Religion: liv og lære

Lent is an ideal time to step back and reflect on the deeper movements of the spirit, and Elizabeth Caldwell helps readers do this through a simple but profound approach.Pause: Spending Lent with the Psalms invites us to take up the spiritual practice of encountering, sinking into, and deeply engaging with one psalm each week during Lent and Holy Week.The season of Lent encourages Christians to consider a different pace-one of slowing down, noticing, pausing-than what our dominant culture values. The invitation to pause with the Psalms begins on Ash Wednesday, starting with a mark of ashes on our foreheads that reminds us that in spite of our failures-things we have done or failed to do-we belong to God. Readers are then guided into an exploration of Psalm 51 and the theme of a clean heart. Each chapter helps readers to connect an image drawn from that psalm, such as paths, faces, blessing, tables, waiting, thanksgiving, listening, being alone or abandoned, and hands, with their own lives. At the close of each chapter, readers are invited to try a different prayer practice to help them continue to reflect on the theme and psalm each day. This intentional engagement-without feeling burdensome-opens just enough space and time for a creative spiritual practice to flourish, sustaining the life of faith during the Lenten season in ways that can make a difference in God's world.Reflection and discussion questions are included with each chapter and the book includes a leader's guide at the end for study groups.In addition to the individual devotion and group study material found in the book, you can access free digital resources, which include a sermon series guide, children's bulletins, and illustrated sheets for use during worship or study, at www.wjkbooks.com/Pause.

"Graceful Moves" is a unique exercise book tailored specifically for Christian grandmas seeking to maintain a healthy lifestyle while deepening their faith. This book integrates gentle and effective exercise routines with prayers, devotional content, and Bible verses. Each exercise is designed to align with spiritual themes and values, making the workout experience not only physically beneficial but spiritually enriching as well. With easy-to-follow instructions, "Graceful Moves" ensures accessibility for seniors, fostering a joyful and transformative exercise journey centered around faith and family.

In the early days of Christianity, symbols held a profound significance-they were not merely representations but were considered sacraments, embodying a notion that the physical could transcend its material nature. These symbols encompassed more than just objects, activities, or locations; they were conduits to the sacred, enabling a tangible connection with the divine through the stimulation of all five human senses. As Christianity evolved, the interpretation of these symbols underwent significant changes, leading to shifts in how Western Christendom perceived and interacted with the sacred. This historical progression sheds light on the gradual detachment of the sacred from physical elements within both society and religion.In the later stages of Christian development, the interpretations of these symbols underwent notable transformations. These shifts were not purely theological; rather, they were influenced by the broader societal changes of the time. The progression of sacramentality through Christian history reveals four major phases, each coinciding with significant societal shifts. This study focuses on elucidating these changes in Christian interpretations and draws connections to parallel developments in secular society. The underlying argument is that external societal influences have, on occasion, supplanted theologically or spiritually driven interpretations of the sacred.

The second book in the series of graded arrangements of 12 all time favorite Christmas songs for acoustic, fingerstyle and classical guitar players.A further collection of twelve of the most well known and loved Christmas carols and holiday season songs beautifully arranged for guitar by guitarist James Akers.Each of the 12 songs are offered at beginner, intermediate and advanced technical versions. For beginners, start with the easy version of the song, then build up to the more complex versions which are all found in this book. This publication would also be an excellent resource for guitar teachers looking for potential material for students around Christmas time.This book offersAll songs are notated in both music and guitar TAB for non music readers.All advanced versions of the song come with QR codes for watching a video performance of each song.THE TWELVE SONGS INCLUDED ARE:Deck the HallsHark the Herald Angels SingI Saw Three ShipsIn the Bleak MidwinterJoy To The WorldO Come All Ye FaithfulO Little Town Of BethlehemOnce In Royal David's CityThe Coventry CarolThe First NowellThe Holly and The IvyWhile Shepherds Watched Their FlocksPlus a bonus mystery song!FREE DOWNLOAD OF EXTRA MATERIALA link is included within the book to download free extra material which accompanies the publication. Contents of the free download are:mp3 versions of all advanced versions of the Christmas carol guitar arrangements for you to listen to before practice.mp3 accompanying tracks for the beginner versions of the Christmas carols for play along.A PDF book which details all the chords used in the beginner guitar chord arrangements offered in chord diagram format for easy understanding.

