in our lives are the focus of three dramatic sketches. By revisiting the stories of Jesus’ birth, death, and resurrection through interviews with the innkeeper’s wife, the centurion, and Mary Magdalene, Empty Spaces, Empty Places shows us the lives Jesus touched then (and continues to touch today). The centurion who witnessed the crucifixion tells how he became convinced that Jesus was the Son of God in the monologue Filling In The Empty Spaces: The Soldier. And the Apostle Paul’s life and Christian witness is depicted in Filling In The Empty Spaces: Saint Paul. Each presentation confronts audiences with the same question: “What do you fill your empty spaces with?”
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Returning Home
$12.95Add to cartGod’s never-ending pursuit of all prodigals, whether they’re far from home or nearby, is the theme of this complete package of preaching and worship resources. The timeless story of the Prodigal Son is examined through first-person portrayals of its characters: the prodigal, the elder son, the father, the mother, and a servant. The five monologues are perfect for use in midweek services — and with companion sermons for Ash Wednesday and Good Friday plus seven orders of worship, Returning Home provides everything busy pastors need for a total Lenten program. The material is also excellent for a sermon series, small group discussion, or personal devotional reading.
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Affirming The Ash Heap
$12.95Add to cartThese seven sermons will penetrate the hearts and souls of every listener…because each one of us has been touched by the tragic side of life. Like Job, everyone sitting in a church pew has at one time or another screamed for a reason why, or even wondered (like Jesus), “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”. Including sermons for five Sundays in Lent, along with Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday, Kirby’s meditations will help worshippers understand the process of coming to grips with these difficult questions
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And The Sea Lay Down
$11.95Add to cartHere are all the pastoral resources you need for a complete and integrated Lenten season of preaching and worship — Ash Wednesday through Easter, including Maundy Thursday and Good Friday.
Included for each Sunday or worship service are:
* Call to worship
* Suggested processional hymn
* Children’s message
* Prayers
* Scripture passages
* Sermon
* Suggested hymn
* Pastoral prayer
* Affirmation of faith
* Suggested closing hymnWard’s first book for CSS, Asking For Wonder: Resources For Creative Worship And Preaching, has become a favorite resource for thousands of busy pastors.
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Bad And The Good
$10.95Add to cartThis activity-oriented series of children’s sermons deals with word opposites. The lessons are based on the example found in Jesus’ teachings that the bad is followed by the good, through trust and obedience in God.
This series of children’s messages help young people understand the suffering and death of Jesus in a positive way. Throughout the series the children are asked to participate with word opposites. The lessons are planned so that each child may take back to the pew an activity sheet. One side is a coloring page for younger children. The other side has word puzzles and games for older children.
The usefulness of this series will become evident:
They require little preparation
The coloring pages will appeal to the younger children
The activity page will keep older children interested
The series can be used for worship services, Sunday school, or other times -
Psalms Were Made For Lent
$12.95Add to cartThe Psalms have long been recognized as a rich resource for individual spiritual enrichment and for magnificent corporate liturgical expression in the life of the church.
The Psalms Were Made For Lent provides a collection of six sermons which translate some of the deep themes inherent in the Psalms into meaningful language for the average person sitting in the congregation.
The book includes:
Six sermons based on the Psalms
Liturgical responses with each sermon (Call to Worship, Call to Confession, Prayer of Confession, Declaration of Pardon)
Three hymns based on the Psalms, which can be sung to well-known hymn tunesAltogether this resource invites the congregation to experience the Psalms in a new and meaningful way.
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Dissident Daughters
$40.00Add to cartWith its focus on narratives, its attention to contextual and material realities, and its collection of women-identified liturgies in global context, Dissident Daughters claims prominence within the growing literature on women’s ways of worship. This book not only introduces liturgical texts, but also focuses on the communities that create and celebrate these liturgies. Dissident Daughters gives voice to women activitsts who show how their communities came into being; how social, cultural, and political realities shaped them and their liturgies; and how they envision their lives in and as communities of faith. In drawing the different narratives together, Dissident Daughters displays the expanse fo the worldwide expression of women’s rites and the formation of each by distinctly different contexts of struggle and hope.
