Book picks similar to
Spiritual Direction by Martin Thornton
theology
spiritual-direction
christian-spirituality
religion
The Way of Discernment: Spiritual Practices for Decision Making
Elizabeth Liebert - 2008
But what if we understood these decisions, minor as well as major, as matters of faithful Christian living? In this helpful and encouraging book, Elizabeth Liebert introduces the practice of discernment and guides readers through the process of faithful decision making. Following the way of discernment means becoming increasingly able to notice where God is at work in the world and in one's own life--and becoming increasingly generous with one's own life in response. After briefly exploring the Christian tradition of discernment, Liebert then turns to practical steps and exercises that will help readers as they seek God's call in the midst of their decisions, allowing readers to internalize some of these practices and incorporate them into their daily lives.
To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings
John O'Donohue - 2008
John O'Donohue, Irish teacher and poet, looks at life's thresholds--getting married, having children, starting a new job--and offers invaluable guidelines for making the transition from a known, familiar world into a new, unmapped territory.Most profoundly, however, O'Donohue explains "blessings" as a way of life, a lens through which the whole world is transformed. He awakens readers to timeless truths and shows the power they have to answer contemporary dilemmas and ease us through periods of change.
In the End-The Beginning: The Life of Hope
Jürgen Moltmann - 2003
S. Eliot, and Jrgen Moltmann's new book is a powerful testament to personal hope in chaotic, even catastrophic times.As Moltmann's award-winning volume The Coming of God laid out the systematic framework of eschatology (the doctrine of the ''last things''), so here he explores the personal meaning of that fundamental affirmation for Christians. Debunking the classic images of Christian apocalyptic scenarios, the final struggle between God and Satan, Christ and the AntichristArmageddonMoltmann instead shows that Christian expectation of the future has nothing to do with these but everything to do with new beginnings and a horizon of hope. Three parts explore three particular beginnings: birth (childhood and youth), rebirth (failures and defeats), and resurrection (death, judgment, afterlife).This brief volume promises to be one of Moltmann's most personal and compelling books.
The 1928 Book of Common Prayer
The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America - 1928
This classic edition features a Presentation section containing certificates for the rites of Baptism, Confirmation, and Marriage. The elegant burgundy hardcover binding is embossed with a simple gold cross, making it an ideal choice for both personal study and gift-giving. The 1928 Book of Common Prayer combines Oxford's reputation for quality construction and scholarship with a modest price - a beautiful prayer book and an excellent value.
Surprised by the Voice of God: How God Speaks Today Through Prophecies, Dreams, and Visions
Jack Deere - 1996
You'll learn how God speaks with people apart from the Bible, though never in contradiction to it. Jack Deere first describes the ways God revealed his thoughts to first-century Christians. Then he tells why God continues to speak to us using the same methods. Finally Deere tells how accurately God speaks through prophecies, dreams, visions, and other forms of divine communication. With candor, sensitivity, and a profound understanding of Scripture, Deere identifies our hindrances to hearing the Holy Spirit and calls us beyond them to a more intimate relationship with God. Filled with fascinating stories and personal accounts, Surprised by the Voice of God is for all who want to walk in the dynamic scope of Christianity.
