tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45771461847815575262024-02-07T00:42:02.102-05:00Reviewing Religious BooksLois Sibleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00294993339785615170noreply@blogger.comBlogger114125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4577146184781557526.post-46796473448755448402021-08-16T16:35:00.004-04:002021-08-17T10:16:36.370-04:00<p><b><span style="font-size: medium;"> Grace for Our Days</span></b></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgncZf9gkrfvXYVvatx6py1XZ3zCsO2z2s-UZNdL2DyzgdnFWqeKudUAvHAN8VeT8C182WpKdIaT2X7E7-sdqk1jiPUuAdalU_JIvaeUNENJJCKKTveruLNAm3Kt8pei1DBgtrBQfus5Hhv/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="255" data-original-width="165" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgncZf9gkrfvXYVvatx6py1XZ3zCsO2z2s-UZNdL2DyzgdnFWqeKudUAvHAN8VeT8C182WpKdIaT2X7E7-sdqk1jiPUuAdalU_JIvaeUNENJJCKKTveruLNAm3Kt8pei1DBgtrBQfus5Hhv/" width="155" /></a></div><br />The idea that the year begins in early December instead of January 1 suits me just fine. I’m just contrarian enough to enjoy upsetting the calendar. You see, calendars do more than help us show up on the right day for the dentist; at a deeper level they reflect a world view, even a way of longing for the good life and the right end to things. They are somewhat arbitrary and can be changed, indeed have been. So the Christian calendar is not just different, it contains a contrary vision of the good life from the one that governs so much of our daily life. As Fleming Rutledge—an Episcopal priest and writer—puts it, it’s a <i>Means of Grace</i> (Eerdmans, 2021). <p></p><p>Early December. It is the first Sunday in Advent. What a way to start the year, longing for Jesus. Rutledge begins her collection of devotions with one on Mark 13:33. What? Wait! It seems we’re still waiting. Mark is telling us one of Jesus’ parables, about a doorkeeper. The household was established by a master. He is away, but coming back. Meantime, it is dark and crazy around the house while they wait; and also out there in the neighborhood. You might say, the TV and the papers and the online gossip are full of bad news; with a doubtful end in sight.</p><p>The master was there; he’s away; he’s coming back. Jesus has come; Jesus is away; he’s coming back. We’re in between the comings, the Advents. Rutledge writes:</p><p><span> <span> </span></span>It is the Advent clock that tells the church what time it is. The church that keeps Advent is the <span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>church that is most truly herself. The church is not supposed to be prosperous and comfortable <span> </span><span> </span>and established. It is Advent—it is dark and lonely and cold, and the master is away from home. <span> </span><span> </span>Yet he will come. Keep awake. (5)</p><p>Rutledge goes on like this with a devotion for each Sunday in the year; challenging the accepted wisdom of this age and offering the wisdom of the good news of Jesus. She does it by following the church’s liturgical calendar and its big days: Advent, Nativity, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, Pentecost. She uses the schedule of readings that takes the church through the year, forming people’s loves and visions. Instead of national holidays and Hallmark holidays and their vision of the good life (they can show up if they’ll behave).</p><p>The clocks and the calendars: which ones can you trust as you make your way past covid (maybe); which ones will nurture your longings and loves? I’m with Rutledge and the church’s calendar.</p><p>—Larry Sibley</p>Lois Sibleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00294993339785615170noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4577146184781557526.post-62468032048678159702021-04-23T14:25:00.001-04:002021-04-24T15:48:20.001-04:00Enriching Our Prayers<p> If your prayers seem thin and dull, or a bit too frenzied and infrequent, LeAnne Hardy has just the book for you.<i> Honey from the Comb: A Guide for Focused Prayer Using the Scriptures</i> (Birch Island Books) is the fruit of a lifetime of praying, experimenting and searching; seeking a better way to talk to God.</p><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTnjQNdSXJkCrjdVOVgt6J6izPCYr5-FjIvgPUHEmLXsw5kasRscbbdXcLR7gV_l075U6ZikfEGieEeapfoty2oieN8t4noPj9UiqwZBg_qRnlbObqAeRwv1zVHE4jxwJ4gzSlCMLJq-GZ/" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="333" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTnjQNdSXJkCrjdVOVgt6J6izPCYr5-FjIvgPUHEmLXsw5kasRscbbdXcLR7gV_l075U6ZikfEGieEeapfoty2oieN8t4noPj9UiqwZBg_qRnlbObqAeRwv1zVHE4jxwJ4gzSlCMLJq-GZ/w133-h200/image.png" width="133" /></a>She writes, “it is easy to focus on the problems instead of the one who is able to calm the storm.” She recommends enriching prayer by refocusing on who God is, what he is like, before rushing in to make requests or demands. And, adding thanksgiving and confession to the mix:<i> Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication</i>. ACTS. As another writer put it, a full diet of prayer.</div><div><br /></div><div>Hardy’s book does not contain prayers, but hundreds of Bible verses that she has collected over the years, organized around the four aspects of prayer. For Adoration, for instance, she lists more than 40 aspects of God’s character and actions with verses for contemplation that later can turn to prayer (almost 100 pages worth!). </div><div><br /></div><div>After watching the evening news—all that suffering and chaos—she recommends turning to the section on the Almighty and focusing on “Is anything to hard for the Lord?” (Genesis 18:14) and “He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed.” (Job 8:10); rephrasing each verse and praying it back to God in adoration, before asking God to help that devastated family or to protect your own.</div><div><br /></div><div><div>I’ve been focusing on enriching my use of the Lord’s Prayer, especially the first phrase, “Our Father.” With Hardy’s book in hand, I found a verse in <i>Adoration</i> on God as Father: “I am Israel’s father” in Jeremiah 39:1 that echoes Exodus 4:22, “Israel is my son, my firstborn. Let my people go.” God is coming to claim his son. In the section on <i>Confession</i>, I found “Those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (Gal 5:21) And did some self examination—working back through the previous verses—to see where I fall short and confessed it. In <i>Thanksgiving</i>, I found “In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship” (Eph 1:5) and thanked God for taking me in. Then, in <i>Supplication</i> I found “Be openhanded and freely lend.” (Deut 15:8) Adoption is into a kingdom that is a family, and family members need help—and I need help in being generous. That menu makes quite a meal for one day!</div><div></div></div><div><br /></div><div><div>I first met LeAnne Hardy about 50 years ago and have enjoyed praying for her and her husband Steve as they served in six countries around the world. So, get yourself a copy and enrich your prayers, expand your menu.</div><div><br /></div><div>—Larry Sibley</div><div></div></div>Lois Sibleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00294993339785615170noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4577146184781557526.post-60087351155210502782019-08-02T15:30:00.001-04:002019-08-02T15:30:11.872-04:00Lines from a New Hampshire farmI love to rummage around in a used bookstore. You never know what you’ll find. One year, Lois<br />
and I took a book and plant vacation. We roamed around Vermont and New Hampshire, visiting<br />
used bookstores and gardens that sold plants. We filled up the back of the car with new treasures<br />
for our bookshelves and gardens as we traveled. Years later, we’re still enjoying them. A<br />
substitute would be a library book/plant sale, less travel but the same hunt.<br />
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Last fall I was scanning the tables at a local theological library and found<br />
<i>White Apples and the Taste of Stone: Selected Poems 1946–2006</i>; sixty<br />
years and 414 pages of Donald Hall’s creativity (Houghton Mifflin, 2006).<br />
What was Hall doing amid all those volumes of spiritual advice and<br />
commentaries? Who knows who bequeathed it; but it didn’t make into the<br />
library collection and I took it home. Have been slowly working my way<br />
through the years of poems.<br />
<br />
Hall grew up in Hamden, Connecticut, a few years before my family<br />
moved next door to New Haven. His father’s dairy, Brock Hall, delivered<br />
milk to our doorstep. By the time I first discovered his small chapbooks of<br />
poems, he was living with his wife, Jane Kenyon (another poet), in his<br />
grandparents’ farmhouse by a pond in New Hampshire, the same house where he spent summers helping his grandparents. The more I read the poems, the more I travel back to times of helping my Massachusetts grandfather with haying for his one cow, or sugaring on Saturdays with another farmer during my high school years in Vermont.<br />
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But, now to sample the poems. One section is headed, “Root Cellar.” Usually a small room<br />
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carved out of the sidewall of a dirt-floored cellar where vegetables and apples would keep through the winter. Many of these poems appeared earlier in <i>Kicking the </i><i>Leaves</i> (1978), so they are like old friends come to visit. For instance, “I remember/coming to the farm in March/in sugaring time, as a small boy./He carried the pails of sap, sixteen-quart/buckets, dangling from each end/of a wooden yoke/that lay across his shoulders, and emptied them/into a vat in the saphouse/where fires burned day and night/for a week.” When I worked with Will on his Vermont hill farm, we didn’t have a yoke, but carried the buckets, one in each hand, from the trees to the gathering tank on the scoot while the horses waited patiently. Then it was off with a whoop, sometimes over a partly snowed-in stone wall, to more trees.<br />
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Or, this one from the next section: “On Ragged Mountain birches twist from rifts in granite/Great<br />
ledges show gray though sugarbush. Brown bears/doze all winter under granite outcroppings or in<br />
cellarholes/the first settlers walled with fieldstone./Granite markers recline in high abandoned<br />
graveyards.” The small town in New Hampshire where I went to a one-room school had such a<br />