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Here And Now
$19.95Add to cartOne thought flows into another to create a mosaic of shimmering impressions in this contemplative offering from a great Christian writer. Nouwen discusses living in the present, joy, prayer, the spiritual life, relationships, family, and other topics with his signature clarity and insight.
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Watch And Pray
$12.95Add to cartWatch And Pray was written for use by untrained actors. There are no character roles and the dialogue can be divided among as many people as are available to participate.
The seven dramatic mediations begin with Ash Wednesday, followed with the five mid-week readings and conclude with a Maundy Thursday presentation.
Themes are:
Self-knowledge
Repentance
Growth
Patience
Discipline
Courage -
Wheres Noah
$19.95Add to cartWhere’s Noah? features the classic biblical story of Noah, the flood, and God’s salvation in a worship format that engages all generations. This resource features monologues, brief pithy sermons, the exchange of animal tokens, crossword puzzles, an Easter Sunrise play, and other creative worship/learning experiences.
Worship leaders, clergy, and drama players will find this a refreshing series for congregational unity and growth.
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Services For The Lenten Candles
$18.95Add to cartJust as the Lenten season reminds the Christian of Christ’s journey to the cross, the seven candles and the weekly extinguishing of each one enhances that long, soon-to-be dark journey. When the last candle is extinguished and the darkness seems to be all-consuming, worshipers will feel the darkness of the soul at the time of Christ’s crucifixion.
Using one or two liturgists, flexible services are provided for every Sunday during the Lenten season as well as Good Friday and Easter Sunday, during which a Paschal candle is lighted.
The beauty and symbolism of these services will add meaning and dimension to your Lenten worship as the congregation is reminded each Sunday of being one step closer in the journey to the cross.
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Reconciliation
$7.95Add to cartPrepare everyone in your congregation for a meaningful Lenten season with this collection of six sermon outlines, accompanied by program suggestions, worship aids, and a dramatic reading based on Mark’s passion narrative. The resources all stress the theme of reconciliation – with ourselves, between ourselves and God, in our families, in our churches, in our churches, in our communities, and in the world.
A companion daily worship and study guide is available.
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Artisans Of The Crucifixion
$7.95Add to cartThese dramatic monologues offer a unique perspective on Jesus’ crucifixion. Viewed through the eyes of a Blacksmith, Carpenter, Stone Mason, Tanner, and Basket Maker, the presentations introduce the congregation to those who crafted items used in the crucifixion. These monologues are flexible, and few if any props are necessary.
Use these dramatic monologues for a unique perspective on the events of Jesus’ crucifixion. Viewed through the eyes of a Blacksmith, Carpenter, Stone Mason, Tanner, and Basket Maker, the presentations introduce the congregation to those who crafted the whip, wove the crown of thorns, forged the nails, constructed the cross, and chiseled out the tomb.
Pastors can present these monologues themselves or assign them to church members. They have the flexibility of being performed very simply or quite elaborately. Few if any props are necessary.
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People Vs Judas Iscariot The Punishment Phase
$11.95Add to cartWritten in an easy-to-present format, this captivating five-part series takes place in a courtroom, as attorneys present evidence based upon the Bible and tradition. Witnesses who are “subpoenaed” to testify include Peter, John, and Mary Magdalene.
The People vs. Judas Iscariot is a captivating five-part series for Lenten worship or group discussion. Detailed worship bulletins with an order of service are provided for each of the five presentations.
The People vs. Judas Iscariot is written in an easy-to-present format (no memorization required) and includes scripture readings that follow carefully defined themes. The homily takes the shape of a court hearing in which Judas undergoes his punishment phase. Prosecution and defense attorneys attempt to sway the judge and congregation with evidence based upon the Bible and tradition. Various witnesses are “subpoenaed” to testify, including Peter, John, Mary Magdalene, and others.