It felt like an emotional crucifixion-a dark year in which a father figure passed, a friend and mentor suffered a terminal illness, one child entered psychosis, another child took his life, a 14-year marriage ended.As a new life began, an ancient pilgrimage called from across an ocean. Would it hold any answers? Were there any answers to be had? Questions are always temporal, but it seems pilgrimage follows the designs of the eternal.Join in a transcendent journey of the body, heart, mind, and spirit from the French Pyrenees Mountains, crossing northern Spain for 500 miles to the city of Santiago de Compostela, and beyond to the coastal town of Finisterre. Share the experience of walking a thousand-year-old road, the Camino de Santiago, the Way of Saint James, and its miraculous, mysterious ways.In parts a travelogue, a love letter to Spain, and a chronicle of change under the influence of grace, this is a story told in the language of the soul. Suffused with resilience, it is a dialogue between humanity and its spirit. It calls.

What is the Maronite Catholic faith? It is a Church which professes the same creed as the Universal Catholic Church. It is an expression of the revelation and sacramental dispensation of Our Lord Jesus Christ, addressed to a people who shared the Aramaic language and culture of the Semitic world into which He Himself was born. If we think of it as a tree, then its seed was planted by the teaching of Our Lord Jesus Christ, as passed on through His apostles. In the person of St Maroun of Syria, that seed put down roots. Then, through his disciples, who journeyed to Lebanon, a sapling shot up from the soil of Lebanon. Finally, a full-grown cedar appeared, tended by St Yuhanna Maroun (a monk from a Syrian monastery named after St Maroun), who was elected Patriarch of Antioch to preserve the Christian faith. -- From the Introduction

Wreaths. Garland. Candles. Nativity scenes. Gifts. Loved ones. What better time to share a quiet moment with God than the season for celebrating the gift of His Son Jesus?Featuring inspirational scriptures and brief story meditations, these devotions will help you experience the true meaning of Christmas. Each scripture and devotion helps you focus on His love and share that love with others. Your heart will be warmed and you will rejoice in His love, as you keep Christ in Christmas this holiday season.

Your life depends on organizations. God created you in his image for purposeful relationships. No human can thrive, or ultimately even survive, in isolation. From the small groups like a nuclear family, church, or school to large secular companies, and the government, every such purposeful group of people is, by definition, an organization where everything is done by someone who is following or leading, and often both. These interdependent roles are equally important heads and tails of the organizational coin.The Kingdom of God has two realms of organizations. The heavenly realm is perfectly organized, so when Jesus taught his followers to pray, he told them to pray for God's Kingdom to come soon on earth as it is now in heaven. Later he repeated that instruction even more strongly and with a promise: seek the Kingdom of God above everything else, and he will give you everything you need.How do you bring Kingdom principles into every kind of organization, with following and leading equally valued under the perfect leadership of King Jesus? The heavenly realm provides the organizational and relational ideal for all organizations in the earthly realm, so the following and leading roles can be filled with maximum effectiveness.In the present earthly realm, Kingdom-formed organizations function as much as possible like the ideal model of the coming Kingdom of Jesus Christ. Thus, in a heavily leader-centric world, extra-intentional effort must focus on the development of highly effective followership and truly humble leadership. Heads and Tails provides principles, illustrations, a practical framework, meditations, and challenging questions for a mindset that guides actions great and small to make following and leading in any kind of organization more like the coming Kingdom of God.

"This radical book examines the historical formation of Catholic theology from the perspective of the spiritual abuse of women. Debra Flint defines spiritual and political power abuse before considering female influence in the Church from New Testament times to date. She clearly demonstrates how women, who were respected by Jesus and authoritative in the early Church, were gradually eliminated from positions of influence by patriarchy and the growing development of misogyny. Tertullian, a late second-century Church Father, was one of the first to decry the ordination of women that occurred during his lifetime. He did this in a spiritually abusive way. Later, the fourth-century Synod of Laodicea took up this mantle, but despite this, women continued to be ordained as deacons until the ninth century in some areas. In Anglo-Saxon Britain, women were never ordained, but they held exceptionally high powers of governance on the same level as that of a bishop. These female powers of governance were lost due to the Viking raids, which were highly convenient to Rome. The East-West Schism was another historical event that further demised women as it left the Western Church free to promote mandatory celibacy, which the Eastern Church had always opposed. This led to an unbiblical elevation of the status of priest in the Western Church, which further reinforced a misogynist view of women. This demise of women was enshrined in ecumenical councils and through the development of Catholic Canon Law. In No Place for a Woman, Flint examines the hierarchical structure of the Church today and notes that in recent years there have been some attempts to involve women more fully, but these have been mere tinkering at the edges. What is really needed is a complete change of culture and a new feminist theology for which Flint seeks to lay the ground"--