Designed to empower preachers as they lead their congregations to connect their lives to Scripture, Connections features a broad set of interpretive tools that provide commentary and worship aids on the Revised Common Lectionary. For each worship day within the three-year lectionary cycle, the commentaries in Connections link the individual lection reading with Scripture as a whole as well as to the larger world. In addition, Connections places each Psalm reading in conversation with the other lections for the day to highlight the themes of the liturgical season. Finally, sidebars offer additional connections to Scripture for each Sunday or worship day. This nine-volume series is a practical, constructive, and valuable resource for preachers who seek to help congregations connect more closely with Scripture.

Despite her prominence in the Christian narrative, Mary has largely been neglected within the Protestant church. Recent interest in such issues as feminism, spirituality, parenting, and ecumenism, however, force a serious reexamination of Mary's place in Protestant faith. In "Blessed One," widely respected Protestant scholars seek to answer three basic questions: who is Mary? how does Mary's story intersect with contemporary life? and what does Mary teach us about God? This thoughtful and highly accessible book will be of great interest to all engaged in the debates of the contemporary church, Protestants and Roman Catholics alike.

Contributors include Nancy Duff, Beverly Roberts Gaventa, Joel Green, E. Elizabeth Johnson, Cheryl Kirk-Duggan, Nora Lozano-Diaz, Daniel Migliore, Bonnie Miller-McLemore, Cynthia Rigby, and Katherine Sakenfeld.

Luther once wrote: Faith takes hold of Christ and has Him present, enclosing Him as the ring encloses the gem. The idea that we hold faith because faith holds us, and that faith holds us because faith holds Christ, is vital. We hold faith as we seek to know Christ better, exploring Christian doctrines and deepening our understanding of the impact and relevance to our day-to-day lives. Faith holds us as we respond to Christ s calling, negotiate life s challenges, and join in the work of bringing in God s kingdom. The book conveys the content of core Christian doctrines and then addresses the so what? of each, its take away, how it matters to our everyday living, and how it shapes our spiritual and ethical practices. Using theological literature and Scripture but also current events, sociology, fiction, and movies, the author shows that theology matters. It matters to our lives and it matters to the life of the world. How we understand theology and its core beliefs has an impact on who we know ourselves to be and how we relate to God and to one another. Holding Faith concretely shows how various and diverse understandings of particular doctrines play out in relation to the way lives are lived and ethical systems put forward. It holds that some approaches to Christian doctrine are preferable to others, making persuasive arguments for better approaches by drawing from the theological literature and also from the news, sociology, general literature, and movies. Scripture is consistently used and sourced throughout the book as arguments are developed."

Designed to empower preachers as they lead their congregations to connect their lives to Scripture, Connections features a broad set of interpretive tools that provide commentary and worship aids on the Revised Common Lectionary. For each worship day within the three-year lectionary cycle, the commentaries in Connections link the individual lection reading with Scripture as a whole as well as to the larger world. In addition, Connections places each Psalm reading in conversation with the other lections for the day to highlight the themes of the liturgical season. Finally, sidebars offer additional connections to Scripture for each Sunday or worship day. This nine-volume series is a practical, constructive, and valuable resource for preachers who seek to help congregations connect more closely with Scripture. This set contains Year C, volumes 1, 2, and 3.