The gospels, for example, are not only four as everyone knows; they are about ten. Each of them was written by people outside the very environment of Jesus, both on a space and temporal scale, and the authors of these gospels are not the apostles of Jesus (as it is said), but were written between the years 70 to 100 DC, that is, nearly a century after the existence of Jesus!
The reason why the religious authorities decided to include in the Bible only four was because they were the less contradictory between them. Then, eliminated gospels, are conveniently called apocryphal. There is historical evidence that the first gospel was written by Mark, who believed in demons and possessions, which greatly influenced in that gospel. The three remaining gospels were written long after, based on the Gospel of Mark. Despite this, they contain contradictory elements between them. The book of Genesis, on the other hand, tells us about the creation of the universe in only 6 days. This fact (and the totality of what argued in Genesis) is totally irrational when contrasted with the nature and geological, paleontological, biological and astronomical evidence. Explaining all this would require more space than I would use here, but, fortunately, is easily verifiable. Now, we could touch the issue of morality. This issue could be divided into two parts: the morality of the God of the Bible, and the morality of human beings. In the Bible, we see a God with many faces and facets, and in most cases, with features far away from what we usually think. For example, we can see at times a god of love and understanding, although on many other occasions we can appreciate a God who is full of angry, vengeful, vain, misogyny, slavery, and so on. Lets put examples of them, using the Bible:
- Lamentations 2, 5: The Lord has become like an enemy. He has swallowed up Israel; He has swallowed up all its palaces, He has destroyed its strongholds And multiplied in the daughter of Judah Mourning and moaning. (Choleric Character)
- Deuteronomy 1, 34-36: Then the LORD heard the sound of your words, and He was angry and took an oath, saying, Not one of these men, this evil generation, shall see the good land which I swore to give your fathers, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him and to his sons I will give the land on which he has set foot, because he has followed the LORD fully. (Angry and selfish character)
- Isaiah 10, 24-26: Therefore thus says the Lord GOD of hosts, “O My people who dwell in Zion, do not fear the Assyrian who strikes you with the rod and lifts up his staff against you, the way Egypt did. “For in a very little while My indignation against you will be spent and My anger will be directed to their destruction.” The LORD of hosts will arouse a scourge against him like the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb; and His staff will be over the sea and He will lift it up the way He did in Egypt. (Vengeful and genocidal character)
- Isaiah 14, 1-2: When the LORD will have compassion on Jacob and again choose Israel, and settle them in their own land, then strangers will join them and attach themselves to the house of Jacob. The peoples will take them along and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them as an inheritance in the land of the LORD as male servants and female servants; and they will take their captors captive and will rule over their oppressors. (Slavery and vengeful character)
- Exodus 20, 8-10: “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. “Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. (Slavery character)
- Genesis 6, 5-7: Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. The LORD said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.” (Voluble and destructive character, as well as an apparent lack of omniscience)
- Numbers, the entire Chapter 31: We note that the nature of God is vengeful, brutal, male chauvinist and extremely bloody and cruel.
- Hosea 13, 15-16: Though he flourishes among the reeds, An east wind will come,The wind of the LORD coming up from the wilderness; And his fountain will become dry And his spring will be dried up; It will plunder his treasury of every precious article. Samaria will be held guilty, For she has rebelled against her God. They will fall by the sword, Their little ones will be dashed in pieces, And their pregnant women will be ripped open. (Bloody, authoritarian and genocidal character)
- 2 Kings 2, 23-25: Then he went up from there to Bethel; and as he was going up by the way, young lads came out from the city and mocked him and said to him, “Go up, you baldhead; go up, you baldhead!” When he looked behind him and saw them, he cursed them in the name of the LORD. Then two female bears came out of the woods and tore up forty-two lads of their number. He went from there to Mount Carmel, and from there he returned to Samaria. (Intolerant, cruel and bloody character)
- Leviticus 21, 16-24: Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to Aaron, saying, ‘No man of your offspring throughout their generations who has a defect shall approach to offer the food of his God. ‘For no one who has a defect shall approach: a blind man, or a lame man, or he who has a disfigured face, or any deformed limb, or a man who has a broken foot or broken hand, or a hunchback or a dwarf, or one who has a defect in his eye or eczema or scabs or crushed testicles. ‘No man among the descendants of Aaron the priest who has a defect is to come near to offer the LORD’S offerings by fire; since he has a defect, he shall not come near to offer the food of his God. ‘He may eat the food of his God, both of the most holy and of the holy, only he shall not go in to the veil or come near the altar because he has a defect, so that he will not profane My sanctuaries. For I am the LORD who sanctifies them.’ So Moses spoke to Aaron and to his sons and to all the sons of Israel. (Cruel, discriminatory and conceited character)
- Genesis 22, 1-12: Now it came about after these things, that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.” So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son; and he split wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. On the third day Abraham raised his eyes and saw the place from a distance. Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go over there; and we will worship and return to you.” Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son, and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together. Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” And he said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together. Then they came to the place of which God had told him; and Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood, and bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” (Irrational and selfish character)
On the latter scripture passage, I would like to make a comment. Obviously this story is a legend created by humans, which aims to show the values of personal sacrifice for God and obedience to him. But look a little more in depth. If indeed occurred this fact, doesn’t it an act of psychological bestiality? Let us think about the poor Isaac. What psychological trauma so great for him was that his own father had tried to deliver a sacrifice to a bloody God (like the one that shows us much of the Bible). Even considering that at the end of the story, God told Abraham to desist from their work, the innocent Isaac have suffered tremendous psychological damage. The only possibility that Isaac would have taken good way, is that since his early childhood has been indoctrinated to die for their God at any price. Apparently, and for the bulk of people believing it would be the right thing: to die for their God. But is it not that what we see every day in the Muslim world today? Just think deeply and objectively about these issues. Turning to the Bible itself, it should be pointed out that the books in which God is presented as an angry, extremely bloody and vengeful God (even more than in the rest of books) are the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy. Of course, the different Christian religions conveniently omit many passages of these books regarding human morality. Of course, human morality is not at all based on the idea of a God or the Bible. Supposedly, morals and ethics practiced today in the western world are based on the word of God, which are, from believers perspective, in the biblical writings. But if we analyze these writings, we see with surprise that there are many passages like what I described above. So, on what can we discern what is ethical and moral vs. what is not? Well, is in our nature. Obviously we have some mechanism to distinguish the good from the bad, and that mechanism is in our rational thinking features. Morality can be explained as three reasons favored by the evolutionary process: 1. The genetic kinship relations, 2. Reciprocity (give something in exchange for something else), and 3. The benefit of acquiring a reputation for generosity. The structure of our brain is a product of natural processes such as evolution (among others). We have intricate neural networks which enabled us to acquire a new power in the natural world: the intelligence and intellect. But at what cost we could acquire this set of features? Well, there’s no need to be very observer to realize that with respect to other animals, humans have a number of disadvantages (fortunately substituted by the powers that gives us our complex brain). And what are the disadvantages? Only enumerate a few: poor muscle strength, deficient speed racing; deficiencies in taste, touch, smell and hearing; high frequency of diseases of the spine (as a consequence of bipedalism), among others. Something that we might see is that these features are useful for our lifestyle, but are weak in relation to other living things. Recall that the biological adaptations are relative and not absolute, as we sometimes think. They’re relative concerning the environment, interaction between species, the ecological niche and the interaction between the set of morphological features present in the same species. At this point, I think I strayed from the arguments relating to religion and I entered the next group of arguments: those who had to do with natural sciences. Anyway, it should be pointed out that the fact that the Bible presents a conceptually different history from what we are accustomed, not necessarily imply the non-existence of God. I propose this argument as single evidence that it is a book written by men and inspired by men (and mainly by political and economic power, anxious throughout the entire history of mankind).


