Bread for the Journey
Preparing for ministry involves more than the acquisition of certain skills. The shape of a disciple's soul as he or she embarks on this journey is as important if not more so than learning how to exegete a text or engage in pastoral care. Ministry is not easy, and the preparation for this form of Christian discipleship is open to a variety of temptations, not least of which is a kind of despair over the paucity of one's own resources, or worse, the illusion that one is better off relying on one's own talents and virtues. What is needed is bread for this journey, not necessarily exhortations to work harder, but words of encouragement and grace that bear witness to the surprising reality that ministry is, in fact, a joyful gift. These notes from a dean, who sought to help his students discover that joy in their study and preparation, bear witness to the One, whose life provides bread for every journey, especially for the journey of pastoral ministry.
The Cord
Pastor Payne Donovan was weary to the bone. He often wondered if he made any difference in people's lives or if his church had any impact on the world around him. In the midst of Payne's despair, George Carlson, head of a genetic laboratory called SarkiSystems, offers hope to revive and embolden Payne's ministry by a merging of faith and technology. Dazzled by George's charisma, Payne agrees to go to a meeting and soon finds himself deeply entangled in a plan to revive the faith of the world. But the more Payne invests in the plan, the more broken his family becomes. Pastor Donovan must let go of the hope that SarkiSystems offers in order to find healing for his family and true hope for the world.
Jairus's Daughter
Jairus's Daughter is a literary-historic novel that sets up a rhythm between two women separated by twenty centuries. Their lives nonetheless mirror each other in subtle ways and finally intersect in modern Israel. Aviel, a scribe in first-century Israel, has a gift and a secret that, millennia later, will affect the choices of Anna Washington, a modern rock climbing woman searching for her heart's direction. Colorful characters and striking detail combine in this tale of passion and integrity from midrashic novelist Patti Rutka.
Final Testimonies
The five brief pieces collected here represent the final words prepared by Karl Barth for publication, all of them originating during the period from his serious illness in August of 1968 to his death in December of that same year. The final selection is a fragment left unfinished the night he died.
The last word that I have to say as a theologian or politician is not a concept like grace but a name: Jesus Christ. He is grace and he is the ultimate one beyond world and church and even theology. We cannot lay hold of him. But we have to do with him.... There is no salvation but in this name. In him is grace.
Karl Barth, 'Final Testimonies'
Psalms for the Poor
Psalms for the Poor talk back to the blunt and beautiful phrases of the King James Bible. Sometimes personal, sometimes political, the original Psalms complain, question, curse, and adore: «Why do the wicked prosper?» «When I consider the moon and the stars,» «My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?» «The Lord is my shepherd,» «But I am poor and needy.» Luther's last words were, «We are beggars.» These poems are for the world's poor, and for the pauper in each of us.
Destination Bethlehem
This book is intended as a devotional guide for the Advent season. Through the mediums of meditations, poetry, and prayer, it offers a spiritual resource for readers seeking to explore the many dimensions of this beloved season, and to deepen their appreciation of its mystery and wonder. Each day the reader is provided with either a prose meditation, based in Scripture, or a selection of poems, composed around the traditional themes of Advent/Christmas. The overall effect is that of a journey–a journey which moves, devotionally, through the days and weeks of December, toward Bethlehem, the stable, and the manger. Images, incidents, impressions, and items from the daily news are woven together to form a rich and rewarding tapestry, a pathway leading onward, an open door into the quiet places of the soul. Christmas Eve and Day are given special treatment, followed by a final section covering New Year's Day and the twelve days of Christmas. The book also provides a source of creative imagery and language for clergy, and other worship leaders, as they face the challenges of speaking traditional truths in a new and inviting way. Yet another use would be as a small group study guide for Advent.
Letters of Light
Letters of Light is a translation of over ninety passages from a well-known Hasidic text, Ma'or va-shemesh, consisting of homilies of Kalonymus Kalman Epstein of Krakow, together with a running commentary and analysis by Aryeh Wineman. With remarkable creativity, the Krakow preacher recast biblical episodes and texts through the prism both of the pietistic values of Hasidism, with its accent on the inner life and the Divine innerness of all existence, and of his ongoing wrestling with questions of the primacy of the individual vis-a-vis that of the community. The commentary traces the route leading from the Torah-text itself through various later sources to the Krakow preacher's own reading of the biblical text, one that often transforms the very tenor of the text he was expounding. Though composed almost two centuries ago, Ma'or va-Shemesh comprises an impressive spiritual statement, many parts of which can speak to our own time and its spiritual strivings.
Winnower
A collection that alternates between celebration and lament, Winnower traces the experiences of an American poet growing up in war-torn Chad, Africa.