The world clamors for efficiency and productivity. But the life of prayer is neither efficient nor productive. Instead, as we learn in the psalms, prayer calls us to wait, to watch, to listen, to taste, and to see. These things are not productive by any modern measure-but they are transformative. As a pastor in Manhattan, John Starke knows the bustle and busyness of our society. But he also knows that prayer is not just for spiritual giants. Prayer, he writes, is for each of us-not because we are full of spiritual wisdom and maturity, but because we are empty. Here is an invitation to discover, via the church's ancient rhythms and with Starke's clear, practical guidance, the possibility of prayer. Here is a book about prayer that is really a book about the whole Christian life.

A Bundle of Joy for Every Woman Whose Heart Longs to be a Mommy Ten million people each year suffer--often in private shame and pain--because they've been told that they can never conceive children of their own as a couple (literally billions of dollars are spent each year on fertility cures); or because they've been conditioned to believe that it's normal to struggle through a painful and difficult pregnancy; or because they fear whether they have what it takes to be affirming, joyful parents. Jackie Mize--who was told it was impossible for her to have a baby and who is now the mother of four beautiful children--provides readers with a supernatural answer. Filled with powerful and intimate scriptural prayers, this little book gives readers a way to come before Father God in faith with issues from having a difficult time getting pregnant to joyfully cradling that precious gift from God in their arms. By taking an expectant mother--or a women who desperately wants to be expecting--through God's promises for her and her baby's future, Prayers and Promises for Supernatural Childbirth is a bundle of joy that delivers hope and encouragement, while chasing away doubts and fears. Specific issues covered in the scriptural prayers include: fulfillment over barrenness; the threat of miscarriage; a joyful delivery day; and dedicating one's baby to God.

The Armenian Church Synaxarion is a collection of saints' lives according to the day of the year on which each saint is celebrated. Part of the great and varied Armenian liturgical tradition from the turn of the first millennium, the first Armenian Church Synaxarion represented the logical culmination of a long and steady development of what is today called the cult of the saints. This book is the second in a twelve-volume series-one for each month of the year-and is ideal for personal devotional use or as a valuable resource for anyone interested in saints.

The Catholic Apostolic Church is an intriguing yet little studied movement of nineteenth-century England. Despite its intense privacy, worship in the Catholic Apostolic Church, particularly its Eurcharistic service, was a major influence on late nineteenth-century liturgical renewals. The book begins with a study of important early figures in the life of the Catholic Apostolic Church, including Edward Irving, Henry Drummond, and John Bate Cardale. Then, after detailing the important practices of the Catholic Apostolic Church and the sources of its Eucharistic service, it proceeds to evaluate historically and spiritually its crucial effect upon the German Reformed Church, the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church in North America, and the Church of Scotland. The final chapter, entitled "A Quest for Catholicity" includes discussion of the search for the roots of ecumenical worship and the centrality of the Eucharist to liturgy. Also included with the book is an appendix and a bibliography of sources that includes scholarly monographs, articles, and liturgies organized by subject.

This interdisciplinary study investigates the divine personas in the so-called magical hymns of the Greek magical papyri which, in a corpus usually seen as a significant expression of religious syncretism with strong Egyptian influence, were long considered to be the 'most authentically Greek' contribution. Fifteen hymns receive a line-by-line commentary focusing on religious concepts, ritual practice, language and style. The overarching aim is to categorise the nature of divinity according to its Greek or Egyptian elements, examining earlier Greek and Egyptian sources and religious-magical traditions in order to find textual or conceptual parallels. Are the gods of the magical hymns Greek or Egyptian in nature? Did the magical hymns originate in a Greek or Egyptian cultural background? The book tries to answer these questions and to shed light on the religious plurality and/or fusion of the two cultures in the treatment of divinity in the Greek magical papyri.

Sticky Situations is a devotional book for families with children ages 8 to 12 that offers short readings for each day of the year. Each reading begins with a kid who is facing a moral dilemma and ends with multiple-choice solutions for the family to discuss. Often there is more than one acceptable course of action to take. Parents will find tips in the back of the book that interpret the various choices made by the children and offer follow-up questions for further discussion on each topic. Scripture references are provided to give biblical insight into each situation. Sticky Situations is a great discussion starter that will give parents the chance to share their own values with their children.