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The council, in a special meeting with Pastor Anderson has decided to reopen “in person” worship. The Church Council decided to return to worship on March 28 with a COVID safe service and annual meeting.
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Click April_2021_newsleter.pdf here to download a PDF file of the church newsletter.
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Our Synod has an excellent website full of information pertaining to the COVID 19 Pandemic. There are so many resources on there that could be helpful to you and your family during these uncertain and scary times, as well as current updates and facts. Everything from daily devotionals, kids activities, how to talk with your children about what’s happening, health resources, mental health resources, videos….. the list seems endless, so check out their website.


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PittCo Young Life Golf Tournament
Join us on June 17th at 1:00 at Tuscarora as we host our second annual Golf Tournament. Come join us as we get a round of golf in and celebrate the goodness of the Lord. We are looking for teams and sponsors.
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from his autobiography, with additions by his wife Edna
After serving in the U.S. Army for three years in World War II, Dan In 1960, Dan graduated from Wheaton College, followed by a M. Div and Th. M. from Central Baptist Seminary, followed some years later by a research-master's degree in biology from Ohio University. He then taught for five years at Wingate College in North Carolina, followed by seven years at Grace College in Indiana, where he helped to establish a standard biology department.
In 1973 he left full-time teaching to devote the remainder of his life to the study of sedimentary geology and the teaching of how it helps us to understand and appreciate the Biblical account of creation.
Betweem 1974 and 1977 he wrote the book God's Time-Records in Ancient Sediments to explain to Christians what the sedimentary rock layers of the earth are like, and why most of them required long periods of time to be deposited and converted into types of rock. In his own words, "Helping Christians to learn this kind of information has been my primary work since 1973, and this work is needed more now than ever. Christians need to reject evolutionism, but when they reject true scientific discoveries they bring disgrace upon the Bible and Christianity."
Dan opposed the "misunderstanding which was being promoted by extreme creationist leaders in many of the Christian schools and colleges of the U.S. and Canada." His conclusions are found in his second book, Neglect of Geologic Data: Sedimentary Strata Compared with Young-Earth Creationist Writings, which he first published in 1987.
In both of these books, Dan was obsessed with ensuring the complete accuracy his assertions from geology, and he submitted his writings to the review of experts in the geologic field.
In addition to these two books, Dan also wrote a number of reviews and short papers, some of which are listed below.
Resume of Professional and Personal Data
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We invite you to join us for any or all of the following opportunities this week:
Join us for a brief Holy Communion service as we celebrate The Lords’ Table via Zoom. If you have not already received an email with the Meeting Link, please contact us at Office@levpres.org
Take a 20 minute spiritual retreat any time Good Friday using our on-line meditation. This simple presentation creates a contemplative background environment full of scripture, laying out the story of Good Friday and giving you ample time to pray and contemplate what our Lord did for you on that first Good Friday.
On-line Worship and (limited) In-Person Worship is available Easter morning. We hope you can join us!


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Our Mission Statement: To live life abundantly THROUGH the Worship of God and Service to others.
(Check here for urgent announcements, special service times, cancellations, etc.)
January 20, 2019
Worship Services and Sunday School will still be held.
The parking lot is plowed and the front walkways are shoveled and salted, but the parking lot remains a bit slippery. Please consider your own comfort with driving in these winter conditions before coming.
Reminder: Annual Meeting Part II: Sunday January 27 following worship.
Redeemer Lutheran Church
140 E 32nd St
Jasper, IN 47546
Phone: 812 634-1123
Pastor:Rev. Adam Ruschau
Secretary: Kristine Harris
(Holy Communion is typically celebrated at all weekend worship services)
(durring the school year)


This article is part of gb&d‘s Green Typologies series, Places of Worship: Contemporary Religious Design in America.
Originally derived from the Greek katholikos, the word catholic means universal, or pertinent to all. If modern architecture is defined by abstraction, the Cathedral of Christ the Light in Oakland, California, designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), is abstract in the most catholic sense of the term. The 250,000-square-foot church complex, with its distinguishable 136-foot-tall, glass-clad cathedral, overlooks the northwestern arm of Oakland’s scenic Lake Merritt. It sets an expressive foreground for the church, which forms the communal center for more than 500,000 Catholics in Alameda and Contra Costa counties.
Traditionally, Catholic architectural history is as stately as it is iconic, not only for the way it reflects the strength of the Catholic theological tradition but also for its assertive and at times authoritarian assumptions. Although customarily reverential in its grandeur, Catholic architecture is often firmly rooted in its European and Gothic genealogy, and—perhaps at the price of being a 1,500-year-old legacy—it frequently fails in its aesthetic expression to abide by the apostle Paul’s injunction to “be all things to all people.”
Through its innovative use of site development, urban planning, and spatial orientation, the Cathedral of Christ the Light draws its abstractions both from universal religious experience and the Catholic liturgy to create a truly comprehensive program. In addition to the cathedral, the campus includes a mausoleum, parish hall, conference center, a garden, diocese offices, archive and library, rectory with housing for 12 clergy, a cathedral store, a parking structure, a free legal clinic, and a free health clinic. However, as Craig Hartman, design partner at SOM and designer of Christ the Light, says, “We made all of these dependencies secondary to the cathedral itself, which is slightly turned on the orthogonal campus plan so that its long axis engages the long axis of the lake, while the dependencies surrounding the cathedral engage the surrounding urban elements.”
The 1,350-seat cathedral is symbolically oriented to mirror its penitent function by being situated in the city and positioned to overlook the lake, and for Hartman, it was this type of religious awe that inspired the architecture. “We were trying to discover what constitutes the spiritual quality of a physical space,” Hartman says. “The essence of sacred space isn’t luxurious materials and iconography, or even architecture. To stand within a majestic grove of sequoias with delicate light filtering through the overhead canopies is to experience spiritual space. It was that ineffable, poetic quality of light that can ennoble even the most modest of materials that we were searching for in the design of the cathedral.”
With this model in mind, the cathedral begins with 15-foot-high concrete walls, formed with fly ash, a recycled material, and slag. In addition to forming a bold and sculptural backdrop, the walls function to create thermal mass while also performing an integral role in the structure’s thermal inertia system. “This is a passive system,” Hartman says. “We’ve cut small grills in the floor under the pews, and we allow cool air harvested overnight to come into the cathedral in the morning, and it remains there even as the building heats during the day. During the winter, we use hot water in the floor slabs to create radiant heating, just like the Romans did in the first millennium.”
The wooden walls are made from Douglas fir pieces, sourced from renewable forests, that are ribbed and louvered together as they ascend to the oval ceiling, which is made of faceted aluminum and diffuses light transferred through the glass oculus on the cathedral’s roof. The oculus takes the form of a gigantic Vesica Piscis, a shape formed at the intersection of two circles that share the same radius.
The cathedral’s interior volume and exterior shape are both derived from rigorous geometries. The interior wooden structure comprises two spherical segments while its pellucid exterior skin is formed by two conical segments of fritted glass, translucent laminate glass, and clear low-E glass. White aluminum mullions, set on a 10-by-5-foot grid pattern, frame the glass. “The fritting has a geometric design pattern to give it a very organic quality,” Hartman says. “And given this tapestry of translucent and opaque patterned glass, the building image changes throughout the day; at times it appears very solid and at other times becomes very ephemeral and luminous.”
The interior and exterior forms meet as concentric circular segments atop the concrete base. The cathedral’s lightweight, high-strength structure was made by lacing the two shapes together with compressive struts of wood and delicate tensile rods of steel.
Further into the realm of abstraction, behind the altar on the cathedral interior is a 58-foot-high icon of Christ drawn from a Romanesque sculptural relief circa AD 1140 located on the west façade of the Chartres Cathedral in France. The ancient bas-relief sculpture is recast as an aluminum veil, with the image of Christ rendered in light passing through 94,000 laser-cut perforations.
In addition to the thermal inertia and comprehensive daylighting systems, longevity was an essential aspect for the construction of the cathedral. The former home of the Catholic Diocese of Oakland was at the Cathedral of Saint Francis de Sales, which was irreparably damaged in 1989’s Loma Prieta earthquake. Christ the Light is set on a friction-pendulum, seismic base-isolation system. The elasticity of the wood will also serve to offset ground tremors, so although the cathedral is lightweight, it is also strong. “The diocese wants this building to last 300 years,” Hartman says. “Part of making sustainability viable in California is making buildings withstand earthquakes, which is why we’ve base-isolated the building.”
Since the cathedral was completed in 2008, it has not only affected change by creating a multiuse center for greater Oakland’s Catholic community, but through its publically accessible community programs and services, it has fostered a sense of universality—or Catholicism—that has brought new life to Oakland’s Uptown area.
“In terms of its function, but also its technologies, this is a building very much made for this time and this place,” Hartman says. “Oakland is a diverse, multicultural city, so the intention was to create a building form that was welcoming to all of these cultures while also specifically honoring the Catholic liturgy.”
This article is part of gb&d‘s Green Typologies series, which in each issue explores a single type of building. For more of our most recent collection, Places of Worship: Contemporary Religious Design in America, choose from the list below.
• Prayer Pavilion of Light, DeBartolo Architects
• Green Mosque Proposal, Faith in Place
• St. Nicholas Eastern Orthodox Church, Marlon Blackwell Architect
• Westchester Reform Temple, Rogers Marvel Architects