mountain in view. My father and I would hike it and see all these things Hall saw, especially the<br />
granite outcroppings where there might have been bears in winter—imagine a first grader’s<br />
imagination.<br />
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—Larry SibleyLois Sibleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00294993339785615170noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4577146184781557526.post-30693682239179687552019-06-28T09:07:00.003-04:002019-06-28T09:07:21.361-04:00Hearing Echoes. . .<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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When I was a small boy, my parents used to take us to Echo Lake, near Mt. Washington in New Hampshire. We’d stand on the shore and shout. . .then wait for the echo to come back. Endless fascination. I couldn’t get the same result in our back yard, or at a nearby lake.<br />
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I’m still hearing echoes, now when someone reads Scripture on Sunday<br />
mornings. Something in Luke sounds like something from Isaiah; the reader speaks and across time the echo comes back. Brian Estelle’s <i>Echoes of </i><i>Exodus: Tracing a Biblical Motif </i>(www.ivpacademic.com) probes this phenomenon within the Old Testament—begun during the account of the Exodus in Moses and followed in the Psalms, Isaiah, during the exile and return. Then he shows us how echoes of that paradigmatic event are used in the Gospels, Acts, Paul, Peter, and the Apocalypse to tell the good news of the kingdom.<br />
<br />
Richard Hays (<i>Echoes of Scripture in the Letters of Paul</i>, 1989) was an early pioneer in noticing<br />
these echoes—not direct quotations, or even a more obvious allusions to another/earlier part of<br />
the big story of Scripture, but brief glimpses or echoes that resonate for a hearer who knows the<br />
broad sweep of the story. He likens it to watching a play with brief snatches of earlier history<br />
projected on a back screen. You just barely see them, but they trigger a response: “This play is<br />
about something else.” He has a big word for this: metalepsis, meaning that the brief snatch brings<br />
the larger original context with it and the hearer senses/remembers that. For instance, how can<br />
you hear “holy, holy, holy” without remembering Isaiah’s vision, or the hymn and when you sang<br />
it on some memorable occasion? As he begins the book, Estelle interacts with Hays for a few<br />
pages, taking what he’s learned into his kit bag.<br />
<br />
As Estelle moves into Luke’s writings, especially the gospel, he focuses on a few passages: Luke<br />
3:2-6 that he calls Luke’s framing discourse—clues Luke gives the hearer about how to<br />
listen—and the “End of Exile,” where he establishes the role of the Exodus in the gospel; Luke 4,<br />
the temptation and the sermon at Nazareth about liberation/exodus; Luke 9, the transfiguration;<br />
Luke 9:51–19:44, Luke’s unique travel narrative, the journey to Jerusalem; and Luke 24, hearing<br />
the Old Testament as a story about Jesus. In each of these he develops the ways in which the<br />
exodus theme emerges. I’ll be consulting this chapter as my local church listens to Luke’s gospel<br />
this summer and fall. Estelle’s writing is academic and demanding, but worth the effort and even<br />
re-reading a section to see more deeply into the biblical text.<br />
<br />
Estelle notes that Augustine viewed the complexity of Scripture, all those human authors making<br />
intentional and unintentional allusions and echoes, in the light of the divine author behind the<br />
scenes, composing the various books “like an ineffably gifted artist combining movements into a<br />
sung poem.” At one level, Scripture is more like a symphony than a systematic theology.<br />
<br />
—Larry Sibley, guest contributor (husband of Lois, he also moonlights as a teacher and writer).Lois Sibleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00294993339785615170noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4577146184781557526.post-1543422806195957652019-06-28T09:06:00.001-04:002019-06-28T10:15:31.974-04:00They asked for a paper. . .With apologies to C. S. Lewis (<i>They Asked for a Paper: Papers and Addresses</i> (London: Geoffrey Bles, 1962), let me tell you about some papers, read at two conferences. I have learned much from papers written for and read at a conference. Including those from Wheaton College Theology Conferences over the years. Each year, a topic is chosen and people invited. They convene and read to each other, discuss endlessly in session and in between; often far into the night.<br />
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First up: <i>Come, Let Us Eat Together: Sacraments and Christian Unity</i> , (www.ivpacademic.com), from 2017. A remarkably diverse, baker’s dozen scholars gathered to discuss the Lord’s Supper. Contributions from the Orthodox East, from Rome in the middle (geographically, perhaps theologically), some Anglicans, and various American Protestants. For a sample, let’s listen as Matthew Levering (University of St. Mary of the Lake) reads his paper, “The Eucharist, the Risen Lord, and the Road to Emmaus.” In Luke 24, “By teaching Cleopas and his companion how to read the Old Testament so as to recognize the necessity that the Messiah should suffer and then rise from the dead, the risen Jesus shows later believers one path for comprehending the truth of his resurrection: reading and understanding the Old Testament. In this essay, however, I will focus on a second path to which the risen Jesus directs believers: ‘the breaking of bread.’ ” (Lk 24:35)<br />
After a careful exploration of Luke’s road to Emmaus story, interacting with other writers, as he comes to the conclusion of his essay, Levering turns to Christian unity and reads, “If the unity of Christians is to increase, who better to increase it than the risen Christ himself? And where could it be more fitting for this unity to be increased than in the Lord’s Supper or Eucharist, whose effect is to deepen the baptismal unity of ‘all the faithful in one body—the Church’ “?<br />
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One would love to have been in the room as others responded to Levering, eavesdropping on the<br />
conversation. Would they have welcomed his enthusiasm for the unifying effect of the meal? Or,<br />
would some still have reservations, shoring up walls instead of building bridges? A little of both<br />
from what I see in the other essays. Luke 24 has become one of my favorite passages in teaching<br />
about the meal. Levering’s treatment has given me added insights to share with my friends and<br />
students.</div>
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In 2018 the gathering turned to Marilynne Robinson and her fiction centered in the fictional Iowa town of Gilead and its pastor, John Ames; along with her essay collections. Including nine other writers, Robinson was there and joined the discussion. The resulting book is <i>Balm in Gilead: A Theological Dialogue </i><i>with Marilynne Robinson</i> (www.ivpacademic.com).<br />
<br />
I’ve read several of her books, both fiction and essays. The fiction embodies ideas that she finds important as she contemplates our culture; much like Wendell Berry’s fiction embodies his concerns for the environment. Since the book arrived, I’ve been reading the essays. Here’s what I found.<br />
<br />
Robinson has been clear about her appreciation for John Calvin—a rarity among mainstream writers (a Pulitzer for her novel <i>Gilead</i>). So, of course this attracted some attention in Wheaton; a 22 page essay by Timothy George (Beeson Divinity School), a brief interchange in Robinson’s interview with Wheaton president Philip Ryken, and scattered comments in several other essays.<br />
<br />
George focuses his essay on Robinson’s project of rescuing Calvin’s reputation. Robinson discovered Calvinism when she was assigned one of Jonathan Edwards’ writings in college. That turned her around and she started digging further into the tradition, back to Calvin, discovering along the way that the Geneva reformer is often slandered by scholars who haven’t read enough Calvin to know him. Now, Calvin shows up not only in her essays and lectures, but also in the protagonist in her fiction, the Rev. John Ames.<br />
<br />
For instance, George quotes from Pastor Ames: “I fell to thinking of the passage in the <i>Institutes</i><br />
where it says the image of the Lord in anyone is more than reason enough to love him, and that<br />
the Lord stands ready to take our enemies’ sins upon Himself It is a rejection of grace to hold our<br />
enemy at fault. . . .I have probably preached on that a hundred times.” (<i>Gilead</i>, 189) George notes<br />
that Robinson “acknowledges that Calvin teaches both. . .an exalted view of human beings made<br />
in the image of God and the radicality of sin. Still, she concludes, ‘it is a grander thing altogether<br />
to be a Calvinist sinner than a Freudian neurotic.’ ” (<i>Balm in Gilead</i>, 57)<br />
<br />
Well, I’d better get back to reading the rest of the essays: “Thinking about preaching with<br />
Marilynne Robinson” by Lauren Winter (Duke Divinity School); “Beyond Goodness: Gilead and<br />
the Discovery of the Connections of Grace,” by Rowan Williams (Magdalen College, Cambridge)<br />
among them.<br />
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—Larry Sibley, guest writerLois Sibleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00294993339785615170noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4577146184781557526.post-83103243538205045542019-06-14T16:30:00.001-04:002019-06-14T16:51:29.819-04:00Luther, Cranmer, Calvin, and much more<a href="https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-uh4v4/images/stencil/1024x1024/products/1649/3044/Reformation_Worship_Thumbnail__36664.1517937189.1280.1280__88440__78984.1520709002.jpg?c=2" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Reformation Worship: Liturgies from the Past for the Present" border="0" height="200" src="https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-uh4v4/images/stencil/1024x1024/products/1649/3044/Reformation_Worship_Thumbnail__36664.1517937189.1280.1280__88440__78984.1520709002.jpg?c=2" width="147" /></a>Thomas Cranmer wanted to get the major reformers of his today together in
one room to form a consensus about doctrine and worship. It never happened.
