LITMIR.BIZ

Imagine a rope braided out of seven strands of twine, forming a circle so that even the ends of the rope are woven together. That is an image of human wholeness. This book proposes seven aspects to human wholeness: intellectual, psychological, emotional, physical, sexual, spiritual, and aesthetic. After examining each of these aspects, this work presents a spirituality of relationship. It also explores how human wholeness is a basis for relationship. Two people relating to each other out of each person's wholeness provide the occasion for an experience of the divine. All relationships begin with some connectivity to an aspect of human wholeness. As both parties enter more deeply into their relationship, more connectivity is achieved. By reflecting on the experiences of one's life in dialogue with a trusted friend, a person discovers the freedom to be who he or she is in the presence of the other and receives back the gift he or she offers to the other in total freedom. This transcendent aspect of a relationship can enable friends to discover God in each other, as each other. Jesus serves as a model for human relating; in him all aspects are woven together into a whole human being.

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Guilt! Shame! Embarrassment! These are the three most powerful reasons why people feel their sins are unforgiveable. Intellectually, Christians know God forgives, but emotionally, they won't accept self-forgiveness. Why? They confuse temptation with sin. Some people say, «If I were a good Christian, I shouldn't be tempted!» Wrong! Paul wrote extensively in Romans 7 about his internal struggle between the flesh and the spirit. These poems offer a unique way to address the conflict between the heart, soul, mind, and spirit. So, forgive yourself, because Jesus loves you anyway.

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Finding Mom is a story of tragedy, secrets, and forgiveness. As a six-year-old, Steve Messer found his mother's body after she committed suicide in 1961, and for the next fifty years, he and his family lived in silence about her death and her life. This book chronicles the physical and emotional journey the author and his wife took to find his mother again, but this time as a fully human woman instead of a haunting figure shrouded in silence, this time as the mom who deeply loved her son in the midst of her deepening depression. Responding to a gentle but unmistakable nudge from the Lord, leaning on supportive family members, and utilizing his training as a historian, Messer spent six months gathering documents and images, interviewing individuals who knew his mother, and traveling to sites associated with her life. The physical journey culminated with two family gatherings that welcomed Marian Pett Messer back after the decades of silence, but the emotional journey of new-found understandings of family, grace, forgiveness, and what it means to be human will continue for a lifetime.

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Do you wonder what our worship will be like in Heaven? The center of our faith is based on believing in Jesus Christ, with the assurance that we will live with him and the Father for eternity. God gives us a glimpse of what that will be like in heaven while we are on earth. Throughout the Bible, we see the pomp and circumstance that surrounds the throne of God. With angels and trumpets, white robes and crowns, we see that God is enthroned with true worship from beings that desire to give him their undivided worship and praise. The visions of heavenly worship presented throughout scripture are the most concrete images that the Bible gives the church for interpreting how we should conduct earthly worship in our corporate gatherings.
Practice for Heaven looks at the role of music in the bible, the corporate consensus of what has been acceptable for public worship in the past, and why church music should look to heaven for creating music to aid the churches ongoing worship. Just as a musician practices his or her instrument, all of our worship–and all of our music in corporate worship–is essentially practice for heaven.

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David Wasserman served the church in a time that was exciting, challenging, and made progress for the Kingdom. But he also saw church leaders who did not listen, laugh together, or love enough of God's world and people. This reality is bad for the gospel–yet there's hope. It is coming in the form of leaders who are taking the time to listen carefully, staying humble and humorous about themselves, and working harder than ever to embody a bit more of God's love, justice, and peace. Listen More, Laugh Often, Love Always offers advice to future church leaders from the ramblings and reflections of one who saw firsthand the embattlements, wanderings, and unravelings of an institution trying to transform itself for a new time in God's grace.

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What is worship? Are the things we do in worship mere ritual, or do they have meaning? Why do we do these things, anyway? Worship is one of our most important acts, and it serves several purposes. In worship, we honor the God who has done so much for us. We communicate to him that we are on his side. We educate our children, leading them into a deeper relationship with Jesus. And we communicate to Satan that we're on God's side, for worship is both an act of solidarity and an act of war. But how best to communicate in worship? Traditional singing is often simply a transition to another part of the service, and for some worshippers, the songs' very familiarity can be deadening. Into this context of familiarity comes contemporary worship with guitars and drums–as well as the new life found in new appreciation for a contemporary understanding of God. New music spawns renewal of our excitement, our appreciation of our relationship with Jesus, and our involvement in his program. We can no longer sit, heads down, as we read old thoughts in old hymnals. He is alive, and so are we.

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Is the church of the twenty-first century supposed to regain its former glory, or is it too late? Are the people of God in exile yet again? Have we lost our cultural footing and are now in desperate need to find a new way for the present millennium? Daniel was born into a nation of God-fearers, where the Scriptures were embraced and biblical values espoused. But that all changed with the Babylonian exile. Daniel's God, his values, and his faith had become irrelevant and even despised in his society. With the erosion of Christendom, Daniel's story has become the church's story! We've Lost. What Now? offers a clear, insightful, and relevant exposition of Daniel in order to empower believers to minister more effectively than ever before from the social and cultural margins the church now inhabits.

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What «runs in the family»? Self-esteem? Money and happiness? It's all common knowledge . . . or is it? Many of the so-called truths of our culture are nothing more than toxic myths. You are probably suffering from the effects of more than one of these misinterpretations of reality. Some are well-intended but end up hurting people; others seem to be intentional efforts to undercut the good. Perhaps you have been told you are doomed to repeat family patterns. You may have been frustrated in your attempts to break through the resistance of students who are unwilling to learn. Perhaps you have struggled to strike a balance between material security and greed. Have you wondered what to do about the arrogance, indifference, or despair going on around you? In some cases, the toxic myths may be part of the problem. This book provides helpful tools to identify these myths and find antidotes to the poison.

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What do you do with your money? What do you think of your boss? Do you like your work? Is it satisfying? Are you satisfied with your answers? Do you know that God, through Scripture, offers us answers? Two of the most fundamental challenges for all humankind are deciding how to live and, if we accumulate riches, deciding how to use them. Did you know that God expects all humankind to work? For the Christian, all work is part of your Christian calling, whether you collect garbage for a living or sit in Washington deciding affairs of state. And what does Scripture have to say about riches? Did you know that Jesus directed more attention to the question of how to deal with wealth than just about any other subject he addressed during his three-year ministry? Join me in this short journey as we explore work and wealth in Scripture and seek answers to the above questions and others. We travel from the first work recorded in the Bible to our own time, when leisure competes with work for our attention and wealth gives us a false sense of security that puts us in danger of replacing God with self.

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Many feel that work for Christian unity or ecumenism is not especially urgent or important in the complexities of our contemporary world. So many different issues demand the attention of committed Christians–for example, responding to global crises in which people are suffering, developing strong moral stands on a variety of moral problems and challenges, etc. Such issues must remain of major importance to Christians. However, Christians form the one Body of Christ. If that Body continues to remain divided and fragmented, lacking in unity, concord, and harmony, then Christian witness will be singularly diminished. This book attempts to demonstrate the importance of Christian unity/ecumenism by looking at important contributions of individual theologians and important texts/events, mainly of the twentieth century. The use of this book may help theologians and pastors urge forward the practice of ecumenism so that in God's time divided Christians may all be one.

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