St Stephen’s School aims to create a caring, inclusive educational environment. It is a community where students feel they belong and know they have every opportunity to explore their potential, realise their academic or vocational promise, and thrive.
We are a progressive independent school of the Uniting Church, with a reputation for excellence in teaching and developing well-rounded young people.
With two campuses in Perth’s northern suburbs, in Duncraig and Carramar, the School offers a holistic education from Pre-Kindergarten to Year 12.
St Stephen’s School was the first school established by the Uniting Church (WA) following its inception in 1977, uniting Methodist, Presbyterian and Congregational churches. The School was established in 1984 at the current Duncraig campus site. As Perth’s northern corridor continued to flourish with new families, the Carramar campus was built and officially opened in 2001. In 2011, an Early Learning Centre for Pre-Kindergarten to Year 2 opened at Hepburn Heights, Padbury to complete St Stephen’s School’s multi-campus options for families in Perth’s north.
St Stephen was chosen as the School’s namesake in recognition of his character, service, wisdom and faith, which aligned with the values embraced by the School and its community.
Our mission to Serve God, Serve One Another is underpinned by five key values – faith, learning, service, care and community. We welcome all who share these values, from all faiths and backgrounds.


Return to Studies
Let Bygones be Bygones
A Bible Study on Matt. 6:12
I remember when my grandmother was around eighty-five years old. She was in the nursing home, and she told me a story about a mean thing my grandfather did to her sixty years earlier. Actually she had told me the story before, but she told me again when she was in the nursing home. Grandpa was working on the car one day. She thought she would be nice and see if she could help him, so she was asking him some questions about what was wrong with the vehicle. He said to her very calmly and seriously, "If you really want to help me, just hold this sparkplug wire right here on this sparkplug." So she held the wire and he sat down in the car, and started the engine. Now you know if you have ever had much to do with car engines that when you start the engine thousands of volts run through that sparkplug wire--so Grandma got a tremendous shock. It hit her so hard it almost knocked her down. Grandpa thought it was hilarious. As you can tell Grandpa was not a sensitive person. But sixty years later, when he had been dead about ten years, she still remembered that incident with anger and bitterness, and she said that the thing that made her most indignant was not just that he played that horrible practical joke on her but that he laughed so hard about it. Now as I mentioned, she told me that story a number of times, and so finally I asked, "Grandma, did you ever forgive him?" She said, "Yes I did, but I never forgot it, and I never will."
Let us talk about forgiveness. Suppose your business partner double-crosses you leaving you in bankruptcy court. Suppose your spouse is having an affair. Suppose you tell your best friend something in confidence, and your friend repeats it to the whole world. Can you ever forgive them? Perhaps the first question is: Do you want to forgive them? I have discovered that people are capable of forgiving even the most grievous offenses, if they choose to do so. It is a matter of choice.
If we do not believe something is forgivable, we are not even going to try to forgive, but the message of scripture is that we must always try. On the cross, Jesus forgave those who crucified him. Most of us never have to even think about forgiving anything that horrible. Jesus is our example. He shows us how forgiving we should be.
Body-Mind. We need to be a forgiving people because it is good for the body-mind. Any time we stew in a lot of hatred, it has a wide range of effects. It makes us into very angry and hostile people. Psychologists tell us that an unforgiving anger may keep us awake at night. We are so angry we cannot go to sleep. We are too angry to eat. Such anger may cause headaches, high blood pressure, and even fatigue. Being an angry person tires us out.
If we keep that unforgiving anger inside us, it can affect our productivity at work. It can affect our ability to concentrate. How can we concentrate when we are so mad at those people? It can affect our ability to make new friends. People do not want to be around angry people.
Our Need For Forgiveness. All that says that we need to learn to be a forgiving people, but before we can learn that, we must learn who needs forgiveness the most. I do. I am the sinner who needs forgiveness.
Before we can honestly pray the petition from the Lord's Prayer asking for forgiveness, we must realize our need to pray it. That is to say, we must have a sense of our personal sins. Sin, of course, is not a very popular concept today. People today resent being told that they are sinners who deserve to go to hell. Part of the problem is that we have the wrong concept of sin. We think of the sinner as the murderer, the adulterer, the burglar, the drug dealer. We think that if we live what society would call a decent, ordinary, respectable life, if we avoid going to jail, we are not sinners. But the NT defines sin as any failure to give to God what we ought to give him. Sin is any failure to be what we could be for God. Since God is holy and right, sin is any stepping across the line between right and wrong. It is any slip or any misstep whether we get caught or not.
This sort of reminds me of a story I heard about a man filing out an application for a job. One of the questions was: "Have you ever been arrested?" He put down "No." The next question was, "If so, Why?" He put down "Haven't been caught yet." A man that honest should have been hired on the spot.
Sin is a universal disease that has infected all of us. Outward respectability in the sight of man does not mean that we are free from inward sin. So when we pray, "Lord, forgive us our debts, forgive us our shortcomings, forgive us our sins," I am the one who needs to pray that. It is me, O Lord, that is the sinner.
Knowing that then, knowing how often I have transgressed against God, I am able to forgive those who transgress against me. This is the foundation for all our forgiving. If we are aware of how deeply we have sinned against God, and that we have been forgiven, then we are willing to forgive. It follows then that people who are unwilling to forgive are people who do not know how much they have sinned against God and how much they have been forgiven
Let us take an example: Dorothy Reid Lewis and her two children were abducted from a grocery store parking lot on January 30, 1993. She was raped, shot four times and left for dead. Both of her two children were shot and killed. Her abductors were Richard Henyard and Alfonza Smalls, two young black men, ages 18 and 14. They were caught and convicted of murder. One is now on death row; the other is serving eight consecutive life sentences.
Now Dorothy Reid Lewis is a black woman with a lot of faith. She says she has forgiven them. In an interview in The Orlando Sentinel in 1994, Lewis said that she does not hate Henyard and Smalls, and feels no anger toward them--because she has put herself in God's hands--because she knows a forgiving God, she is able to forgive what may seem to be unforgivable.
As We Forgive. Notice that the prayer in V12 is not just "Forgive us our sins," but "Forgive us our sins, in proportion as we forgive those who have sinned against us." And Jesus is so concerned that we might not get it that he tells us again in Vs 14 and 15: If we forgive others, God will forgive us. If we refuse to forgive others, God will refuse to forgive us.
It therefore follows that if we pray this petition with an unforgiving heart, then we are not forgiven. If we say, "I will never forgive so and so for what he or she did to me," and then pray for God to forgive as we forgive, then what we are asking is for God not to forgive us.