But when you’re a couple of 21st century editors, you can do it. Just get their liturgies—17 of them from the 16th century—together between two covers, freshly translated into contemporary English; add some introductory comments
to each—including charts showing the shape of each—and some general essays
and it’s done! It’s called <i>Reformation Worship: Liturgies from the Past for the
Present</i> edited by Jonathan Gibson and Mark Earngey
(www.newgrowthpress.com ). Although you can see some differences (ones
Cranmer hoped to resolve), you mostly notice the similarities. Lots of examples here for the 21st
century church.<br />
<br />
When Lois and I opened the package from the mail, we sat around and discussed it as we read.
Listen in.<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Lois</i>: Wow, this is a heavy book (688 pages)! It begins with a Foreword by Sinclair Ferguson,
who calls the reader to return to the Bible and the Reformation. The liturgies were written and
shared by religious leaders from many countries and theologians, and Ferguson calls readers to
use this collection “wisely and well,” even as a “benediction to the church.”<br />
<br />
<i>Larry</i>: One of my favorites is John Calvin’s <i>Form of Prayers</i> that he used as a pastor in Geneva
from 1542 until he died in 1664. The translation here is accessible for public reading of the
exhortations, prayers, etc. Calvin’s sentences and paragraphs can be long and complex, but I think
the average congregation would not get lost, especially if they had the text—adapted to fit the
contemporary situation—in front of them and became familiar with it, almost memorize it from
use. This is what gets the words “into the bone,” as they say, so that they can form the spiritual
life of the believer. Calvin’s extended paraphrase of the Lord’s Prayer is especially good for
shaping the prayer life of the worshiper. With Martin Luther’s <i>Form of the Mass</i> (1523) and
German Mass (1526), the editors have included the music for chanting the Gospel and other
standard texts, like the <i>Sursum Corda</i>; a definite plus!<br />
<br />
<i>Lois</i>: I liked seeing Thomas Cranmer’s <i>Book of Common Prayer</i> (1549 and 1552) and comparing
it with the 1979 revision that I often use. In 1979, some people were eager for a contemporary
version and others wanted to keep the 1928 form. I like to imagine what it would have been like
in 1549 when the first <i>BCP</i> was introduced. How would the people have adjusted to the prayers
in English, instead of Latin? How long would it have taken for them to relax and enjoy the
service?<br />
<br />
<i>Larry</i>: I think it needs one more chapter. It’s great to have all these resources, but I wonder about
how useful it would be for a busy pastor or a worship committee of lay folks without some hints
about how to use it. For instance, if you’re Presbyterian, I’d take “what we’ve always done” and
compare it with Calvin’s <i>Form of Prayers</i>. I’d look at the shape, the sequence of items, and notice
how they fit together, play off each other to make a powerful and helpful guide for the
congregation. Why did he place the intercessory prayer after the reading and preaching of the
Word? What would happen if we did that instead of our usual placement earlier in the service?
Would it be better as a response to the Word? Go one by one through the elements and ask
similar questions compared to what you’re doing. Move slowly so that people can adjust and
understand why. One congregation I know took 20 years to revamp their liturgy along Calvin’s
lines. A chapter that leads the reader through this process step by step would be very helpful.<br />
<br />
—Lois and Larry SibleyLois Sibleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00294993339785615170noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4577146184781557526.post-65184115775847225462018-07-30T15:42:00.001-04:002018-07-30T16:02:46.629-04:00Questions, Questions, and More Questions<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWT5N4M4fxp7I-FLgin-SxIQHpWUOfgWQLSPeKt0anLTo64QJZoOJmNfdAJ7z0NPhLbUwcWb3BBlPj_3Uf2LFzEMFwEatofY-GgDODRI78evNQ4fL5OrrK8I4_eeDkWtVehFhBGg2oHKVH/s1600/Questions+God+Asks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1023" data-original-width="690" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWT5N4M4fxp7I-FLgin-SxIQHpWUOfgWQLSPeKt0anLTo64QJZoOJmNfdAJ7z0NPhLbUwcWb3BBlPj_3Uf2LFzEMFwEatofY-GgDODRI78evNQ4fL5OrrK8I4_eeDkWtVehFhBGg2oHKVH/s200/Questions+God+Asks.jpg" width="134" /></a></div>
(Lois invited Larry to contribute a review this time, here’s what he has to say.)<br />
<br />
I lead a Bible Study Group most Sunday mornings, except during the summer.
The group loves questions. After I finish with my questions, they start in with
theirs and we go from there.<br />
<br />
How about God asking the questions? Could they handle that? I’m about to
find out next January when, with some of the same folks, I’ll use Dale and
Sandy Larsen’s <i>Questions God Asks</i>, exploring nine questions God asks of
characters in the Old Testament (www.ivpress.com). The Larsens write,
“While each question is only one verse, the study unfolds the larger context of the question,
including immediate circumstances, background, identity of the person being questioned, the
person’s response, and the apparent results.”<br />
<br />
For instance, God asks Adam and Eve “Where are you?” They’re hiding as you will remember.
Do folks hide from God today? Why? And does he come asking?<br />
<br />
Or Jonah, in a fit because God is so merciful, hears “Is it right for you to be angry?” Well. . . .
We too might get angry at God; perhaps.<br />
<br />
This goes on with questions for Moses—“What’s that in your hand?;” Israel at the Red
Sea—“Why are you crying out to me?;” Joshua—“What are you doing down on your face?;”
Elijah—“What are you doing here?;” Israel again, now called Jacob in Isaiah—“Why do you
complain, Jacob?;” Ezekiel—“Can these bones live?;” and Israel again, after the exile—God asks,
“What about that nice house you live in while mine is in ruins?”<br />
<br />
Come January, I’ll put some of these questions to the group and listen to their reactions—and get
some questions back, no doubt. God’s questions cut to the quick, designed to help with self
examination and spiritual renewal.<br />
<br />
By the way, go back through this review and count the question marks. See how often we need to
ask (and hear) questions?<br />
<br />
—Larry SibleyLois Sibleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00294993339785615170noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4577146184781557526.post-45032614711138556202018-01-11T16:03:00.001-05:002018-01-11T16:10:09.016-05:00Book by Book<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1-mpE9R6_cSZghuNKg4r6CWcjenx8lUOtaLjcUQWba_0QhxaLvL8g083gXKuDD6B_NXPu-eBJhMUngKzwEqadFIOVivU7HTbQV7oDGW7zppc68luQdomGHywkUhE0Zw5rAtXXF51LpTG0/s1600/LCS+teaching.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="218" data-original-width="234" height="186" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1-mpE9R6_cSZghuNKg4r6CWcjenx8lUOtaLjcUQWba_0QhxaLvL8g083gXKuDD6B_NXPu-eBJhMUngKzwEqadFIOVivU7HTbQV7oDGW7zppc68luQdomGHywkUhE0Zw5rAtXXF51LpTG0/s200/LCS+teaching.png" width="200" /></a></div>
The New York Times Book Review has a regular feature, By the Book. I've
often thought it would be fun to riff on it. My professional specialties are
liturgy and biblical studies, and I have varied avocational interests. As a guest on this blog, here's
my take:<br />
<br />
<b>What books are on your night stand? </b>Actually, it’s a footstool by my
rocking/reading chair. Bit by bit, I’ve been reading <i>Bobby Kennedy</i>, by
Larry Tye and <i>Maine’s Golden Road,</i> John Gould’s memoir about annual
summer retreats in the Great Northen Maine wilderness. Over on the table
across the room, are Wendell Berry’s Sabbath poems, <i>This Day</i>; often I
read a few to start my Sunday.<br />
<br />
<b>Who is your favorite novelist of all time? </b>Probably Flannery O’Connor. <i>Wise Blood </i>(1952),
and <i>The Violent Bear It Away </i>(1960) showed that deep Christian commitment is no barrier to
creative writing, indeed, it drives the best. Her letters (T<i>he Habit of Being</i>, 1979) and her <i>A
Prayer Journal</i> (2013) reveal the person who did the writing.<br />
<br />
<b>Who are your favorite writers working today? </b>Wendell Berry, for fiction and poetry; Jeanne
Murray Walker—<i>Helping the Morning</i>—for poetry; Marilynne Robinson for cultural comment;
Jamie Smith on the competing loves in our world; Tom Wright for seeing the big picture in the
biblical story; and Richard Hays for interpretive strategies.<br />
<br />
<b>What genres do you especially enjoy reading?</b> I re-read three of Berry’s Port William novels
this summer: <i>The Memory of Old Jack</i>, <i>Jayber Crow</i>, and <i>Hannah Coulter.</i> His Port William
community in Kentucky takes me back to high school days in a hill farm community in Vermont.
