Jesus: God's Unlikely Revelation Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany Services includes biblically-based sermons, suggested scriptures, children's time, hymn and prayers, as well as litanies for lighting the Advent wreath. Also included are suggestions for seasonal funerals. These services offer a completing message of hope during this important church season, when people often visit a church for the first time. Each service focuses on and celebrates a different aspect of the theme: Jesus: God's Unlikely Revelation 1. First Sunday of Advent- Jesus: The Unlikely Image of God (Genesis 1:26-27; Colossians 1:15-17) 2. Second Sunday in Advent Jesus: The Unlikely Gift from God (Isaiah 55:1-9) 3. Third Sunday of Advent Jesus: The Unlikely Story of God with Us (Matthew 1:18-25) 4. Fourth Sunday of Advent Jesus: The Unlikely Messiah (John 7:25-31) 5. Christmas Eve Jesus: An Unlikely Peacemaker (Luke 2:8-20) 6. Christmas Day An Unlikely Christmas Card (Matthew 2:13-23) 7. Epiphany John the Baptizer: Jesus' Unlikely Herald (John 1:1-14) Seasonal Funerals

Written in a humorous, accessible style, this book is an easy-to-understand guide to the kinds of theological questions that many United Methodist youth and others are asking today. "Being United Methodist in the Bible Belt" will help any United Methodist youth, parent, or educator better understand their unique brand of Christianity in light of the understandings of those from the evangelical tradition. With helpful sidebars explaining United Methodist history and polity and questions after each chapter for reflection and action, this book is ideal for Christian education courses for youth and adults, new member classes in United Methodist churches, as well as personal reading.

With its question-and-answer format, and clear, jargon-free writing, this volume is an excellent resource for learning about the United Methodist Church. F. Belton Joyner Jr., a veteran pastor and popular author, introduces the reader to key United Methodist beliefs and practices through seventy-eight questions and answers.

The Just In Time series offers brief, practical resources of immediate help for pastors at an affordable price.

Part of a pastor's role in the community is to pray publicly. The pastor is often the official "pray-er" at all kinds of community events--the high school football game, the opening of the new grocery store, the county school board meeting, kindergarten graduation--to name a few. But the pastor must also pray knowing that there are believers (of many persuasions) and non-believers present. In addition to the prayers in this book, there are brief setting descriptions and Scripture references. These prayers can be used with little or no adaptation.

Sample prayers: Graduation: "O God, Author of all wisdom, Giver of all truth, Seeker of all servants, we thank You for the times of life that mark Your continuing goodness. We are grateful for these believers, young in their faith and early in their journey, who have been open to study and learning and who now gain graduation toward tomorrows which will take them in many direction, but never from Your presence."

Suicide: "O God, if we knew why, we would name it before You Hear our plea for help; hear our plea for hope. We confess that we do not grasp the depths which drive one of Your children to end the life You began. We confess that faint stirrings of guilt, soft wondering about our own inattentions, and a simple unease all groan within us. Grant us a grace which will be sufficient for our own broken and breaking places."

Citizenship: "O God, The Giver of beginnings, we praise You for giving to Your servants fresh possibilities, extended hopes, and a new nation. You have given them life and now You give them calls to new loyalties, new responsibilities, and new opportunities. We make no claim for the perfection of this nations, but we do make full claim upon Your presence in its work for justice, its care for the poor, and its openness to those who seek to be its people."