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Onward Through The Fog
$9.95Add to cartThe Sundays of Lent don’t have to be boring! Follow the lectionary and provide your congregation with exciting worship experiences by using these positive yet sensitive dialogue sermons based on Cycle A of the Revised Common Lectionary. Wit and scripture are combined to encourage Christian growth and prod listeners into making a personal commitment. In addition to six sermon dialogues, worship planning aids are included for each Sunday, along with an Ash Wednesday worship service.
In addition to six sermon dialogues, worship planning aids are included for each Sunday, plus an Ash Wednesday worship service with the theme-setting sermon, “Onward! Through The Fog!”
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Lenten Resources For Worship Leaders
$12.95Add to cartThese field-tested materials represent the creative effort of many denominations. Each includes ideas for preparation, items needed, suggestions for use, number of parts, and the time for best use.
This complete Lenten volume for busy ministers includes:
Shadows Around The Cross: A Tenebrae
A Good Friday Vigil
The Service Of Diminishing Lights — for Sundays in Lent
Justified By Greed: Monologue Of A Pharisee — for Lent
The Passover Haggadah: A Traditional Seder Service
Litany For Forgiveness
Litany For Palm Sunday
Litany For Easter
Meditation: Forgiveness Is Peace
Meditation: You Make The Difference
Litany Of Confession
Litany For Peace -
Behold The Man
$12.95Add to cartBehold The Man is a sermon/study series for Lent inspired by the words of Pontius Pilate about Jesus. The theme is carefully explored from the First Sunday in Lent through Easter Sunday.
For each Sunday a sermon, prayer, children’s sermon, order of worship and discussion questions are provided.
The purpose of these messages is to enable us to look at Jesus in the crucial times of his life and ministry. In beholding him as he was then we will be able to see him now.
Sections include:
* Behold the Man Who Was Tempted As We Are
* Behold the Man Who Takes Away Sin
* Behold the Man Who Taught By The Sea
* Behold the Man Who Trained Disciples
* Behold the Man Who Turned Toward Jerusalem
* Behold the Man Who Tried To Be King
* Behold the Man Who Took The Victory -
Mary Of Nazareth
$7.95Add to cartMary of Nazareth lived a dangerously demanding, yet holy life, She knew loneliness and poverty and endured extreme hardships of faith while maintaining a close relationship with God. During the crucifixion she knew raging and numbed pain which challenged her sanity. But her joy was overflowing after the Resurrection. Her story provides powerful information about God’s sovereignty in the universe toward those who believe in Him and seek Him.
Based primarily on the Gospel of Luke, the sole New Testament writer to interview and consider the female point of view, this dramatic monologue comes complete with an Order of Worship. It provides powerful insight into Mary’s suffering and, likewise, the joy she felt from her conquering on. The presentation is divided into five sections, making it possible to use as a five week series allowing five different women to participate instead of just one. It also provides hymn suggestions which help to amplify the monologue.
This easily yet effectively prepared service offers a profound experience any time during the Lenten season.
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Journey Of Lent
$15.95Add to cartThis book provides scripture-based reflections for each day of the Lenten season. It is an uplifting work for those who wish to enrich their personal prayer and meditation. It shows the Lenten season in its intended light — as a period of preparation, where we ready ourselves spiritually for life as Christians.
In this, Gribble provides a daily challenge to the one who is searching for a way to draw closer to God in everyday life. With each day’s reading he includes scripture passages, a theme and keenly stimulating thoughts for reflection.
More than simply a collection for personal meditation, it is also ideal for teaching and preaching illustrations.
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Turning Points
$12.95Add to cartIn these nine sermons preachers will find brilliant use of story to illustrate the Lenten message. Beringer focuses on different journeys throughout the New Testament and examines the “turning points” recorded there.
As is stated in the introduction, our Christian faith is a pilgrim faith. The author shows in modern parables how we are called by Christ to be a people on the move with him through time to eternity and the Kingdom of God. He shows that we are travelers on the road of faith, never quite arriving at our destination, but always growing and being transformed by each encounter with the living God.