There’s more than nostalgia here, because Berry has tapped into the biblical motif of responsible
care for the earth and its creatures; and the role of inter-generational families and the wider
community in this caring.<br />
<br />
<b>Tell us about your favorite poetry books and short stories. </b>For poetry, Robert Lowell,
Elizabeth Bishop, William Carlos Williams, Marianne Moore, Wendell Berry and Jeannie Walker.
Short story collections by Flannery O’Connor, <i>The Complete Stories</i>; Wendell Berry, <i>That
Distant Land</i> and A <i>Place in Time;</i> and William Trevor, <i>A Bit on the Side</i> and <i>Cheating at
Canasta</i>.<br />
<br />
<b>You’re hosting a literary dinner party. Which three writers are invited? </b>I’d like to see John
Calvin and Marilynne Robinson at the same table (since she quotes him from time to time), along
with perhaps my friend Gordon Lathrop, a Lutheran writer. A potpourri of wit and dialog across
the centuries.<br />
<br />
<b>What do you plan to read next? </b>I’ve just begun <i>Saving Images</i>, by Lathrop and <i>Awaiting the
King,</i> by Jamie Smith; so add those to the footstool.
—Larry SibleyLois Sibleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00294993339785615170noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4577146184781557526.post-47455214299529408492017-12-29T11:37:00.004-05:002017-12-29T11:40:09.498-05:00Getting to the cure<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQuWwujg1UvgdedaNPKKYJWJ0mJevMPzKLSiGfKtrB1kPKFSpvvxiuBun7lfZwwQan3r5GAzL27kM_4qs2uYwQcutimkxfCPjI6MB0GkUALELf8fMuPBDP89_nOI5ZD1fOtGYdQqUUqiVU/s1600/Emlet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="327" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQuWwujg1UvgdedaNPKKYJWJ0mJevMPzKLSiGfKtrB1kPKFSpvvxiuBun7lfZwwQan3r5GAzL27kM_4qs2uYwQcutimkxfCPjI6MB0GkUALELf8fMuPBDP89_nOI5ZD1fOtGYdQqUUqiVU/s200/Emlet.jpg" width="130" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Michael Emlet, in his
new book, <i>Descriptions and Prescriptions: A Biblical Perspective on
Psychiatric Diagnoses and Medications</i> (New Growth), understands and
explains two big words that are important to those who are ministry people, and
he applies these words and functions to those who need them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">These are the important
words and terms: Psychiatric Diagnosis, and Psychoactive Medications. Emlet is
on the faculty at Christian Counseling and Education (CCEF) in Glenside, PA,
and he has excellent experience to discuss these important and often helpful
words and terms.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Emlet divides his book
into two sections, on Psychiatric Diagnosis and on Psychoactive Medications.
There are twenty-two short chapters. He wrote his book primarily for helpers in
the church, pastors, counselors, elders, deacons, youth workers; whoever needs
this kind of help in their ministry will appreciate Michael Emlet and his book.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Along the way, he
discusses specific hazards to spiritual growth, whether using diagnosis and
medications as gifts or gods. Basic to his approach is his understanding of the
human person with both a spiritual aspect and a physical aspect. Psychoactive
Medications may be necessary and effective, but they will not address the
person’s relationship to God. On the other hand, to treat a person’s struggles
as only spiritual will deny the physical needs. God made us embodied spirits
and both aspects will be involved in the counselor’s ministry.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">One of the most helpful
chapters in the book is the fourth, "The problems and pitfalls of
psychiatric diagnosis: description <i>not </i>explanation." Emlet’s
point is that a list of symptoms does not explain why they exist. An unacknowledged
assumption sometimes is the key to the difference. He illustrates: "this
assumption of biological root cause is widespread in our culture." This
assumption can lead to normalizing behavior that stems from our fallen
condition, treating some temptations as alternate lifestyles.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">For example, assuming
that various sexual orientations are biologically rooted and therefore normal
(and should be expressed as alternate lifestyles) is very different from the
biblical assumption that, whatever their biological or social source, some
sexual expressions are sinful and therefore should, and can, be resisted,
encouraged by the promise of the mercy and grace of God. Transformation of the
whole person, including behavior, is the biblical goal.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Emlet writes, "we must
acknowledge the complex interaction of multiple factors—physical, spiritual,
relational, situational, and cultural—that combine in causative ways for a
given individual." He proposes a balanced approach to helping someone
who’s suffering emotionally. A psychiatric diagnosis might help, but it’s only
a starting point towards healing, not a life sentence.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">—Lois & Larry Sibley</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span>Lois Sibleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00294993339785615170noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4577146184781557526.post-53974238217266119852017-08-16T07:28:00.001-04:002017-08-23T08:16:07.407-04:00Safeguarding ChildrenI almost cannot read this book.I may need to back-up and make a turn....<br />
Yes, our churches, ministries, parents, teachers---so many adults, must know about terrible, abusive experiences children sometimes participate in for the sake of adults and children they love.<br />
<br />
How can grown-ups do this to children? How can children participate...for those they love? Do many churches and ministries have policies to help control this, as soon as they know of such adult/childhood behavior? Or is it sometimes known and ignored?<br />
<br />
This book: <i>The Child Safeguarding Policy Guide,</i> published by New Growth Press (NGP) "is a comprehensive, concrete resource that will aid churches in keeping children safe, holding offenders accountable, and witnessing their commitment to care for the least of these." This quote, and many like it, is accompanied by encouraging words, the stories and details of such happenings among our children and adults and how we can protect our children as we hear of incidents of abuse.<br />
<br />
Perhaps we did not know. Perhaps we have not heard. Perhaps the children are afraid to tell us. But here we have an important Policy Guide for safety regarding our children.<br />
<br />
Authors Basyle Tchividjian and Shira M. Berkovits and their team have provided us, parents, churches, ministries---all who need to know about these horrible demands sometimes forced on our children. Who knew? some may say. But now we can know and we know what to do to protect our children.<br />
<br />
From <i>Getting Started</i> to using a <i>Child Safeguarding Certification </i>(p. 3), which provides necessary resources and support, and concludes with a chapter on <i>Empowering Children</i>, a good beginning. Educational programs for the children will help them learn what the rules are and how they can have "general body safety." An educator, even a parent, can encourage the children to become involved in their own education. For example, a youth group could have a discussion on "creating safe spaces" or, asking "what would make them feel safe" that could be helpful. Such conversations would help them feel safer, wherever they are.<br />
<br />
I recommend this book. My children are all grown-up and past all the good and helpful ideas to be found in it. But I have grandchildren, even great-grandchildren who might like to talk with Grammie about people and spaces and kindness, and maybe even talk with the teacher.<br />
<br />
loissibley@gmail.com<br />
ireviewreligiousbks<br />
<br />Lois Sibleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00294993339785615170noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4577146184781557526.post-72618365638696203502017-07-24T16:20:00.001-04:002017-07-24T16:20:48.643-04:00Searching for hope..<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmG9oMsjIUw9HHpkRxSS8UyPf6BUv0ge_vRmSb-hZLVaYLNvS_Qeaq1VQDLLvv4NVn_xX1WYJ2thcKQqVuXRoEfozf6x7wmHuOC7_CGvWT2LRIfEUiqgt1BmOfHZYa6wM6xmuv5JSABN_A/s1600/Grieving+a+Suicide.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1023" data-original-width="682" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmG9oMsjIUw9HHpkRxSS8UyPf6BUv0ge_vRmSb-hZLVaYLNvS_Qeaq1VQDLLvv4NVn_xX1WYJ2thcKQqVuXRoEfozf6x7wmHuOC7_CGvWT2LRIfEUiqgt1BmOfHZYa6wM6xmuv5JSABN_A/s200/Grieving+a+Suicide.jpg" width="133" /></a>Perhaps Author Albert Y. Hsu has written the book we have finally found: the right book for us, the one we have been looking for. We need it. Our whole family needs it. We grieve in the midst of our pain. Our precious grandson Jacob, killed himself, with a gun. Where would he even get a gun? We cannot believe it. He seemed so happy. He spent six years in the Air Force, then back to his classes in NOLA. He had many friends there and he was helping out at two churches near his apartment. Recently he sent a note to his mother, saying "Now I get it..." (about God). Later, the message came, on May 11, 2017....It's hard to say it....he killed hmself....hard to believe....<br />
<br />
The first edition of Albert Hsu's book is called <i>Grieving a Suicide, A loved one's search for comfort, answers, and hope</i>. Published by InterVarsityPress, Hsu's book has been revised and expanded, at least twice, and a number of its readers share a paragraph or two, telling of their own painful experiences. Hsu has written his book in memory of his father, Terry Tsai-Yuan Hsu, 1939--1998, and he includes some of his family stories. Part 1 begins with a special word to begin each thought, such as denial, anger, shock, turmoil, lament, depression, and acceptance. In his Introduction, Hsu compares the weather in Minnesota, a state he knows "for frigid winters and heavy snowfall." And he tells survivers of suicide how "they could be caught in a winter storm of epic proportions in the road ahead, and he hopes his book will "guard your heart and soul during a time of terrible agony. May it provide you with some tracks to follow to make your way through."<br />
<br />
Part 2 Includes Several Lingering Questions for the Reader: <br />
Why Did This Happen? Is Suicide the Unforgivable Sin? Where is God When It Hurts?<br />
<br />
Part : 3 Life After Suicide; The Spirituality of Grief, The Healing Community, and Lessons.<br />
<br />