The only way to have forgiveness is to give it away. This the way of all spiritual gifts. We have spiritual gifts only in so far as we give them away. With regard to forgiveness, if we have it, we give it. If we do not give it, we do not have it. Our forgiveness of others and God's forgiveness of us cannot be separated. They are one and indivisable. Think of it this way. Forgiveness is part of a current of love that flows down to us from God. The current flows through Jesus to us and on to others. If we refuse to allow the current to flow through us to others, then we break the connection, and we no longer receive the forgiving love of God. Certainly, we want that love. That means then that we want to learn to be a forgiving people. Let me mention three things that will help us to forgive--understanding, forgetting, loving.
First, in order to forgive, we must understand. People do stupid evil things for a reason. If a person is impolite or cranky, perhaps that person is worried or in pain. My wife says that I am the most impolite, cranky person in the world, whenever I am sick. Perhaps so. Perhaps we should realize that the person who is making our life miserable is miserable.
If a person treats you with suspicion and dislike perhaps it is because she does not understand you, or she has misunderstood things you have said, or has been misinformed about things you have said. We have all had the experience where someone was angry at us because they heard that we said so and so, and we never even said it. What we need to do in that case is not to get angry at them because they are angry at us, but just make sure that they understand what we actually said or did. If someone is going to be mad at us, they ought to be mad at us for something real, not for something someone said we did or said we said.
Also, we need to understand that many people have come from situations and families where hostility, anger, and suspicion were the norm. This is the way they have been taught to behave.
I remember once, when someone treated my mother badly, she just sort of shook her head, and said with great kindness, "They just do not know any better." That was all she needed to say. Because she understood where they were coming from, she was able to ignore their meanness and go on with her life as if it never happened.
Again, if a person comes from a critical, harsh background, if they come from a family where they were faulted for a lot of things, they are likely to grow up to be critical and harsh and unforgiving people. Again, we need to understand where they are coming from.
Let us talk about fat. We have many words for fat--overweight, rotund, chubby, corpulent, obese. We have allthese words for a weight problem, but have you ever noticed that no one is more critical of a weight problem than someone who has lost weight. Because they have overcome their weight problem--tt least they have overcome it for the moment, though they may gain it all back next year--but because of that they think that they are justified in criticizing everyone else's weight, but they are not because no one has hired them to be a watcher of other people's weight. This is a lesson we all need to learn. We should be self-critical. That does not entitle us to be critical of others.
Also, as we grow up, we learn a certain temperament, and temperament plays a part in our willingness to forgive. Some people have very sensitive natures, so they are easily hurt, and forgiveness is a bigger issue to them than to others. On the other hand, some people have the psychic hide of an elephant. They are not easy to hurt. Things that offend others pass them right by without them even noticing, so they do not get hurt much and do not realize when they hurt others, and so they so not see much need for forgiveness.
Understanding these things then, understanding people, makes forgiveness easier. Of course, understanding is not easy. It takes effort to understand where others are coming from and many people are too lazy to make the effort, they find it easier to condemn. They find it easier to give up on people. They will give up on a relative, a friend, a spouse before they give up on their resentment.
This is an attitude of our time. We live in a throwaway age. We do not fix anything. We throw it away and buy a new one. That may be fine with technology. It may be true that if it costs a lot to repair a TV or an oven, then it makes more sense to get a new one. We faced that problem at the manse this week. The oven burned out, and the repairman said that it was going to cost half as much to repair it as it would to buy a new one. Faced with that kind of problem, it seemed the best stewardship of the Lord's money to buy a new one. But people are not appliances. People are not machines. People are not throwaway devices. We never give up on people.
The second thing to help us forgive is forgetfulness. Speaking of God's forgiveness, IS38:17 says, "You have cast all my sins behind your back." This does not mean that God has amnesia about our sins. God knows everything so he must know about our sins. He knows what our sins are, but he has cast all those sins behind him. That is to say, he has decided to treat us as if we have not sinned. Again PS32, "Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered." God knows our sins, but he has covered our sins with Christ, and is willing to act toward us as if we were as sinless as Christ.
That is the way that we should forget. In one sense, we do not forget. Some psychologists say that we never really forget anything. We just do not happen to remember it at the moment. But if we trigger the right associations, then any memory that we have ever had will suddenly come bouncing right back into our minds again--and for most people the easiest things to recall are those times when somebody did us wrong. We saw that same process in the story I told about my grandmother. The incident happened sixty years earlier, but when the right associations were triggered, it all came right back. And we may not be able to do much about that kind of memory. The human mind is a funny thing. Trying to forget something just brands it all the more deeply on our minds.
But if we can never entirely forget that someone did us wrong, we can stop letting the incident have power over our lives. That is what forgiveness is. Forgiveness is knowing that something happened that made us furious and then deciding to refuse to let what happened have any power or influence over us. That is what God does when God casts our sins behind his back. If we want God's forgiveness, that is what we must do. We let bygones be bygones.
The third thing we need to be a forgiving people is love. The Greek word for Christian love is agape. Agape is that undefeatable good-will, that will never seek anything but what is best for others, no matter what they do to us and no matter how they treat us. When we love like that, then we dwell in love and we are forgiven. In LK7, a woman anointed Jesus' feet with her tears and dried them with her hair, and the Pharisee was critical of Jesus for allowing her to do this because she was a woman of bad reputation. But Jesus said of her in V47, "Her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven loves little." He said her love proves that she has been forgiven, because people who do not love much have not much forgiveness. Forgiveness is a characteristic of love. A loving person is a forgiving person, and a loving person is a forgiven person.
Let us conclude then with the process of forgiveness. Forgiving happens in four stages: hurt, hate, healing, and reconciliation. When someone does us wrong, we are pushed into the first stage of forgiving--we hurt. In the second stage, we cannot shake the memory of how much we were hurt, and we cannot wish our enemy well--we hate. We want the person who hurt us to suffer. In the third stage, we remember how often we have hurt others and how often we have hurt God. We develop the ability to see the person who hurt us with new eyes. We see ourselves in them, and we see them as frail, fallible, human beings. By this insight, we are healed of our hate and hurt. Our insight into this person can then allow us to proceed to the final stage--reconciliation.
Now you might ask, What if there is no reconciliation? What if I forgive and the other person does not care whether I forgive them or not? That does not matter. If the other person does not accept our forgiveness, that is their problem with God not ours. Our part is to forgive. We need to forgive in order to heal the wound that their sin made in our psyche. When someone has done you wrong, they have dealt you a spiritual or psychic wound. The wound must be healed somehow. We heal that wound by being understanding, and forgetting, and loving. We let bygones be bygones and get on with our lives. Amen.