Children of the Promise: Volumes 1-5
Dean Hughes - 2012
If you haven’t yet met the Thomas family, you are in for a real delight! “Every era has its own refiner's fire, and World War II put general Church membership and Utah to a test,” Dean Hughes explains. In Children of the Promise, his first historical fiction series for adults, Dean shows through the eyes of the Thomas family how LDS families were tested to the limit. Volume 1: Rumors of War - The first volume, Rumors of War opens in 1938 with Elder Alex Thomas and his companion serving in Germany. It soon becomes obvious that he will never complete his mission. War is coming, and that will affect not only Elder Thomas but also his family back home in Salt Lake City.Volume 2: Since You Went Away - Picking up where the bestseller Rumors of War left off, Since You Went Away continues with Wally Thomas's struggle to survive as a prisoner of war on the Bataan Peninsula while his family begin to disperse due to the war. Bobbi and Alex Thomas are leaving for military duty at the infant stages of World War II — Bobbi as a naval nurse at Pearl Harbor and Alex in army basic training. A gripping novel filled with memorable characters, Since You Went Away will draw you into a past charged with danger, action, romance, and the importance of family and faith.Volume 3: Far From Home - In Far From Home, Alex Thomas is still battling the Nazi forces. He’s also worried about whether or not he can preserve the lives of the men in his company, especially Howie, a particularly young and inexperienced soldier. But his biggest concern is staying alive for his wife, Anna, in England. Far From Home is a moving, powerful novel about the effects of adversity, and about the love of family members for each other.Volume 4: When We Meet Again - Following the Battle of the Bulge, Alex Thomas is reassigned — not without reluctance — to an intelligence unit in Germany. The new assignment challenges Alex's deepest moral values and is more life threatening than combat. As a POW in Japan, Wally suffers torture that may only find relief in death, while Bobbi sorts out her true feelings when she runs into Professor David Stinson thousands of miles away from home.As Long As I Have You - The war is over, and the Thomas family is slowly coming back together at home in Salt Lake City. But that doesn't mean all is well in Zion. In As Long As I Have You, the final volume of the Children of the Promise series, author Dean Hughes presents a moving picture of what life was like for an ordinary LDS family at the end of World War II.
7 Secrets of Divine Mercy
Vinny Flynn - 2015
In 2006, Pope Benedict stressed that "Divine Mercy is not a secondary devotion, but an integral dimension of Christian faith and prayer." Now Pope Francis has proclaimed an extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy, which will begin on December 8, 2015. These three Popes have made it very clear that Divine Mercy is a major part of the Christian faith, and now this powerful new book reveals why.Best-selling author Vinny Flynn continues his popular "7 Secrets" series with a book that brings him back to his roots. Vinny was one of the original editors of the official English edition of the actual Diary of St. Faustina, and he has written and edited a vast number of the Divine Mercy materials that are used today.Through his "secrets" of Divine Mercy, Vinny shows how Divine Mercy is not just another worthy "private devotion"; it is the key devotion, the umbrella devotion over everything else. Every other devotion in the Church, every ritual, every activity, every teaching is under that umbrella of Divine Mercy. It’s all there to help us understand and enter into Divine Mercy. He shows us how everything in our lives can become more meaningful, more powerful, more life-changing once we really embrace the gift of Divine Mercy — the overflow of love from the Holy Trinity.In this compelling and timely book, Flynn draws from Scripture, the teachings of the Church, and the Diary of St. Faustina to not only reveal the heart of Divine Mercy, but to offer you an invitation and a road map so that this mercy can transform your life.If you're not yet convinced of the impact Divine Mercy can have on your life, if you've never heard of this message and devotion, or if you're curious to learn more about it, this book is perfect for you. It shows us all how to respond to the call of Pope Francis "to live lives shaped by mercy", and benefit greatly from the "Year of Mercy".
Interior Castle
Teresa de Jesús
Using everyday language to explain difficult theological concepts, Teresa of Avila compares the contemplative life to a castle with seven chambers. Tracing the passage of the soul through each successive chamber, she draws a powerful picture of the path toward spiritual perfection. It is the most sublime and mature of Teresa's works, offering profound and inspiring reflections on such subjects as self-knowledge, humility, detachment, and suffering.One of the most celebrated works on mystical theology in existence, as timely today as when St. Teresa of Avila wrote it centuries ago, this is a treasury of unforgettable maxims on self-knowledge and fulfillment.
Prayer in the Night: For Those Who Work or Watch or Weep
Tish Harrison Warren - 2021
When she navigated a time of doubt and loss, the prayer was grounding for her. She writes that practices of prayer gave words to my anxiety and grief and allowed me to reencounter the doctrines of the church not as tidy little antidotes for pain, but as a light in darkness, as good news.Where do we find comfort when we lie awake worrying or weeping in the night? This book offers a prayerful and frank approach to the difficulties in our ordinary lives at work, at home, and in a world filled with uncertainty.