If you are reading this, and trying to cope with the struggle, relax and have a pen and pencil ready. There is much to think about here and you will want to take notes.<br />
Many thanks to Albert Hsu and to God. I have learned some important facts for grieving. May it help you all in your grieving.<br />
<br />
loissibley@ireviewreligiousbks<br />
<br />
<br />Lois Sibleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00294993339785615170noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4577146184781557526.post-20492192518618845502017-05-16T15:49:00.002-04:002017-05-16T15:49:36.558-04:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Children's books are fun to read A new one coming out May 20 is about Pentecost. Many children have no idea what that word Pentecost means. Some grown-ups don't either.</span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"> So Paraclete Press in Brewster, MA decided to help those who care about mysterious words they don't know, but are eager to learn.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">This book is called <i>The Day When God Made Church </i>and the subtitle is <i>A Child's First Book About Pentecost. </i>Children won't know the word Pentecost until someone shows or explains it to them. The person who wrote this book is Ms. Rebekah and the person who drew all the pictures is Ms. Stephanie They made a wonderful book for children to read or see or hear.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">It begins with telling that Jesus, God's Son, is gone. Where did he go and why, and when will he come back, or who will he send? Those who are waiting are nervous and curious and eager to know who Jesus will send to them. After awhile, the animals become excited, the people are eager, and suddenly they hear words! The Holy Spirit has arrived! And who is that?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Peter arrives and stands up to preach and he tells the people how Jesus loves them, how Jesus healed some of the people, and how he told stories and shared good news with them, too. Then Peter tells them of how Jesus was hung on the cross and he died. All the people who loved Jesus were sad. But Jesus did come back!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">God, his Father, raised him from the dead and gave New Life to him and to all who believe in Jesus. Peter tells them that God sends the Holy Spirit, good news, baptism, and we are a new family together. We call that the Day of Pentecost, "the day when church was born." It is for men and women, boys and girls, and for all those who are filled with the Holy Spirit, for all who "are Alive and Risen, as we worship Jesus."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">loissibley@ireviewreligiousbks</span></div>
Lois Sibleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00294993339785615170noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4577146184781557526.post-75166875635863031642017-03-11T12:26:00.001-05:002017-03-13T04:14:44.871-04:00Children's Guide to Lent and Easter<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Here it is: <i>Make Room, </i>and it's not only beautifully illustrated but also clearly written and Kids who read this book are going to Know and they won't forget it. Author Laura Alary has a plan. She begins with what Lent and Easter are all about: how it tells the stories of Jesus, how we all are reminded of these stories in our families, churches, and friends, and how Jesus' stories might fit into our lives and theirs as we grow and remember what we are learning. Published by Paraclete Press, and illustrated by Ann Bovajian, it is a pleasure to read and think about how these stories might fit into kids' lives.<br />
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They begin with three about Jesus: Making Time, Space, Room and then about Holy Week. Readers will learn that Jesus is the Son of God, and what he did and why. Readers will be encouraged to "make time to be with God" during Lent. They will find that many people came to hear Jesus and to ask him questions, some expressing desire for healing. And in our own day, people are listening and hearing and growing into the kind of people Jesus wants them to be as we wait for the day when the Kingdom of God comes and Jesus is known as Lord of All. He also taught the people how to pray what we call "The Lord's Prayer." He taught them to be kind to all, not just the ones they like, and to help those who need help.<br />
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Author Alary reminds us that when the 40 days of Lent come, usually in March or April, people tend to make their lives more simple. They are learning what the Lord wants them to do and they get ready for Holy Week, which comes at the end of the 40 days. The people who lived long ago, with God and his kings and prophets heard about the Kingdom of God and that they would live there with God some day. Those people were reminded that they were once slaves in Egypt, but now they should remember how God saved them and what he wants them to do next. Now-a-days kids hear about Palm Sunday and Maundy Thursday and wonder what that's all about. They may hear about the Last Supper (Jesus with his disciples) and how he knelt down and washed their dusty feet,<br />
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Friday is the hardest day to read about and to know what happened to Jesus. He was mistreated and hanged on the Cross. Very painful to watch for those who loved him. But then, as he promised, after three days Jesus rose from the dead. Our Heavenly Father, God and the Holy Spirit prepared him for it. On a special day, called Easter, the people come to church to pray and to worship and to thank God together. The people call "Hallelujah," "Jesus is risen... the Lord is risen indeed." And God has "done A WONDERFUL thing." Thanks be to God! May many children read this book.<br />
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Lois Sibley, ireviewreligousbks.com<br />
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<br />Lois Sibleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00294993339785615170noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4577146184781557526.post-90385780942818546342016-12-09T16:24:00.000-05:002016-12-10T10:09:10.338-05:00Advent with Coloring and Music...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Here we are at Advent again! I took a peek at what I suggested for reading a good book during our last Advent, and it was Bud Holland's book of stories, called <i>Advent Presence, </i>from Morehouse Publishing. We enjoyed Bud's stories as we began Advent, and learning more of the biblical stories and the people who lived through those times.<br />
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With this Advent, we have new possibilities to add to our preparations for the coming of the Lord. It may sound strange or funny to you, but a Coloring Book? Am I kidding you? No, because I am actually used to the idea of coloring books to relieve stress. I worked in a company that produced just-passed new laws for local, small-town officials. These books had to be perfect. Changing where a comma was could change the law and that thought was stressful. So if our boss saw we were upset and stressed, he would say, "Take a break, and do a page in the coloring book," (thanks, Bill) and it usually worked.<br />
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Today, there are new ideas and combinations of helpful materials to guide and teach us as we think over the biblical stories we know, or are learning. As we think about the angel speaking to Mary and saying, "Be not afraid." And Joseph, rethinking his plan about caring for and helping Mary with her news, and his being told by an angel to take her as his wife. Could that be real, he thought, and he decided "yes," it was real, and he began his plan for a new life.<br />
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In our minds, thinking of what happened, I'm sure we could use a 24-day <i>Advent Coloring Calendar</i> from Paraclete Publishing, and also two cds, one called <i>Keeping Christmas: Beloved Carols and the Christmas Story; </i>and for those who are interested in Gregorian Chant, they offer <i>The Coming of Christ: </i><i>A Celebration of Faith in His Name.</i> I am impressed by the idea of doing this, especially putting the coloring together with the music as we remember the biblical stories. Try it! And see if it works for you!<br />
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---Lois Sibley, ireviewreligiousbks<br />
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<i><br /></i>Lois Sibleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00294993339785615170noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4577146184781557526.post-1451030959349073972016-12-02T15:54:00.002-05:002016-12-29T15:13:33.294-05:00A Reformed Church?...<br />
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According to my list, I began reviewing religious books on my blog on June 11, 2012. That was quite awhile ago and I have enjoyed every minute of it. Today's review is #100, although I admit that sometimes I did put together two reviews that seemed important to be together.<br />
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Today's book is called <i>What is a Reformed Church?</i> and its series title is <i>Basics of the Faith</i>. It's only 28 pages, but those are important and informative pages. Author is Stephen Smallman, who<i> </i>is a pastor in Philadelphia, and publisher is P&R Publishing, at wwwprpbooks.com. <i>What is a Reformed Church?</i> is part of a series of books on questions people ask. Pastor Smallman says that during his many years as pastor, he was often asked this particular question and this book began as answers to those who shared this question.<br />
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Pastor Smallman planned to cover six themes in this book and he begins his answers with historical roots of the Protestant Reformation. In the 1500s, committed Christians, such as Martin Luther, were trying to reform the established church of their day, known to us as the Roman Catholic Church. Luther joined his voice to others calling for corrections of abuses in the churches, and Luther came to the "unshakable conviction that, to be faithful to the Lord, the Church must build on the absolute authority of Scripture." Luther's "uncompromising stance forced him to leave the Church of Rome in 1520, and the new movement was under way."<br />
