Spread the spirit of the Christmas season by giving the true love worth giving-God's love. A Love Worth Giving to You at Christmas will remind you that before we can pass love on, we must learn to receive it ourselves. Based on Max Lucado's book A Love Worth Giving, this holiday booklet tells the story of a love that has no bounds, no limits, no end. The Christmas kind of love. A love worth giving to others and to you. There's a problem, though. How can you give something that you never truly received? A Love Worth Giving to You at Christmas will shed light on God's generous gift, giving you the encouragement that you need to: Embrace your place as a dearly loved child in his heavenly family Learn to love others well by living loved Graciously accept the unending love that God has for you Maybe it has something to do with the lavishness of the gift that first Christmas morning, the extravagance of love that came in the form of a tiny, helpless newborn. Consider the gift for a moment, what Jesus really did. He swapped a spotless castle for a grimy stable. He exchanged the worship of angels for the company of killers. Why? Because that's what love does. It puts the beloved before itself. Your soul was more important than his blood. Your eternal life was more important than his earthly life. Your place in heaven was more important to him than his place in heaven, so he gave up his so you could have yours. And that's what extravagant giving is all about. Reminding us of the most priceless gift of all, A Love Worth Giving to You at Christmas invites you to let this love worth giving fill you, flood you, and change you forever.

Drama has power. It can awaken us. Make us curious. Reveal our inner desires and passions. Remind us of our foolishness. Drama has power in worship. It can snap us out of our Sunday morning (or Saturday night) trance. It can draw us into the story of Scripture. It can help us see our sin. It can motivate us to change. But drama can also be dull, predictable, guilt-inducing and just plain cheesy. How do we avoid the pitfalls and discover the power? Alison Siewert and her team of writers have some ideas about that. They offer in this handbook articles on every aspect of drama ministry--from why it's biblical to how to direct a performance, from warm-ups for actors to how to write your own sketches. You'll learn how to do drama that is simple and meaningful--without experienced actors. You'll learn how to craft drama with authenticity and excellence. Also included are cutting-edge sketches for the postmodern crowd that you can reproduce for your drama team and use in your ministry. Drama has power to change lives.Drama Team Handbook will show you how.

Legendary preacher, author and scholar G. Campbell Morgan teaches the reader the methods, mindset and theology of prayer, that readers may become closer to God. The Practice of Prayer is a superb handbook for Christians wishing to make the most of their time at prayer, and to use prayer as a vehicle through which to get closer to God. The chapters of this book consider the practice of prayer through a theological lens; examining scripture, Morgan reaches informed conclusions to as how we should pray. Principally, Morgan identifies Jesus Christ as a figure of importance in developing prayer as a tradition. The instructions Jesus dispensed are filled with depth and meaning, and it is this that Morgan efforts to explain for readers. Additionally, Morgan draws upon additional books of the New Testament, such as Thessalonians, to properly express and imbue his points and instructions.

For Christians, prayer is the main way we communicate with God - but what can we do when we struggle with the question of how to pray or feel our prayer lives are lacking? Seven Ways to Pray explores how by looking to ancient prayer practices of Christianity, we can find fresh ways to relate to God today. Discovering these tried and tested tools will not only strengthen our relationship with him but will bring us joy, contentment, growth and transformation. With warmth and encouragement, Amy Boucher Pye takes us through seven ways to pray to God: praying with the Bible, receiving and extending forgiveness, practicing God's presence, listening prayer, the prayer of lament, praying with the gospels imaginatively and the prayer of examen. Guiding us through their history, she shows us how easily we can make these prayer practices part of our lives and use them to grow closer to God. Along with prayer exercises to help us engage directly with God, there are questions for individual reflection or small-group discussion, making Seven Ways to Pray perfect to use as a family, in churches or with friends. This is a book for anyone who has ever wondered how to pray or is looking for ways to revitalise their prayer lives. It will give you an understanding of some of the oldest prayer practices of Christianity, and equip you with the tools you need to renew and refresh your relationship with God. Come along, and discover Seven Ways to Pray.

Ritual has emerged as a major focus of academic interest. As a concept, the idea of ritual integrates the study of behavior both within and beyond the domain of religion. Ritual can be both secular and religious in character. There is renewed interest in questions such as: Why do rituals exist at all? What has been, and continues to be, their place in society? How do they change over time? Such questions exist against a backdrop of assumptions about development, modernization, and disenchantment of the world.Written with the specific needs of students of religious studies in mind, " Ritual: Key Concepts in Religion" surveys the field of ritual studies looking at it both historically within anthropology and in terms of its contemporary relevance to mass phenomena.

The classic of Russian spirituality now with facing-page
commentary that illuminates and explains the text.

"The Way of a Pilgrim" is the timeless account of an anonymous wanderer who set out on a journey across nineteenth-century Russia with nothing but a backpack, some bread, and a Bible, with a burning desire to learn the true meaning of the words of St. Paul: "Pray without ceasing." In this completely accessible new abridgment, all the terms and references are explained for you--with intriguing insights into aspects of the text that are often not available to the general reader.

The power of prayer is real. It can heal illness, win battles, and move personal mountains. Cultures and religions throughout the world use their own systems of divine communication for comfort, guidance, and more. Unfortunately, too few of us know how to tap into the power of prayer. How to Pray was written for everyone who wants to learn more about this universal practice. How to Pray begins by discussing the many benefits of prayer, including enhanced physical, mental, and spiritual health. You'll find that the power of prayer has not only been enjoyed by individuals and religious communities, but has also been validated in numerous scientific studies. Following this, the author explores the prayer and meditation practices of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism, in each case providing a clear explanation of that religion's or philosophy's approach, as well as true-life stories that show the significance of prayer in the lives of real people. If you want to learn more about the use of prayer all over the world--or if you simply long for the comfort of personal prayer--How to Pray will give you the knowledge, the guidance, and the inspiration that you seek.

The present volume, first published at the close of World War II, and based on a series of articles on initiation originally written between 1932 and 1938 for Le Voile d'Isis (later renamed Etudes Traditionnelles), is unique in giving a comprehensive account both of the conditions of initiation and of the characteristics of organizations qualified to transmit it. Guenon's distinction between the initiatic and the mystical paths-the first requiring a formal relationship with a master, a set of specific contemplative techniques, and a chain-of-transmission stretching back to the origin of the tradition in question, the second generally lacking these elements-led to some controversy between those who accept this distinction and others who believe that initiatory and mystical spirituality are one and the same. The book presents such central principles as the dangers and barrenness of syncretism, the often dire consequences of fostering 'psychic powers', and the superiority of sacerdotal initiation (into the Greater Mysteries) over 'royal' initiation (into the Lesser Mysteries), though both are necessary parts of the initiatic path. whose elevation of royal initiation over sacerdotal must be seen, according to Guenon's criteria, as a modern-day echo of the ancient revolt of the warrior caste against the priestly one. Whoever follows Guenon's argument will realize that a romantic warrior mysticism held no fascination for him, and is in fact explicitly contrary to his principles. But pre-eminently, Perspectives on Initiation provides indispensable points of reference for anyone attempting to distinguish between 'initiatic', 'pseudo-initiatic', and 'countert-initiatic' spiritualities in these profoundly uncertain times.