I was talking last week about the young man whom the experience of reading Aristotle’s Ethics had “scared.” In talking with him, I dropped the ball, and I promised to tell how.
Some people may think this has nothing to do with natural law. I think it has a great deal to do with it. It seems to me that the theory of natural law ought to be able to address itself to the reasons why the theory alone is insufficient. Our problem is not just in the intellect.
As I explained in the previous post, the mere discussion of virtue had troubled my guest’s conscience. He told me that it had made him realize that he hadn’t led a virtuous life. Aristotle hadn’t mentioned the moral law, but conscience informed my guest that the virtues are commanded by that law. He was telling me that he was frightened by that accuser. He wanted to know what he could do about it. He already knew how Aristotle would advise him to live. But he hadn’t lived that way.
I told him I didn’t think Aristotle had the answer to his question, but I did think there was an answer. He asked me to tell him what it was.
This request put me in a difficulty. "I could speak about that,” I told him, “but not as a representative of the State of Texas, which employs me as a teacher. I could only do it from the perspective of my faith."
"Would you do that?"
"Are you giving me permission to speak with you not professor to student, but man to man?"
"Yes. That's what I want you to do."
I made a silly gesture of taking off my professor hat. I explained that he was free to say anything he wished without fear that it could affect his standing in the course. That didn’t concern him. He wanted to get on with it.
So I told him I thought he was experiencing what the New Testament calls the conviction of sin. He said that made sense to him.
I then said the question was about how to be forgiven of sin and healed of what was broken. He said that was what he wanted.
So in inward fear and trembling, I explained the Gospel of Christ to him. He had been “scared”; now, I confess, I was. But he accepted the truth of it all without hesitation.
And he told me it sounded wonderful.
Then would he be interested in entering into that world of forgiveness? No. And this was the reason that he gave: He wasn’t good enough to be forgiven.
Disturbed by compassion, thinking he had misunderstood, I said that if we were good enough, we wouldn’t need forgiveness in the first place. Not being good enough is the point. That’s why divine mercy is called grace; it is an undeserved gift. First God forgives us; then He makes us good. There would be no need to make us good if we were good already. Neither would there be a need for forgiveness.
But like a mantra, he kept saying “God couldn’t forgive me.” Dropping his voice, he said I didn’t know all the things he had done. “I’m not a good man like you, professor.” I said the comparison was inappropriate because he didn’t know all the things I had done either. Christ suffered for us not because we didn’t need it, but because we did.
It was as though he didn’t hear me. The problem was not just that he was in despair. It was that he clung to his despair, much as the saints cling to hope. And so the conversation went.
According to St. Thomas Aquinas, the sin of Satan was that he wanted something of his own power, something he had not received from God. So I asked my guest whether his conviction that he was too sinful to be forgiven might be rooted in a kind of pride. Was he suggesting that his sin was so great, so unique, that it towered even over God’s mercy? For nothing can overcome God’s mercy.
My last shot was to ask whether he claiming that his moral standards were higher than God’s -- that in this sense he was more righteous than God – that he wouldn’t allow God to sink so low as to forgive him? For it isn’t because of low standards that God forgives us.
The questions simply didn’t register with him. He iterated and reiterated his formula that he was not good enough to be forgiven. He repelled reasons like oilcloth repels water. He longed for forgiveness, but he was resolute not to be forgiven.
We talked. We parted. For several years I saw him on campus from time to time. He always greeted me and chatted for a few minutes. But the conversation that day had completely failed.
Why had it? Only God knows, but after years of thinking about it, I do suspect part of the reason. Taking my guest’s statements at face value, I think I had utterly misread both his motive and the state of his understanding. I thought then that he was missing the point about forgiveness, but in fact he did get the point. I thought then that he didn’t understand that he could be forgiven and healed, but in fact he did know he could be.
The problem, I now suspect, was that he wanted to be forgiven, but not healed. The fatal flaw in his motive was unwillingness to change and be changed. We cannot cooperate with the grace of forgiveness unless we also cooperate with the grace of healing, but he wanted only the first half of the deal.
I should have challenged him. I didn’t.
No one can refuse good except for the sake of some other apparent good – St. Thomas again. I didn’t see that some good must have seemed even better to him than beatitude. I didn’t recognize that even in the teeth of unhappiness, the pursuit of some cherished desire seemed better to him than the Supreme Happiness which leaves nothing further to be desired. So, though he could barely live with himself, still he clung to himself. Desiring to preserve his life, he was losing it.
I haven’t seen him in years, but I still pray for him. I pray for his redemption. I pray that he might have talked with others, who didn’t drop the ball as badly as I did. I also pray that I will do better, the next time someone turns up at my door to show me his trembling hands.


CHOIR OF CLARE COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE
The Choir of Clare College, Cambridge returns to LA for a Holiday Concert under the breathtaking dome of the Second Church of Christ Scientist (Art of Living Foundation).
SECOND CHURCH OF CHRIST SCIENTIST (Art of Living Foundation)
Upon its completion in 1910, the recently-restored Second Church of Christ Scientist was the largest house of worship west of Chicago. The building is spectacular inside and out. Imposing Corinthian columns decorate the facade of the structure, topped by a monumental copper dome. The foyer is richly appointed; the vast sanctuary flooded with natural light. The Church has been used as a temple by the Art of Living Foundation since 2008.
$85 – Front Row – reserved seats with individual name tags.
$65 – Second Row – reserved seats with individual name tags.
$30 – General Admission – open seating.
$10 – Student – email [email protected] with a valid student ID for a promo code. Open seating. Limited spots available.
Details forthcoming. Guests will be emailed instructions prior to the concert date.


