Bøger af Barbara Cawthorne Crafton

Reflect on faith, prayer, forgiveness, and healing in these meditations based on the words and poetry of seasonal hymns.

Based on beautiful seasonal hymns, Crafton's daily meditations on faith, prayer, forgiveness, and healing for Advent and Christmas make an excellent companion for the season.

. Popular author with devoted following . Non-threatening way to start conversations about Jesus The inimitable Barbara Crafton describes the birth of this book: "We have to learn about Jesus from somebody. Somebody has to tell us. Jesus has been told to people by other people for better than twenty centuries. There are things you only have to hear once and you've got it . . . Jesus is different. Him, we have to tell and re-tell. We mostly experience him in each other: in our ways of telling and, more importantly, in our ways of showing who he is. It is this that has prompted me to write a book about Jesus, something I never expected to do . . . But then this happened: You need to write a book about Jesus. This was not a voice I heard or anything spooky like that. It was just a thought that popped into my head one night when I woke up at about 3 A.M. . . . But this one had an air of urgency. And it refused to leave. You need to write a book about Jesus. Well, all right then."

The life and ministry of a priest are two aspects of the same journey, and beloved author and priest Barbara Cawthorne Crafton approaches this journey in four sections, envisioned as embracing a clerical life. The first, ¿The Dream,¿ contains the early years of discernment, training, and youthful ministry. The second, ¿Desert,¿ deals with the terrible obstacles (self-created or inflicted from outside), that may end a ministry or wound it deeply. The third, ¿The Dance,¿ is that period of time in which you know who you are and how you serve, and the flow of life and ministry is effectively graceful. The last, ¿The Death,¿ deals with the priest¿s physical decline and death. Crafton lays out this path with all of her usual warmth and humor, offering insights and a companion in the way, not just to priests but to all of us.

What might life after death be like?

Everybody figures it out sooner or later: Even in a Botox world that promises eternal youth, some things from aches and pains to wrinkles, from menopause to the empty nest you just have to live with. But despite the challenges, those who are reaching middle age yesterday s Baby Boomers might not want to turn back the clock. Instead, as their bodies change and their priorities shift, they re looking to cull wisdom from their experience and find spiritual meaning in their re-examined lives. In Some Things You Just Have to Live With, author Barbara Cawthorne Crafton explores the spilled milk of our lives, the physical changes our bodies endure, and the new and energizing purpose we can discover by plunging into the middle of life in a deeper and sometimes mystifying relationship with God. A wonderful storyteller, Crafton writes with humor and pathos rather than a heavy hand, allowing readers to see themselves and their own lives in the unfolding pages. Some Things You Just Have to Live With is a source of inspiration and smiles to those navigating the turbulent waters of the middle of life."

Barbara Cawthorne Crafton is among the first women ordained to the Episcopal priesthood, in which capacity she has ministered in both the richest and poorest sections of New York City. She is also a sensitive writer who addresses the human condition with plainspoken eloquence and bracing moral common sense. Cynthia Ozick writes, "The Reverend Crafton's purity of insight and pellucid voice suggest transparencies - one sees straight through them into the unshielded light of the plainest human truths. A shelf is dusted, a grandmother's sewing machine is recalled, mothers and fathers are praised and appraised, a lost child is mourned - and the weave of our lives is movingly unwound, ribbon by ribbon, until our hands are filled with rosiness and rue. Upon small moments large mercies are shed. Barbara Crafton's essays are everyone's heirlooms". These rich, moving essays will be read again and again.

Here is Barbara Crafton at her best¿funny, warm, direct, honest, and vulnerable¿on aging. ¿I think growing older is both funny and sad, but mostly it just makes me grateful to be alive and able to reflect. I have been an Episcopal priest for 33 years and have had extensive experience in ministering with the elderly. Now, I am growing old myself. I hate it when people are ashamed of being old. We should be proud!¿ she proclaims. Join her in this celebration of life!

The companion for the busy woman, these daily meditations restore balance and bring perspective to daily life. Drawing on her experiences as wife, grandmother, priest, retreat leader and spiritual director, this is Barbara Crafton as the wise and funny friend every woman needs every day.

365 days of meditations based on passages from the Psalms.