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Some of the churches followed Luther while others in Europe were labeled "Reformed" churches, and one of the leaders of the Reformed was "the Frenchman John Calvin, the principle teacher for the church of Geneva." Even today, terms such as Reformed and Calvinist are nearly synonymous. Calvin's <i>Institutes</i> began as a tract but was revised and enlarged four times. The final edition of 1559 is still studied today.<br />
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Smallman continues, describing the six themes of Reformed heritage. They are: Scripture, Divine Sovereignty, The Covenant, The Law of God, The Church, and The Kingdom of God. He describes each theme, giving some of its history. explaining where it is now and what we should look for in future. I highly recommend this book. As the Reformers said, "True reform is never finished---a Reformed Church will be continually reforming. God is the same. His word is true." But our world is changing. We need "new ways of speaking about the God who is our Rock."<br />
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---Lois Sibley, ireviewreligiousbks<br />
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<br />Lois Sibleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00294993339785615170noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4577146184781557526.post-81628709858326439212016-11-17T16:14:00.000-05:002016-11-17T16:14:02.532-05:00Advent Mystery and New Beginnings<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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As we think about and plan how we will spend Advent, it's good to search and find some new books that may be helpful in our Advent study. One of the possibilities, especially for families who have children and reading is a part of their family devotions, is this new book: All Creation Waits, The Advent Mystery of New Beginnings, written by Gayle Boss, illustrated by David G. Klein, and published by Paraclete Press.<br />
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In the northern hemisphere of the world we think of special ways of fasting, giving, and praying throughout our Advent time. Gayle Boss with her words shows that she is thinking of the animals, how they cope, and what they do, at such a time. Have you ever thought about how wild animals manage as they search for food and warmth and safety in the winter ahead? Perhaps not. Animals may "take in the threat of dark and cold, and they adapt in amazing and ingenious ways," Boss says. And, the animals say, in their way: "the dark is not an end, but a door. This is the way a new beginning comes." Boss believes the animals can be our companions and guides. She writes "They can be to us "a book about God..."a word of God, the God who comes, even in the darkest season, to bring us a new beginning."<br />
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David Klein's illustrations are beautiful and interesting. Children who hear the stories and see the sketches will be captured and have many "why," "why," "why," questions. Here are the animals as depicted and explained. They are: painted turtle, muskrat, black bear, chickadee, whitetail deer, honey bee, chipmunk, cottontail, common loon, wood frog, raccoon, little brown bat, opossum, wild turkey, common garter snake, woodchuck, striped skunk, porcupine, common Eastern firefly, meadow vole, Eastern fox squirrel, red fox, northern cardinal, lake trout. Followed on Christmas Day with a meditation on Jesus, the Christ. "For the animals, their hope, and the hope of all that breathes, is that human ones abandon themselves to the One Great Love. For that, all creation waits."<br />
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Lois Sibley, ireviewreligiousbks<br />
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<br />Lois Sibleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00294993339785615170noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4577146184781557526.post-80140699942925262272016-06-28T15:51:00.000-04:002016-06-28T16:34:04.340-04:00On the back porch. . .<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: small/normal arial; letter-spacing: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">
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Early on summer<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="aBn" data-term="goog_575873928" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Sunday</span></span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>mornings, I often sit on my back porch with<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>This Day</i>, a book of Wendell Berry’s Sabbath poems written between 1979 and 2013. While all the machines are silent, I read and savor two or three poems, reading slowly and rereading. For instance, with birdsong, ". . .the day ends/and is unending where/the summer tanager, warbler, and vireo/sing as they move among/illuminated leaves," and "heaven seizes its moment" (1998, VI). For years, Berry has been taking walks into his woods<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="aBn" data-term="goog_575873929" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">on Sunday</span></span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>mornings. From time to time, a poem emerges, polished on the front porch of his writing cabin at the edge of the trees.<br />
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<i>A Small Porch</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>(<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://counterpointpress.com&source=gmail&ust=1467228484191000&usg=AFQjCNHn3aAz1CkM6DAyTE2-8k-GUEGiHg" href="http://counterpointpress.com/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">counterpointpress.com</a>) gives us twenty-five new Sabbath poems from 2014 and 2015, plus an essay, "The Presence of Nature in the Natural World: A Long Conversation." The hardback just appeared in my mailbox, and I don’t want to hurry through it—at my usual rate, this many poems could take a couple of months of slow reading. So we’ll only explore the book a little; a spoonful or two to share the flavor with you.<br />
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First the essay, "The Presence of Nature." In surveying more than 50 years of reading, Berry reports that he has been in conversation with Scripture, which imposes "on humans the obligation to take good care of a world both given to them. . .and to which they have been given," and with several poets whose work was formed by Scripture, especially Chaucer, Spencer, Langland, Milton, Pope; and who "seem to have remembered" Alan of Lille’s<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Plaint of Nature</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>(c. 1170). So, there are several pages about Alan’s<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Plaint</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>followed by comments on the poets, giving some clues to how Berry reads his fields and woods.<br />
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And now, a poem from the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Porch</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>(2014, V.). "The silence of the barn at evening,/when the shepherd draws shut the door/and starts home for the night, is heavenly,/for it says almost aloud that every lamb/is found, every ewe has found her lamb/and is feeding, and is content." Reading this just before dark, I notice the silence. The hatchlings in the wisteria have ceased chirping and the wren is with them, settled for the night. She has fed them all day and now they rest.<br />
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The second stanza in Berry’s poem speaks of "another of the barn’s silences. . .[when] the ewes and their young ones/now are gone. . .to new pasture." The nest in the wisteria will empty into silence in a few more days, to be discovered by a grandson when the leaves fall in autumn.<br />
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Lois Sibleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00294993339785615170noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4577146184781557526.post-26505893808686314542016-06-17T07:52:00.000-04:002016-06-17T08:01:31.379-04:00Christian Life and Hope<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Here we are at McGrath's final book in this series on The Heart of Christian Faith. From wjkbooks it is called <i>The Christian Life and Hope, a Guide for Study and Devotion.</i> McGrath turns now "to the great theme of Christian hope and the way it transforms and sustains the Christian Life." Readers may ask "what is this hope" and "how does it affect how we think and act each day?" McGrath gives answers to these questions in five chapters. First, he writes about the "sacraments: signs and memories of hope." Then, the meaning of "the resurrection of the dead" followed by a chapter on "Heaven and eternity: the Christian hope." Next he discusses "Between the times: the life of faith," and his conclusion is titled: "further up and further in."<br />
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McGrath tells the reader he is using material from his earlier sermons and as he goes over his sermons and prepares each chapter he feels as though he needs to hear each biblical passage himself; he needs to understand more about the great doctrinal themes he is exploring; and he knows his need to listen, as he is preaching to himself as well as to readers and listeners.<br />
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In his Introduction, McGrath describes each of the five chapters and how they fit together. First, he talks about "the sacraments, how are they helpful to Christians, what do they believe about them, and what are they to do with them." In chapters 2 and 3, we are reminded again of the creeds and the hope of resurrection for those who do believe. And what is Heaven about and how does it fit with everyday life and worship of our God, who is "loving and trustworthy, and who refuses to let violence, death, and destruction have the final word." Though sad things continue to happen, as recently in Orlando, we look for, hope for, and pray for, "our restoration to the life God always wanted for us."<br />
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McGrath suggests that those who believe in God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) might find it helpful to have a mentor, a friend who would answer questions, explain things we might not understand. He suggests the writings of G. K. Chesterton, or C. S. Lewis, or Dorothy Sayers as possible mentors. He himself does have a mentor and has found him very helpful. When McGrath became a Christian, his mentor helped him to see "that his new faith did not call upon him to abandon his love of science, but to see it in a new way." Actually, to have "a new motivation for loving science and a deepened appreciation for its outcomes." Could be helpful...think about it.......<br />
