The End of the Christian Life

The End of the Christian Life
Author: J. Todd Billings
Publisher: Brazos Press
Total Pages: 281
Release: 2020-09-15
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1493427547

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.

Journey to the Cross

Journey to the Cross
Author: Paul David Tripp
Publisher: Crossway
Total Pages: 189
Release: 2020-12-18
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1433567709

Journey through Lent with Best-Selling Author Paul David Tripp "During our forty days together, may your mourning increase so that your joy may deepen." — Paul David Tripp Lent is a time in the yearly Christian calendar when we mourn our sin and let go of worldly things that keep our hearts from experiencing God more fully. But how do we reevaluate and recalibrate the values of our hearts to match those of our suffering Savior? In this forty-day Lenten devotional, best-selling author Paul David Tripp invites us to set aside time from the busyness of our lives to focus on the suffering and sacrifice of Jesus. Each of the short readings encourages us to abide in the abundant joy found in Christ as we encounter the Savior more fully and follow him more faithfully during this Lenten season.

Lenten Healing

Lenten Healing
Author: Ken Kniepmann
Publisher: Ave Maria Press
Total Pages: 192
Release: 2018-01-05
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1594717966

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.

Lent for Everyone

Lent for Everyone
Author: N. T. Wright
Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press
Total Pages: 140
Release: 2012-01-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0664238955

From one of the world's leading scholars and Christian writers, stirring reflections for Lent.

Lectio Divina of the Gospels 2021-2022

Lectio Divina of the Gospels 2021-2022
Author: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Publisher: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB)
Total Pages: 317
Release: 2021-09
Genre: Church year
ISBN: 9781601376879

Lectio Divina of the Gospels for the Liturgical Year, 2021-2022 takes the reader through the traditional process of lectio divina, with reading, meditation, prayer, and contemplation, focused on the Sunday gospel reading. This guide includes reflections on the Gospels for Sundays and major feasts of the liturgical year, beginning with the first Sunday of Advent on November 28, 2021 and concluding with the last Sunday in Ordinary Time on November 20, 2022.

Make Room

Make Room
Author: Laura Alary
Publisher: Paraclete Press (MA)
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2016
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 9781612616599

While the Advent season is filled with fun and expectations, Lent can be hard for children. It's travels through frightening places, loaded with themes of self-denial and death. How can children approach this season in a way that is meaningful and not frightening? Make Room presents Lent as a special time for creating a welcoming space for God. Other books offer excellent ideas for going through the Lenten season with children, but Make Room uniquely connects its projects to the story of Jesus. Simple and practical activities such as baking bread, having a neighbor over for dinner, uncluttering your room, and watching less TV become acts of justice and kindness, part of a life of following and imitating Christ, and a way to make room for God in our lives and in the world around us. Other books tell the Passion narrative for young readers; this unique book integrates themes of hospitality and self-giving that echo Jesus' ministry, Jesus' entire life. Make Room invites children to wonder about the story, to encounter Lent with all their senses, and to experience activities in Lent as part of a life of discipleship.

Entering the Passion of Jesus

Entering the Passion of Jesus
Author: Amy-Jill Levine
Publisher: Abingdon Press
Total Pages: 128
Release: 2018-12-18
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1501869566

Jesus’ final days were full of risk. Every move he made was filled with anticipation, danger, and the potential for great loss or great reward. Jesus risked his reputation when he entered Jerusalem in a victory parade. He risked his life when he dared to teach in the Temple. His followers risked everything when they left behind their homes, or anointed him with costly perfume. We take risks as we read and re-read these stories, finding new meanings and new challenges. In Entering the Passion of Jesus: A Beginner’s Guide to Holy Week, author, professor, and biblical scholar Amy-Jill Levine explores the biblical texts surrounding the Passion story. She shows us how the text raises ethical and spiritual questions for the reader, and how we all face risk in our Christian experience. Entering the Passion of Jesus provides a rich and challenging learning experience for small groups and individual readers alike. The book is part of a larger six-week study that is perfect for Lent and includes a DVD, and a comprehensive Leader Guide. The book’s six chapters include: Jerusalem: Risking Reputation The Temple: Risking Righteous Anger Teachings: Risking Challenge The First Dinner: Risking Rejection The Last Supper: Risking the Loss of Friends Gethsemane: Risking Temptation

Bitter and Sweet

Bitter and Sweet
Author: Tsh Oxenreider
Publisher: Harvest House Publishers
Total Pages: 163
Release: 2022-02-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0736985530

Celebrate A Season of Renewal and Reflection The theme of bitterness runs through the Bible as a sour reminder of sin’s presence in our world—yet it’s because of this bitterness that Jesus’ grace is so sweet and satisfying. As we learn to turn from our vices and crave real beauty, goodness, and truth through the pursuit of virtues, we grow nearer to God and become more like who He made us to be. From Tsh Oxenreider, bestselling author of Shadow and Light: A Journey into Advent, arrives a devotional to help you meditate and rejoice in the transcendent miracle of Easter. You will… uncover what it means to participate in the liturgical traditions of Lent, from fasting to almsgiving experience artwork and music that illuminate the impact—both personal and global—of Jesus’s death and resurrection contemplate the wonder of Christ’s redemption of all humankind, especially as this time of introspection reveals your human limitations Starting on Ash Wednesday and leading you all the way through Holy Week, Bitter and Sweet is an invitation to better understand Jesus’s sacrifice as you delight in His ultimate love for you.

Sabbath as Resistance

Sabbath as Resistance
Author: Walter Brueggemann
Publisher: Presbyterian Publishing Corp
Total Pages: 109
Release: 2014-01-03
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1611643880

Discussions about the Sabbath often center around moralistic laws and arguments over whether a person should be able to play cards or purchase liquor on Sundays. In this volume, popular author Walter Brueggemann writes that the Sabbath is not simply about keeping rules but rather about becoming a whole person and restoring a whole society. Importantly, Brueggemann speaks to a 24/7 society of consumption, a society in which we live to achieve, accomplish, perform, and possess. We want more, own more, use more, eat more, and drink more. Keeping the Sabbath allows us to break this restless cycle and focus on what is truly important: God, other people, all life. Brueggemann offers a transformative vision of the wholeness God intends, giving world-weary Christians a glimpse of a more fulfilling and simpler life through Sabbath observance.

That You May Have Life

That You May Have Life
Author: John Kirvan
Publisher:
Total Pages: 199
Release: 1997-12-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780877936381

This forty-day intinerary through the Lenten season provides an opportunity to experience the great spiritual tradition of Lent under the direction of revered spiritual teachers such as Julian of Norwich, Francis of Assisi, and Teresa of Avila