Deep down, you know forgiveness is a good idea.So why is it so hard to forgive and be forgiven?
In Reckless Grace, Bill Vanderbush and Brit Eaton unpack the theological and practical applications of God’s “reckless” grace and invite you to be an active participant in releasing that same grace into an increasingly offense-filled world.
A powerful, biblical case for receiving and releasing God’s reckless grace
Practical steps to help you identify and overcome barriers to grace in your life
Visioning, activations, and invitations into a grace revolution in the Body of Christ
“God isn’t reckless. But the way in which He extends grace defies reason. Scripture proves He initiates forgiveness before we even know to ask for it – without concern for Himself or the consequences of His actions. It’s reckless. And it’s what we’re called to as grace-filled believers.”
“Once you get a taste of God’s reckless grace? You’re going to want to spend the rest of your life giving it away.”
When I’m not writing words that move you, I’m speaking them. Because when God gives you fiery passion for discipleship, identity, unity, and grace? It’s too hard to stay silent.
Want me to come speak at your church, conference, workshop, seminar, retreat, meeting or other event? Shoot me a note and I’ll be in touch!
Marriage + Family
Brit Eaton is a writer, speaker, discipler, and all-around pursuer of the Kingdom of God. She helps corporate, nonprofit, and ministry leaders find the words to say to move people to action.
An eager apostle and strong advocate for nontraditional recovery and women in ministry, Brit ministers in diverse, spirit-filled environments committed to unity in the Body of Christ. Brit is co-author of Reckless Grace, a book inspired by and developed with Bill Vanderbush and co-author of The Uncovery, a soon-to-be-released book inspired by and developed with George Wood.
Brit lives in a log home on ten wooded acres in Mount Vernon, Ohio with her husband, Mike and daughter, Bella and they are a part of Reformation 1420, a decentralized group of Christian reformers.
You can’t afford to stay silent about what matters most to you—your ideas, your mission, your calling. Work with me and you’ll not only find the words to say… you’ll get the support you need along the way.
Bringing movements and ideas to life in writing is no small task. Whatever you’re trying to say or sell, somewhere underneath it all you probably have a higher purpose in mind – a “reason why” that keeps you moving forward. When I help you tap into your higher purpose, I get to live out my own. (Isn’t that nice?)
So who do I work with? Mostly faith-based, not-for-profit, and unusually purpose-driven for-profit organizations, entrepreneurs, and small businesses.
Words are your most powerful engagement tool. It’s as simple as that.
Crafting messaging platforms, training curriculum, storytelling campaigns, and spot-on copy alongside my clients brings breakthrough – leading to the “ah-ha” moments that build trust, foster loyalty, and make people believe again (or maybe for the first time ever).
This kind of writing takes courage. I’m not afraid to use emotion as a driver in my work. And once you work with me, you won’t be, either. You’ll discover for yourself that emotion is the secret sauce that moves people to action faster than anything else. (Hello, bottom-line benefit!)


Social networking tools for today's connected church.
There’s a big vision behind The City, and it comes from the words of Jesus in Matthew 5:14-16. It’s a vision of technology being leveraged to help the Church live as a city set on a hill, shining the light of the Gospel to the whole world.
The City helps your church gather up the disconnected pieces of modern life and knit them together into one complete whole. When that happens, everyone in your church starts to belong, to give and receive, to move together in one direction, and it’s powerful.
Create a private social network for your church.
The City helps everyone in your church stay engaged in daily life and ministry. It's a group-oriented social network that's all about helping your church build deeper community and extend the love of Christ to the world.
- Maintain trust and build deeper relationships through private community.
- Enable all communities and individuals within your church to communicate freely, anytime and anywhere.
- Connect newcomers and disconnected members into the life of your church.
- Empower grassroots ministry through responsible delegation of authority.
- Target communication to just the right people, every time.
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- Encourage generosity through online giving.
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Visit The City's website for more information.
Discover how socially-focused software can help you do just that and so much more! Use the helpful information and resources provided below to find out about the power of The City — learn from other churches, look through some helpful resources, and discover how you can increase engagement at your church.


John 8 recounts a time when Jesus was interrupted by a group of Pharisees as he taught in the temple. They had a woman who was caught in the act of adultery, and according to the law of Moses, she should be stoned to death. Also, according to this law, they needed two witnesses (v. 17),which they did not have, a point they overlooked, revealing the true intent of this interchange.
The verse I’d like to lean into is found after Jesus responds, not reacts, to the charges.
“He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” John 8:7, NKJV
There was a crowd gathered that day. People there to learn from Jesus. And those hoping to get some evidence to accuse Him. What would you do with this adulteress? They asked.
According to the law, anyone committing adultery deserves death.
What would you have us do with this woman, Jesus? Please tell us in front of this crowd so they can see Who You really are.
And, all eyes on Him….
Jesus, undaunted, stoops down. If He’s offended at their lack of respect, it doesn’t show. His focus is on her.
Because He knows this is about so much more than her.
And, as He rises, He stares down her accusers.
Did you ever consider that, out of the whole line up of Pharisees and all the people gathered —Jesus was the only one who met His qualifications?
Jesus alone was sinless. Jesus alone was not caught in the adulterous business of breaking the law. He was. Stainless. Spotless. Unblemished.
If He was about interpreting the law the way they had, If he was being religious about it, He could have thrown a stone at her.
And, at everyone else.
But instead, He not only caused her accusers to go away….
He would eventually take the punishment she deserved.
Because, as He would say later on. “I am the Light of the world.” The spiritual light that no darkness overcomes. (v 12) The fullest extent of both grace and truth.(1:14) They don’t exclude each other.
I fulfill this law. And I came to save the world, not condemn it. (3:16-17)
The Kingdom of God is powerful. Life giving. Grace insisting. It realizes that mercy, not religion, is the path to lasting obedience.
She was clearly guilty.
But, says Jesus,
so was everyone else gathered, outside of Him.
Go. He told her. Remember this moment. Remember the love in my eyes as I stooped down on your behalf.
Sin no more. Continue in obedience because you remember My love for you.
The Word of God is alive and active. This story cuts and heals if you let it–we have to allow ourselves in. When we realize we are that woman. When we realize that stone could have been hurled our way. When we realize that Jesus has chosen to apply grace to us after we were caught in adultery with the world….then it becomes our story of redemption.
Oh, to reflexively apply mercy to each situation in my life which causes me pause or offends… Tempts me to be religious or self righteous. To realize I’m no better off. Just grateful Jesus stooped down from Heaven and took my place when I was so clearly guilty. The stone He could have thrown was actually rolled away from His tomb. And He made my accuser flee in utter defeat so I could walk in the Light.
What a privilege to lock eyes with that Jesus and experience such love.
Unlike the woman at the well, we don’t really know what happened to this lady or to anyone else for that matter. I can hope though….
I’d like to think each time someone heard about a stoning, something rose up in them. That every time they clenched their teeth in anger, or saw a stone as they walked from one place to another…they thought differently.
I’d like to think everyone went home after that day and treated their families, their neighbors, their coworkers, people who cut them off in traffic, total strangers in Target and Starbucks differently, having seen such fullness of grace and truth in action….


PLAN OF SALVATION - PLAN DEL SALVACIÓN
HERE ARE SOME THINGS THE BIBLE SAYS ABOUT SIN:
Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; but the free gift of eternal life is in Christ Jesus.
HERE'S THE GOOD NEWS:
Romans 10:8-10 King James Version (KJV)
8 But what saith it? The word is near you, even in your mouth, and in your heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you shalt be saved. For with the heart man believe unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
LET US PRAY
Jesus, I ask you to forgive me and cleanse me from all my sins. I believe you died for me and was resurrected and is alive forevermore. I receive you as my savior. Change my heart and my life and grant me your eternal life, amen.
QUIERES ACEPTO JESUS?
AQUÍ HAY ALGUNAS COSAS QUE LA BIBLIA DICE ACERCA DEL PECADO:
Romanos 3:23 por cuanto todos pecaron, y están destituidos de la gloria de Dios; pero el regalo gratuito de la vida eterna está en Cristo Jesús.


Click to view the ministry brochure
| Welcome Table|
This ministry answers Jesus' command to Peter to 'feed my sheep.' Once a month, on a Monday, we cook meat loaf from 9-10am. On the Tuesday after, we bring the food down to St. John's St. Ann's Outreach center in Albany where we prepare a meal. We then serve a sit-down meal to well over 200 persons from 11:30-1pm. We also need someone to bake a cake twice a year. Other than that, no special skills are required, just the desire to serve.