- Expanded to include more content and address contemporary issues
- Popular foundational product is refreshed for new readers and users
- Affordable price puts resource in the price range of many
- Includes prayers on a wide variety os subjects

'In the midst of life we are in death.' The words of the Book of Common Prayer have permeated deep into the English language all over the world. For nearly 500 years, and for countless people, it has provided a background fanfare for a marriage or a funeral march at a burial. Yet this familiarity also hides a violent and controversial history. When it was first produced the Book of Common Prayer provoked riots and rebellion, and it was banned before being translated into a host of global languages and adopted as the basis for worship in the USA and elsewhere to the present day. This edition presents the work in three different states: the first edition of 1549, which brought the Reformation into people's homes; the Elizabethan prayer book of 1559, familiar to Shakespeare and Milton; and the edition of 1662, which embodies the religious temper of the nation down to modern times. 'magnificent edition' Diarmaid MacCulloch,London Review of Books 'superb edition...excellent notes and introduction' Rowan Williams, Times Literary Supplement ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Hymns Ancient and Modern was first published in 1861, and has sold in excess of 160 million copies. The New Standard Edition was introduced in 1983, and has already sold over a million copies. 533 hymns included. Melody and Words edition.

This concise, easy-to-use resource from a team of fresh new voices provides spiritual nourishment and encouragement to help extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion prepare for their role during liturgy or visits to the sick and homebound. By focusing on the Sunday gospels and the Communion minister's own personal reflection, this indispensable aid helps those involved to reverently and prayerfully prepare and carry out their ministry. Living Liturgy (TM) for Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion begins with the First Sunday of Advent 2019 and includes the following: Sunday-by-Sunday gospels Personal reflections for Communion ministers A brief theology of the ministry A separate insert card with the rite for Administration of Communion to the Sick by an Extraordinary Minister A page for inscription of the minister's name and church

This volume presents a series of prayers unlike any of the beautiful, formal, orthodox prayers of the Catholic tradition or the warm, extemporized prayers heard from pulpits and dinner tables. Doyle's often-dazzling, always-poignant prayers include eye-opening hymns to shoes and faith and family.

This book is in commemoration of my father who died in February this year. It is a hymn-book and I have entitled it Arthurs Favourite Hymns. Easy to play versions of favourite hymns including spirituals, carols, sacred songs and well-known hymns. Arranged for piano and guitar with full words and Thoughts for the Day by Arthur Goddard, edited and arranged by Paul R Goddard with a foreword by Revd Rod Symmons, vicar of Redland Parish Church. 35 hymns and sacred songs

This prayer-focused journal includes Scripture, a daily Bible reading plan, space to record the names of those you want to pray for, and monthly sections to record insights.With 12 Scripture-based prayer guides, 48 devotional readings, and 12 prayers for your spiritual growth, The Pray Prayer Journal is a unique way to grow your communication with God.

The majority of full-time Christian workers are not missionaries or pastors. They are in the so-called secular workplace. They are teachers, accountants, farmers, factory workers, and store clerks. They are no less called to ministry than their pastors, deacons, or elders, but carrying out that ministry is not easy.

With 31 short, easy-to-digest chapters, R. Larry Moyer provides encouragement and inspiration for living out your faith, regardless of where you work. With real-life examples, suggestions for how to pray, and Scripture passages to study, this book will equip any Christian to spread the good news every day.