Following each sermon is a set of discussion questions based on the preceding sermon and the scripture on which the sermon is based. These questions can be copied into the bulletin to help the congregation follow the sermon, used as small group discussion starters, distributed to worshipers as they leave church or be printed in weekly newsletters to reinforce the message given the previous Sunday.
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Lost Soul Of American Protestantism
$79.00Add to cartForeword
R. Laurence Moore
The American Way Of FaithConfessional Protestantism
Defining Conservatism Down
The Intolerance Of Presbyterian Creeds
The Sectarianism Of Reformed Polity
The Irrelevance Of Luthern Liturgy
Conclusion: Confessional Protestantism And The Making Of Hyphenated Americans
Additional Info
In The Lost Soul of American Protestantism, D. G. Hart examines the historical origins of the idea that faith must be socially useful in order to be valuable. Through specific episodes in Presbyterian, Lutheran, and Reformed history, Hart presents a neglected form of Protestantism–confessionalism–as an alternative to prevailing religious theory. He explains that, unlike evangelical and mainline Protestants who emphasize faith’s role in solving social and personal problems, confessional Protestants locate Christianity’s significance in the creeds, ministry, and rituals of the church.Although critics have accused confessionalism of encouraging social apathy, Hart deftly argues that this form of Protestantism has much to contribute to current discussions on the role of religion in American public life, since confessionalism refuses to confuse the well-being of the nation with that of the church. The history of confessional Protestantism suggests that contrary to the legacy of revivalism, faith may be most vital and influential when less directly relevant to everyday problems, whether personal or social.
Clear and engaging, D. G Hart’s groundbreaking study is essential reading for everyone exploring the intersection of religion and daily life.
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Saint Patrick : The Real History Of His Amazing Life From Tragedy To Triump
$14.95Add to cartHe “found Ireland all heathen and left it all Christian.” Kidnapped as a boy, Patrick was a slave for six years in pagan, druid Ireland. He miraculously escaped, only to have a dream years later calling him back.
By his death, Patrick founded 300 churches, baptized 120,000 believers and his followers re-evangelized Europe!
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Problem With Evil Of The Western Tradition
$26.95Add to cartWhile others have contributed tomes and volumes on the history of Evil, Kelly covers much ground in much fewer pages. An ample bibliography will direct the curious to more in depth study, while readers who prefer a lighter treatment (albeit a meticulously researched and well-written one) will experience a wealth of information packed between these covers.
Delineating between “Evil” and “evils”, the author starts the tour in the Book of Job and follows literary, religious and philosophical strands through to the biotech ambiguities of the early 21st century. He draws a picture of how the ancient peoples of Mesopotamia viewed Evil by examining myths similar to biblical texts along with biblical references to Satan. And, by gleaning from both Christian and non-religious writings, he shows how these have formed the idea of Evil in the collective conscience. The final chapters illuminate modern theories and approaches to Evil, and the book culminates with the author’s own reflection on what he believes Evil to be. -
Spirituality Of The Psalms
$29.95Add to cartThe psalms offer a harmony to life and a rhythm that keeps us peacefully in tune with the intense fervor of life. In The Spirituality of the Psalms, Carroll Stuhlmueller, C.P., looks at the structure of the psalms to explain how they can have bearing in our lives today. He describes how we can apply the psalms to our spiritual lives and integrate the psalms in the Church’s prayer life and ministry.
The Spirituality of the Psalms is the last work of Stuhlmueller which was uncompleted upon his death in 1994. He had completed a first draft of all but two chapters, 12 and 13, which Timothy Lenchak, S.V.D., added from Stuhlmueller’s commentary Psalms 1 and 2. The completed text was then edited, revised, and updated by Carol Dempsey, O.P., who did so with care so as not to lose Stuhlmueller’s “voice” and “hand” in the text.
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Clearer Vision
$12.95Add to cartThe Introduction to this volume of Lenten sermons suggests a method of congregational involvement in the scriptural texts which will engage and edify the members of any church.