Before we go any further you need to know that I am a cherished child of the Most High God who believes that Jesus Christ is our LORD and Savior!
I am number six out of seven children, not the oldest and not the baby either! I was the quiet and shy child who was very studious and could get lost in a good book! We were brought up old school and on Sunday you went to church or you could do anything else! I learned about God early in my life, but it was not until I was in my twenties that I began a personal relationship and journey with God! On this journey I found that one of the gifts God blessed me with is to be a prayer warrior!
I have found out that prayer has helped through many circumstances in my life! It is a game changer! Without a doubt I know that my God is the God of the impossible! He has proved it time after time! The fact that I am writing this blog is proof of that!
It is my ardent hope that on this blog you will get a sense of the peace, love and joy God has for you through the prayers and articles posted!
Purpose for Prayer is Key
Prayer is a conversation that you have with God! It is all about the relationship you have with your Abba Father! It is a dialogue not a list of requests. Through my many years of praying to God through joy, pain, hurt, struggle, pain and the miraculous I have learned that God yearns to have conversations with His children. We can talk, ask and request however we MUST also listen!
On this blog you will learn different kinds of prayers, why we should continually pray, prayers that God gifts me with to share with you and anything else the Holy Spirit leads me to do!
This is not my blog but God’s. I am just the tool that He is using to spread the word about how much He loves us!


Capturing the sacred union of two souls in the hallowed halls of a church is a timeless and cherished tradition. A church wedding holds a unique charm, blending spiritual significance with the celebration of love. Recently, we had the privilege of documenting a beautiful church wedding followed by a splendid reception at Farington Lodge, near Preston.
The quaint village church set the stage for an elegant ceremony, bathed in soft, ethereal light streaming through stained glass windows. Every moment was a tableau of emotion, from the exchange of vows to the tender glances shared between the newlyweds.
As the ceremony concluded, the festivities continued at the picturesque Farington Lodge. The historic venue provided a romantic backdrop for the reception, with its lush gardens and grand architecture.
Capturing the laughter, tears, and joyous moments of this union was a true honour. The blend of sacred tradition in the church and the sophisticated celebration at Farington Lodge created a tapestry of memories that will be treasured for a lifetime.
Are you having a church wedding? Why not get in touch to check your date!


If you are a youth, we believe you are going to enjoy our youth camps, conventions and more activities geared for youth in our fellowship. www.ontarioyouth.com
Hi Ladies, time to shine. Our Ladies conferences are one of the highlights of our year in our fellowship. Learn more and click the link. www.ontarioladiesministries.com
Our Men's Ministry rocks the house every year. Held every year in our campground at the Huyck's Bay Camp. Learn more and click the link. www.ontarioapostolicman.com
Worship is the hearteat of our church and we are constantly on lookout for worshippers who are willing to be used by God. If you have your musical talents, your talents are needed in God's house.
Children's Ministry of the Ontario District UPCI and the local church of Hope Worship Centre presents our Junior Camp to be held at the Huyck's Bay Camp. Learn more and click the link. www.ontariochildrensministries.com
To bring the whole gospel to the whole world, by the whole church is our mission. Evangelism is one of the strongest ministry and passion of our church family. We believe on salvation for all race, nations and tongues.
Our Discipleship and Sunday School classes are designed for all ages and programmed to develop the body of Christ for the expansion of God's work. Join us and let us grow together.
Volunteers, greeters, servers ushers, etc.. there is always room to serve in Hope Worship Centre. Take the next step and get involve today.


Kristin Brown is a Southern California native who has made her home in the Metro DC area since college. When Kristin and Scott got married at Cherrydale in 2013, little did she know that God had planned an opportunity to use her passion for communications and ministry in a role here at Cherrydale. Prior to joining the staff as Communications Director/Women’s Ministry Coordinator, Kristin served as a ministry intern at Cherrydale, working in the area of women’s ministry.
Kristin has more than twenty years of communications experience in the Christian non-profit arena, serving most recently as vice president of communications at the Institute for Faith, Work & Economics. She also served in the pro-life movement, as vice president of communications for Care Net, an organization supporting the gospel-centered work of pregnancy centers, and as media director for Family Research Council, a public policy organization in Washington, DC.
She received a Bachelor of Arts in English from Princeton University, where she first trusted Christ as her Savior and Lord. Kristin is currently pursuing a Master of Arts in Religion from Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary and dreams of writing a book someday.
To sign up for the Biblical Courage newsletter or support the podcast, visit: https://biblicalcourage.com/
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/biblicalcourage/support