Check out Dr. Moyer's and EvanTell's latest project act111.org

Art is an outworking of God's creative process, a tangible participation in the shaping of the world. Through our artistic endeavors, we both express our understanding of creation and imbue that creation with new meaning. Four artists in particular-the poet Czeslaw Milosz, filmmaker Terrence Malick, novelist Marilynne Robinson, and lyric essayist Annie Dillard-actively wrestle with a world that reflects God's glory while remaining at times deeply and troublingly obscure. In Lyric Theology, Thomas Gardner unfolds the ways these four important contemporary figures, drawing on modes of thinking rooted in lyric poetry, explore what the world looks like when seen as created and received as a gift. Lyric thinking, he argues, dramatizes a mind and spirit reaching toward a beauty and complexity that can never be fully grasped but yet can be lifted up in praise and wonder, bafflement and song. The specific lyric responses on display here- resisting meaninglessness, wrestling with contrary impulses to both celebrate and turn away, embracing as revelatory the failure to see fully, and redeeming the world by lifting its particulars into song-can be seen as acts of theological thinking, deepening and extending the doctrine of creation by living out its implications in the world. If the world were created out of nothing save the desire to extend the love expressed within the Trinity to creatures who might reflect it back in wonder and praise, lyric ways of making sense of the world-breaking free of straightforward conceptualization and argument and exploring inward, nuanced, and continually made and remade responses to the world's particulars-bring this idea forward as a living thing. Drawing on his own work as a literary scholar and a lyric essayist, Gardner here gives us the tools to both understand and join in performing creative theological explorations of great subtlety, beauty, and originality.

The long-awaited new translation of the Book of Common Prayer. Based on modern translation principles, this newly authorized translation of the Book of Common Prayer contains French-language liturgical materials for use in the Episcopal Church. A monumental liturgical and literary work is available in an accessible French translation. Created using dynamic equivalence, with an eye toward inclusive language throughout, the translation supports the liturgical and pastoral needs of French-speaking Episcopalians. This hardcover edition is designed for use in churches, with a sturdy binding and cover.

Musical notation has not always existed: in the West, musical traditions have often depended on transmission from mouth to ear, and ear to mouth. Although the Ancient Greeks had a form of musical notation, it was not passed on to the medieval Latin West. This comprehensive study investigates the breadth of use of musical notation in Carolingian Europe, including many examples previously unknown in studies of notation, to deliver a crucial foundational model for the understanding of later Western notations. An overview of the study of neumatic notations from the French monastic scholar Dom Jean Mabillon (1632-1707) up to the present day precedes an examination of the function and potential of writing in support of a musical practice which continued to depend on trained memory. Later chapters examine passages of notation to reveal those ways in which scripts were shaped by contemporary rationalizations of musical sound. Finally, the new scripts are situated in the cultural and social contexts in which they emerged.

This book charts the life of Arthur Sullivan-the best loved and most widely performed British composer in history. While he is best known for his comic opera collaborations with W. S. Gilbert, it was his substantial corpus of sacred music which meant most to him and for which he wanted to be remembered. His upbringing and training in church music, and his own religious beliefs, substantially affected both his compositions for the theatre and his more serious work, which included oratorios, cantatas, sacred ballads, liturgical pieces, and hymns. Focusing on the spiritual aspects of Sullivan's life-which included several years as a church organist, involvement in Freemasonry, and an undying attachment to Anglican church music-Ian Bradley uses hitherto undiscovered letters, diary entries, and other sources to reveal the important influences on his faith and his work. No saint and certainly no ascetic, he was a lover of life and enjoyed its pleasures to the full. At the same time, he had a rare spiritual sensitivity, a sincere Christian faith, and a unique ability to uplift through both his character and his music that can best be described as a quality of divine emollient.

Too many Christians still think that worship is only a Sunday-morning activity done inside the church, while mission involves how the church engages the outside world. But Ruth Meyers argues that a dynamic relationship exists between worship and mission -- that gathering as God's people includes at its heart our being sent out into the world in God's name. Meyers explores this relationship by taking readers through the various parts of the worship service: gathering, proclaiming the Word, praying for the world, celebrating the Eucharist, and going forth to continue participating in God's mission in the world. In each chapter Meyers includes stories of worship practices in different churches and considers how the actions of worship relate integrally to mission. Missional Worship, Worshipful Mission emphasizes that missional worship is not a set of techniques but rather an approach to worship and congregational life in which God's mission permeates every aspect of what the church does.