Ash Wednesday
Wanting To Be Seen
First Sunday In Lent
Adam And Jesus See Temptation
Second Sunday In Lent
Second Sight
Third Sunday In Lent
Seeing The Whole Person
Fourth Sunday In Lent
Seeing The Unseen
Fifth Sunday In Lent
Seeing Light In Darkness -
Church According To The New Testament
$24.95Add to cartIn the last days of the twentieth century, leading New Testament scholar and popular preacher Daniel Harrington, S.J., asked himself two powerful questions: What might the church of the first century have to say to the church of the twenty-first century? And How might a brief sythesis of what the New Testament says and does not say about the church help bring greater vitality within and unity among the churches? The result of Father Harrington’s research and thinking is this timely and important book.
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Collected Poems Of Therese Of Lisieux
$19.95Add to cartThough the influence of Therese of Lisieux has spread far and wide since her canonization, her gifts as a poet have remained largely unknown to English speaking readers. Alan Bancroft’s admirable translation captures the intelligence and fervor of her fifty poems that celebrate her joyous surrender to God.
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Table Talk
$5.95Add to cartThis service requires little preparation and involves only three readers. The build up to Holy Communion is dramatic and scriptural, climaxing in the betrayal of Judas, the sense of corporate guilt and the need for forgiveness.
In Table Talk we hear conversations between Jesus and his friends, enemies and those who are indifferent. These talks occur at tables where Jesus has come as a guest. The service culminates with Jesus serving as host to his disciples.
In his own table story we learn that whether or not we come to the great banquet, the table of the Lord will be filled. It forces us to ask that if we do come and receive the bread and wine what will Jesus say to us? What will we say to him? How can we not find our faith strengthened, our love enlarged, and our understanding deepened by the table talk of Jesus?
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Rufus Jones : Essential Writings
$19.00Add to cartA Quaker mystic and social activist, Rufus Jones won a Nobel Prize as co-founder of the American Friends Service Committee. Widely considered one of the most significant religious voices in America at the time of his death in 1948, his writings impart an Emersonian vision of the ever-present reality of God in our souls and in our world. Indeed, his quintessentially American “affirmative mysticism” infuses all contemporary spirituality and offers an uplifting, positive, and powerful message today.
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In Praise Of The New Knighthood
$29.95Add to cartThe monk and the knight-the two quintessentially medieval European heroes-were combined in the Knights Templar, men who took the monastic vows and defended the holy places and pilgrims. With characteristic eloquence, Bernard of Clairvaux voices the cleric’s view of the knights, warfare, and the conquest of the Holy Land in five chapters on the knight’s vocation. Then, in another eight chapters the abbot who never visited the Holy Land provides a spiritual tour of the pilgrimage sites guarded by this ‘new kind of knighthood.’
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Mystical Portrait Of Jesus
$29.95Add to cartThe poetic and symbolic nature of John’s gospel betrays the weakness of historical-critical and other “scientific” methods of scriptural exegesis: Although valuable for the insights they do provide, scientific methods are not sensitive to the spiritual dimensions of biblical revelation.
Father Dumm therefore offers something more than the traditional chapter-and-verse commentary. Understanding that all of the gospels were written after the resurrection and, consequently, that the passion narrative greatly influenced how the earlier chapters were composed, Father Dumm gives more prominence to the climax of the career of Jesus: his passion, death, and resurrection. By beginning “at the end,” Father Dumm uncovers the guiding principle of this gospel. In the process he makes some surprising discoveries about the dangers of religious ritual but finds remedy for these dangers in the importance of personal mystical experience within the context of a believing community.
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Celtic Vision : Prayers Blessings Songs And Invocations From The Gaelic Tra
$16.99Add to cartDevotees of Irish spirituality–and those interested in Irish heritage–will cherish this authentic collection of Celtic wisdom and prayer. Every aspect of daily life is sanctified with prayers for hearth, home, work and play. Blessings, invocations and good wishes catch the Celtic spirit affirming the presence and power of the Creator.