4 edition of Episcopalians found in the catalog.
Includes bibliographical references (p. -348) and index
|Statement||David Hein and Gardiner H. Shattuck, Jr|
|Series||Denominations in America -- no. 11|
|Contributions||Shattuck, Gardiner H|
|LC Classifications||BX5930.3 .H45 2004|
|The Physical Object|
|Pagination||xv, 361 p. ;|
|Number of Pages||361|
|LC Control Number||2003054723|
Enough to kill a horse
The New-Brunswick almanack for the year of Our Lord 1832
Hist Amer Pres Elct - Vol 7
Absalom and Achitophel
Official zoning ordinance for the city of Trotwood, Ohio
Irish for beginners
History of the town of Winchendon (Worcester County, Mass.)
The puppet masters
Kimon Friar & the graphic arts
To be Australian, a woman, and a writer
Natural and synthetic high polymers.
mathematical and philosophical works of the Right Reverend John Wilkins ...
Mammon, or, Covetousness the sin of the Christian Church
Best books for Episcopalians (in addition to the Bible) I have been looking for books on goodreads that are particularly informative for my faith tradition, which happens to be Episcopal/Anglican. I hope to grow this list and make it a resource for others.
The story of Episcopalians in America is the story of an influential denomination that has furnished a large share of the American political and cultural leadership. Beginning with the Episcopal Church's roots in sixteenth-century England, The Episcopalians offers a /5(9).
We Episcopalians believe in a loving, liberating, and life-giving God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. As constituent members of the Anglican Communion in the United States, we are descendants of and partners with the Church of England and the Scottish Episcopal Church, and are part of the third largest group of Christians in the world.
We believe in following the teachings of Jesus. The Episcopal Church, New York, New York. likes 9, talking about this 2, were here. Follow us on Twitter: Followers: K. Discover the best Episcopalian Christianity in Best Sellers.
Find the top most popular items in Amazon Books Best Sellers. Creeds are statements of our basic beliefs about God. The term comes from the Latin credo, meaning I believe.
While we will always have questions about God, the Church, and our own faith, we have two foundational creeds that we use during worship: the Apostles’ Creed used at baptism and daily worship, and the Nicene Creed used at communion. Book Overview This is a reproduction of a book published before This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc.
that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. ThriftBooks sells millions of used books at the lowest everyday prices.
We personally assess every Episcopalians book quality and offer rare, out-of-print treasures. We deliver the joy of reading in % recyclable packaging with free standard shipping on US orders over $ Church Publishing Incorporated is the publisher of official worship materials, books, church supplies, music, and digital ministry resources for the Episcopal Church.
Books shelved as episcopal: The Book of Common Prayer by Episcopal Church, Inwardly Digest: The Prayer Book as Guide to a Spiritual Life by Derek A.
Olse. The story of the Episcopalians in America is the story of an influential denomination that has furnished a disproportionately large share of the American political and cultural leadership. Beginning with the denomination's roots in 16th-century England, this book offers a fresh account of the Episcopal Church's rise to prominence in America.4/5(1).
Episcopalians believe that the Holy Scriptures are the revealed word of God, and “contain all things necessary for salvation.” Far from Biblical fundamentalism, Episcopalians trust that this revealed word is best interpreted within the community of the Church, advised by tradition, reason, and the ongoing guidance of the Holy Episcopalians book.
The story of Episcopalians in America is the story of an influential denomination that has furnished a large share of the American political and cultural leadership.
Beginning with the Episcopal Church's roots in sixteenth-century England, The Episcopalians offers a fresh account of its rise to prominence.
Chronologically arranged, it traces the establishment of colonial Anglicanism in 4/5(1). The story of Episcopalians in America is the story of an influential denomination that has furnished a large share of the American political and cultural leadership.
Beginning with the Episcopal Church's roots in sixteenth-century England, The Episcopalians offers a fresh account of its rise to s: 1. The Good Book Club is an invitation to all Episcopalians to join in reading Saint Paul’s Letter to the Romans during Epiphany Episcopalians will start reading Romans on January 7, and read a section every day (except Sundays) through the Epiphany season.5/5(17).
by Francis W. Read [NOTE: This work was originally published in the July-August, edition of the New Oxford Review, and was a review of the then newly-published book of essays entitled Worship Points the Way - a celebration of the life and work of Massey Hamilton Shepherd, Jr., published by Seabury Press in and now out of print ] When the Book of Common.
The history of the Scottish Episcopal Church (Scottish Gaelic: Eaglais Easbaigeach na h-Alba) is traced by the church to ancient Church today is a Christian denomination in Scotland and a member of the Anglican has enjoyed a distinct identity and is neither Roman nor English.
It is therefore not a Daughter Church in the Anglican communion. In addition to Daily Morning Prayer and Daily Evening Prayer, the Book of Common Prayer includes other daily devotional services called "Daily Devotions for Individuals and Families". These devotions follow the basic structure of the Daily Office but are intended to be used by a single person or their family - see pages of the Book of.
Books with the subject: Episcopalians. Up to 20 books are listed, in descending order of popularity. A Dictionary for Episcopalians is an ideal reference book for new members, seminarians, clergy, confirmation and inquirers’ classes, altar guilds, church school teachers, and anyone who wants to learn more about the Episcopal Church.
With illustrations and a pronunciation guide, it is a useful addition to every parish library and : Cowley Publications. The story of the Episcopalians in America is the story of an influential denomination that has furnished a disproportionately large share of the American political and cultural leadership.
Beginning with the denomination's roots in 16th-century England, this book offers a fresh account of the Episcopal Church's rise to prominence in America. Baptism is the sacrament of becoming a Christian, which is practiced in many denominations, but slightly differently in each.
Episcopalians generally baptize infants, but will also baptize adult converts under some circumstances. The baptism is usually performed as part of a Eucharistic service, as described in the Book of Common Prayer. Our Saviour in the Town of Secaucus, New Jersey. Bookshop Home.
Books for Episcopalians and about the Episcopal Church. When you find a book you like, simply click on its title to find more information or begin the ordering process from Your purchases help support our public service outreach programs.
It is rare for Anglicans (Episcopalians) to pray the rosary very rare. And for good reason. Here is a standard prayer book for the Episcopal church (Anglican churches around the world have similar): The Online Book of Common Prayer.
The rosary is. May I suggest that your writers use the Book of Common Prayer for consultation. Under summary (1) – the correct way of speaking of our church is The Episcopal Church; People are Episcopalians.
Under summary (2) – An Episcopal Bishop in each local Diocese is elected by lay delegates that come from each parish and clergy of that Diocese/5(26). Question: "What is the Episcopal Church, and what do Episcopalians believe?" Answer: The Episcopal Church, USA (ECUSA) is the official organization of the Anglican Communion in the United States.
Most of the earliest Colonists to America were Anglican Puritans, and the Anglican Church became the established church of Virginia, Maryland, New. Book Description Church Publishing 8/1/, Paperback or Softback. Condition: New. Hein, David / The Episcopalians (Paperback or Softback).
Seller Inventory # BBS More information about this seller | Contact this seller/5(27). Local custom will vary, but generally Episcopalians cross themselves whenever the priest blesses them — for example, after the Confession of Sin during the Eucharist (cf., The Book of.
The Rosary started as an exercise of the mostly illiterate laity to say repetitions of the Our Father (which is the same as the Lord’s Prayer found in Matthew ) to emulate the monastic practice of the daily recitation of the entire Psalter during the Liturgy of the Hours.
Those taking up this practice tended to use knotted ropes or. Explore Episcopalian belief and practice with the seven-volume Welcome to the Episcopal Church Series. Authors Vicki K. Black, Christopher L. Webber, and Peter Wenner present topics ranging from an introduction to the Bible to an outline of the liturgical year.
Learn the ins and outs of the Daily Office, walk through all the pieces of a Sunday service, and dig into the history of the.
Episcopalians celebrate the “Mass” in ways similar to the Roman Catholic tradition, yet do not recognize a single authority, such as the Pope of Rome. The Book of Common Prayer Unique to Anglicanism, though, is the Book of Common Prayer, the collection of worship services that all worshipers in an Anglican church follow.
"The Episcopalians is a solid new history for the twenty-first century."--Robert Bruce Mullin, JOURNAL OF RELIGION "A real tour-de-force. Admirably balanced in coverage of historical periods and with a stunning list of biographical profiles, this book will become the standard reference for scholars and students alike.
Episcopalians united. New York, Morehouse-Gorham Co., (OCoLC) Material Type: Conference publication: Document Type: Book: All Authors / Contributors: Theodore Parker Ferris.
Find more information about: OCLC Number: Notes: Papers delivered at the Church Congress held in Toledo, April Episcopalians typically believe that salvation is an ongoing process that began in the past and continues into the present and the future. Past Salvation The traditional beliefs of the Anglican Church regarding salvation revolve around the belief that humankind is universally marred by sin, which brings death and eternal suffering in hell.
EBA Book Reviews. Seuss said, “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.” Book reviews by EBA members are purposeful, thorough, and of course, subjective.
Our reviews are intended to help you find books that leave you finding your life forever changed. WASHINGTON, D.C.—The last surviving members of the Episcopalian religion voted last week to stop using male pronouns for God, sources at a meeting of the Diocese of Washington, D.C.
37 remaining Episcopalians on Planet Earth conducted the vote in an effort to make the last three or four Episcopal churches in the country be more inclusive, i &hellip. But perhaps because Episcopalians represent such a wide range of political and theological beliefs, they consider the prayer book the “primary symbol of.
Nashville, Tenn., Jan 3, / am MT ().-An Episcopalian priest set out to write a book on finding and understanding the Gospel’s truth. The Book of Common Prayer is the document unifying Episcopalians in every diocese and of every theological persuasion. As such, Episcopalians tend to emphasize the liturgy over other aspects of communal life, though not to the exclusion of all theology.
The Episcopal Church in Mississippi traces its roots back to British West Florida in the late eighteenth century, about the time that the American Episcopal Church formed out of the remnants of the Church of England.
The region around Natchez was the most settled area in what became Mississippi, and the Rev. Adam Cloud arrived [ ]. Lutheran pastors and lay people will benefit from this book as a resource for personal conversation with Episcopalians as well as for Bible study into several contemporary Christian teachings and practices—from Scripture and the sacraments to .While Anglicans and Episcopalians follow a few different versions of the Book of Common Prayer — books compiled from liturgy developed in the 16th century by Thomas Cranmer — Protestants believe the Bible teaches us everything we need to know for our salvation from sin.
3. Most Episcopalians and Anglicans ordain women to the Diaconate Author: Debra Dragon.