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---Lois Sibley, ireviewreligiousbks<br />
<br />Lois Sibleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00294993339785615170noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4577146184781557526.post-82085197799075520372016-05-28T14:31:00.000-04:002016-05-28T14:31:08.922-04:00McGrath on faith and creeds<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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We have been reading Alister McGrath's series called <i>The Heart of Christian Faith</i>, and today we read and review book four in his series. Published by wjkbooks.com, this one is named <i>The Spirit of Grace, A Guide for Study and Devotion</i>. In the first three books in this series, McGrath explained "basic themes of Christian faith," as he led readers through the "nature of faith," the Christian understanding of God," and the "identity and significance of Jesus of Nazareth." Now he looks at the "next major set of beliefs," as he examines the Apostles' Creed and what it means when it speaks of "the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints and the forgiveness of sins."<br />
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This title, <i>The Spirit of Grace</i>, reminds us that God is active in the world. If you doubt it, remember that the creeds "make it clear that the Holy Spirit brings life and renewal to believers and the church." The creeds "affirm that God is gracious, seen especially in the forgiveness of sins." And the creeds "remind us of the importance of the Church as the community of faith." These three themes are interconnected and McGrath asks readers to think and consider "what impact they may have on how we live and think as Christians."<br />
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McGrath says that "for many Christians, the Holy Spirit is one of the more puzzling aspects of both the creeds and the Christian faith." He writes: "we must think of God as a living presence in the world and in our lives." And, "Faith is not just about themes or ideas, it is about a growing relationship with God, enabled by the Spirit." McGrath asks "how can the role of the community of faith nurture individual believers' lives?" Here, McGrath begins to map out some basic positions and issues to help readers think this through. "But," he says, "you will have to make up your own mind about which way of thinking about the church seems best for you."<br />
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Hope you enjoy this study. Next month we will review the final book in this series, <i>The Christian Life and Hope.</i><br />
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Lois Sibley, ireviewreligiousbks<br />
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<br />Lois Sibleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00294993339785615170noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4577146184781557526.post-33782003466129260782016-05-11T14:43:00.001-04:002016-05-15T07:58:53.379-04:00Helping those with addictions<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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"Addiction recovery is much more than a referral to the closest AA group. It is a one-of-a-kind opportunity for a whole community to be transformed by the grace of God." Jonathan Benz is a clinician, public speaker, ordained minister and a certified addictions professional, who serves and directs a treatment program in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Benz's book, co-authored with Kristina Robb Dover, is called <i>The Recovery-Minded Church</i>, from IVP. With a subtitle called <i>Loving and Ministering to People with Addiction</i>, this book may be one we have been looking for, wishing for, hoping for, as we look around and see friends, loved ones, visitors, most of whom do not talk about their addiction and what to do about it.<br />
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Benz says he designed this book as a "toolkit," and he is eager to help and encourage anyone who may be dealing with some type of addiction to listen, read, share ideas and opportunities to overcome their addiction, whatever it may be. He says that in America, 30% of the population struggle with some form of addiction. He estimates that 6% of Americans struggle with some form of sexual addiction; approximately 10% have drug or alcohol addictions; around 7.5% exhibit some form of an eating disorder; some 6% are compulsive shoppers; and at least 1% are pathological gamblers. He claims his "estimate is conservative, because many of those struggling with addiction will never report their struggles out of fear or shame, or they will become casualties of their addiction before they can get the help they need."<br />
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The book begins with the questions church members may be asking, and continues with answers from "the perspective of a Christian addiction recovery clinician." Referring throughout to the parable of the prodigal son, found in Luke 15, Benz calls his Section 1: Tools for Loving People with Addiction. Section 2 is Tools for Creating a Recovery-Friendly Church.<br />
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Benz writes: section 1 "will outfit you with practical tools for loving people with addictions in your midst," and section 2 "will equip you with tips and practices for building a recovery-friendly church." Don't skip the appendix, which offers info on Christian treatment programs, recovery groups, websites and readings, also detailed info on various addictions you may encounter. Our authors remind us that "the guiding principle for any intervention is to remember the goal of getting an addict into recovery. This must govern how we conduct ourselves." Benz and Robb-Dover remind us that "though addiction is an epidemic in America. the church can and must respond." And the church and those with addictions have much to learn and teach about the sanctifying grace of God.<br />
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---Lois Sibley, http://ireviewreligiousbks.blogspot.com/Lois Sibleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00294993339785615170noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4577146184781557526.post-25238544864401322512016-04-22T08:22:00.000-04:002016-04-22T08:22:16.333-04:00Comfort for the ill and their caregivers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This is not a new book, but it's a valuable one for those who are ill, and their caregivers. Morehouse Publishing/cpi and Mary C. Earle have given us <i>Days of Grace: Meditations and Practices for Living with Illness</i>. The Psalms are left out of the title so I'll tell you that each of the 30 days and an Afterword begin with a quote from one of the Psalms. Earle had long used and learned parts of the Psalms in her own prayers and they are perfect here.<br />
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It's a small book, meant to fit in a pocket or purse, consisting of three parts for each of 30-days. Each page is carefully put together with a line or two from a Psalm, a short meditation, and something interesting called "Practices." Yes, she is practical and the parts fit together, encouraging readers to read and use each part, but slowly, thoughtfully, prayerfully. No hurry and plenty of thinking time.<br />
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Those who read and respond may be either the one who is ill or the caregiver. Perhaps they will both appreciate the words on certain days, certain pages, and will take turns reading and thinking and talking and practicing in response. They may not be aware of the power in prayers found in the Psalms. They may not be used to sitting quietly and listening or reading a meditation about the love and wisdom God shares with his people. They may be surprised that a practice is offered as a way of responding to the Psalm verse and the meditation.<br />
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Earle suggests that one practice might be writing down questions asked after becoming ill. Choose a question and write it down with a prayer to God. Leave it with him as you think of what has happened in your illness. Notice feelings, memories, perhaps growth in acceptance. Close and comfort yourself or your caregiver with a "simple prayer of thanksgiving." Or, caregiver may offer a prayer as comfort for one who is ill. Caregivers and patients both, could find <i>Days of Grace</i> helpful.<br />
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Lois Sibley, ireviewreligiousbks<br />
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<br />Lois Sibleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00294993339785615170noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4577146184781557526.post-87180657216769800662016-04-09T14:21:00.002-04:002016-04-09T14:21:41.605-04:00Worship in Sixteenth-Century Geneva<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie6ydtx7uOA_5ZkRLRC8H_Tukx0O9ohj34XGBH4jvkt9CrlORRkXUvokXKM-P0Vn7qUR_JSn-WdPFU1HcV4gQh027zKxeISIZNkjMSXwkpdDRNFU83lxc57Y-Fu9cY04vANALVsuYEGLj5/s1600/Karin+Maag.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie6ydtx7uOA_5ZkRLRC8H_Tukx0O9ohj34XGBH4jvkt9CrlORRkXUvokXKM-P0Vn7qUR_JSn-WdPFU1HcV4gQh027zKxeISIZNkjMSXwkpdDRNFU83lxc57Y-Fu9cY04vANALVsuYEGLj5/s200/Karin+Maag.jpg" width="167" /></a>If you love and appreciate church history, this book will keep you interested, perhaps even excited. Author Karin Maag has brought together "primary sources, such as: images, liturgies, sermons, letters, eyewitness accounts of happenings, and Genevan consistory records" from the years 1541--64. Some of these sources are translated into English for the first time.<i> </i> Called <i>Lifting Hearts to the Lord, Worship with John Calvin in Sixteenth-Century Geneva</i>, it is part of a series called <i>The Church at Worship: Case Studies From Christian History. </i>Published by Eerdmans, several of the books are already in print. There is one on worship where Jesus walked, worship in fourth century Jerusalem; another on sixth century Constantinople; and another on a Black Holiness Church. Editors for the series are Lester Ruth, Carrie Steenwyk, and John Witvliet. The plan is for at least three more in this series. One will be on worship with the Anaheim Vineyard Fellowship, and one on worship with Isaac Watts in Eighteenth-Century London, And one on worship with Argentine Baptists in the Mid-Twentieth Century. So better get ready as it looks like a fascinating, long read.<br />
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Karin Maag is director of the H. Henry Meeter Center for Calvin Studies at Calvin College and Seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She is also professor of history at Calvin College. For this book, <i>Lifting Hearts to the Lord,</i> she uses Geneva, Switzerland as a "case study for investigating the theology and practice of worship in the Reformation era, years 1541--1564." Maag offers both Calvin's contributions to "Reformation worship" and the voices of ordinary Genevans who expressed their feelings "as they navigated, debated, and even fought over the changes in worship" as a result of the Reformation.<br />
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The layout is interesting. There are maps and illustrations of people and churches, a helpful timeline, excerpts from Calvin's and others' opinions, sermons, and advice. And on almost every page, in red ink on the side margins there is small print advising readers on the situation, what's happening, what to expect, etc. For anyone interested in this special Reformation time, I count Maag's book a treasure.<br />
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Lois Sibley, ireviewreligiousbks<br />
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<br />Lois Sibleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00294993339785615170noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4577146184781557526.post-43289999821933393992016-03-21T16:44:00.000-04:002016-03-21T16:44:36.106-04:00Bio of J.I. Packer...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Author Leland Ryken has written <i>J.I. Packer, An Evangelical Life </i>(from Crossway), who has become a well-known theologian in both the UK, Canada, and the USA. Ryken wants readers to know Packer and to get a picture of his varied roles and accomplishments. In other words, it's "the man" he wants his readers to know and appreciate. James Innell Packer was born on July 22, 1926 in the village of Twyning, near the city of Gloucester, England. Packer was known as "a shy boy, who did not mingle much with others." At seven years old he began to attend the "junior school." There was some bullying going on and one day another student chased Packer out of the school grounds and onto a busy street. The result: Packer was hit by a passing van and "the injuries to his head have affected him every day since."<br />
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"Taken to the Gloucester Royal Infirmary and rushed into surgery," the injury was trauma to the head with "a depressed compound fracture of the frontal bone on the right side of his forehead." After three weeks in hospital and six months at home for recuperation, he was able to return to school. His parents took every precaution to prevent further injury to their son's head. No physical activities in the following years, and no bike riding. When most kids wanted and received a bicycle on their birthday, Packer was surprised to receive a typewriter, which sounds strange, but proved to be a great help to him when he began his writing career later.<br />
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Packer has done so many things it's hard to relate them all, so Ryken has chosen to put his story into three parts. Part 1 is The Life and reports on Packer's early life and college years (1926--1948). Then comes Theological Education and Ministry, (1948--1954). Next is Professional Life in England (1955--1979) followed by Professional Life in North America (1979--Present).<br />
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Part 2 is called The Man, giving a portrait of the man, at first little known, and his style and rhetoric and what they tell about him. Part 3 is Lifelong Themes, and covers the Bible, Puritans, Writing, Anglicanism, Theology, Preaching and the Minister's Calling, and Controversy.<br />
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In an Afterword, Ryken gives Packer three pages to "reflect on his life," which he does nicely, like this: "I am drawn to thank God again for what he has led me to discern and attempt thus far, and to ask him to raise up other saved sinners who will travel further and faster along these trails to serve the church of tomorrow. So may God be glorified. Amen."<br />
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---Lois Sibley, ireviewreligiousbks<br />
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<br />Lois Sibleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00294993339785615170noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4577146184781557526.post-51399162353295697202016-03-17T18:48:00.000-04:002016-03-17T18:52:13.044-04:00Bible Studies on Listening to God<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>Listening to God</i> consists of 10 studies for individuals or groups. Written by Carolyn Nystrom, this is an important part of IVP's Life Guide Bible Studies series. Nystrom has written many booklets on Bible studies for IVP and I recommend whatever she writes in this regard. But seriously, have you tried listening to God lately? Or do you just hope he is listening to you? InterVarsity Press has been working for years to provide Bible studies for those who are interested, either for themselves or for a group of people who want to learn more about the Bible and its stories and teachings. And Nystrom is always careful to give suggestions for either individual or group studies, this time in the front of the booklet and Leader's Notes, in the back, pp. 47-64. These notes are very helpful, preparing the leader for each of the 10 studies, providing suggestions and questions that will encourage the discussions at each of the meetings.<br />
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If it's a group meeting, or individuals, each should have a copy of this booklet as they go through the 10 weeks of study. Because, there is a space for each person to write their answer to the question before them, helping them to be ready for the discussion or just in order to think it through. Nystrom explains that they are doing an inductive Bible study, meaning that each one will discover for themselves "what the Scriptures are saying." She cautions that each member of a group study should "come to the study prepared, be willing to participate in the discussion, stick to the topic being discussed, and rarely refer to other portions of the Bible." Other advice includes "be sensitive to other members of the group, listen attentively, be affirming whenever you can, be careful not to dominate the discussion, expect God to teach you." If you are the group leader, there are more helpful hints in the Leader's Notes at the back.<br />
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The first chapter is called The God Who speaks, and the second is Listening to the God Who Hears. Chapters with ideas for listening continue, including Listening to the God of Covenant, ....when All Is Lost.....Listening as Worship,.....to Understand.....with Holy Help....as Self-Discipline.....and finally Listening as Ears of the Church.<br />
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As an example: note that Study 8, Holy Help in Listening, John 14:5-31, "has a purpose," writes Nystrom, "to better understand God as Trinity and so to particularly value God the Holy Spirit." The questions are part of Jesus' final conversation with his disciples. They were probably walking<br />
toward Gethsemane......<br />
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---Lois Sibley, ireviewreligiousbksLois Sibleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00294993339785615170noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4577146184781557526.post-23112146497972647972016-02-20T10:08:00.000-05:002016-02-20T10:08:51.159-05:00Understanding the death of Jesus...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Remember those days when women couldn't preach or write books of their own sermons? Amazing, what they do today! Fleming Rutledge is one of those women who has been given freedom to both preach and provide collections of her sermons. She is a well-known Episcopal priest, and preacher throughout North America and the UK. Rutledge has a new book, <i>The Crucifixion, Understanding the Death of Jesus Christ</i>, from Eerdmans. Her books have been appreciated across denominational lines and this one will be no exception. But this one is different. It's not sermons, but it's about Jesus.<br />
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Among Rutledge's goals for this book are to "expand the discussion about what happened on the cross of Christ" and "to encourage the return of that subject to the center of Christian proclamation." She has designed her book for "potential readers, both lay and ordained, Catholic and Protestant, and for members of all denominations." She doesn't want to leave anyone out and she does have in mind "busy pastors, lay people who want to understand their faith better, seminary students, and especially those who are 'drawn to the figure on the cross,'" but are not sure what to believe about him.<br />
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Her book has two parts. Part 1 is called The Crucifixion, and sections are on the primacy of the Cross, godlessness, questions of justice, a special section on Anselm and his story for our time, and finally the gravity of sin. Part 2 is called The Biblical Motifs and she discusses many phrases, dominant ideas, and central themes and how those who were there interacted, and some later wrote what they were feeling and thinking about Christ on the cross. <br />
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Rutledge asserts that "the crucifixion is the most important historical event that has ever happened," and the "resurrection ratifies the cross as the way 'until he comes.'" There is also much good information about the four Gospels and the letters of Paul. Without Paul, Rutledge says that we might struggle to understand the parables and other happenings in the Gospels. She advises that this quote from Paul can be our hearts' comfort and joy: "Christ lives in me, and the life I now live...is by faith in the son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" (Gal. 2:20, NRSV).<br />
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---Lois Sibley, ireviewreligiousbks.com<br />
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<br />Lois Sibleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00294993339785615170noreply@blogger.com0