The Enneagram: A Christian Perspective
Richard Rohr - 1989
Richard Rohr and Andrea Ebert's runaway best-seller shows both the basic logic of the Enneagram and its harmony with the core truths of Christian thought from the time of the early Church forward.
Future Church: Seven Laws of Real Church Growth
Will Mancini - 2020
We continue to watch consistent church attendance shrink, and our desire to reach the lost is infected with a need for self-validation by growing our numbers at any cost. If we believe that God wants his church to grow, where do we go from here? What is the future of the church?Drawing from his 20 years and 15,000 hours of consulting, author Will Mancini shares with pastors and ministry leaders the single most important insight he has learned about church growth. With plenty of salient stories and based solidly on the disciple-making methods found in Scripture, Future Church exposes the church's greatest challenge today, and offers 7 transforming laws of real church growth so that we can faithfully and joyfully fulfill Jesus's Great Commission.
Praying the Rosary Step-by-Step
Rita Bogna - 2013
It is undoubtedly the most popular and common Marian devotion due to its simplicity, the ease with which it can be learnt and the profound and sublime character of its prayers and meditations.The Rosary has been variously described as “an epitome of the Old Testament,” “an abridgement of the New Testament,” “a compendium of the Gospel,” “the Breviary of the laity,” “the catechism of youth,” “a beautiful system of popular theology,” “an inexhaustible book of meditation for our greatest theologians” and “a whole badge of Christian piety.””Apart from the Eucharist and other Sacraments of the Church, the Rosary is probably the most powerful means of sanctification. It is a key to the most intimate knowledge of Jesus and Mary, and is an effective way to attain to the perfection of Christian charity.As Blessed Pope John Paul II pointed out in his great Apostolic Letter on the Rosary, Rosarium Virginis Mariae, published at the beginning of the Year of the Rosary in October 2002, “to recite the Rosary is nothing other than to contemplate with Mary the face of Christ.”As the title suggests, this book is a step-by-step guide to praying the Rosary. The layout of a standard Rosary bead set is imitated, so that each section of the Rosary begins on a new page. The active Table of Contents contains hyperlinks to every prayer in the book.The Introduction includes sections on the origins of the Rosary, the Rosary today, Our Lady's 15 promises, the prayers of the Rosary, and how to pray the Rosary. In addition to the complete Rosary, the book contains the Angelus, the Memorare of Saint Bernard, the Magnificat and the Thirty Days Prayer for obtaining graces, an Act of Consecration to Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary, the Prayer to Saint Joseph for the October devotions, and the prayer to Saint Michael the Archangel.The Bibliography contains an extensive list of Papal Encyclicals related to the Rosary. Clicking on the title of an encyclical will open a web browser and take the reader directly to the official English text of the Encyclical on the Vatican web site.Interest in the Rosary has been rekindled since Blessed Pope John Paul II proposed the addition of a new decade comprised of the five 'Mysteries of Light' which he described as “a revelation of the Kingdom now present in the very person of Jesus.”In addition to the traditional Joyful, Sorrowful and Glorious Mysteries, the Luminous Mysteries (which have never been officially incorporated into the Rosary) have been included in this book for those who like to recite them.To supply a scriptural foundation and greater depth to the meditations on each mystery, suitable Bible passages are provided before the commencement of each decade.The Biblical texts chosen by the author refer not only to the subject-matter of the particular mystery, but also to the spiritual grace which the mystery is believed to confer. The spiritual grace is specified, as is the day on which the subject-matter of the mystery is commemorated by the Church.To give the user's meditation even further depth, and to help focus his or her attention on the mysteries of the Rosary, the beautiful woodcut engravings of Gustave Doré which were made for the English translation of the Bible of 1866 are included to illustrate the mysteries.As Sister Lucia of Fatima said, "There is no problem ... no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary.
The Practice of the Presence of God
Brother Lawrence - 1692
It is the art of “practicing the presence of God in one single act that does not end.” He often stated that it is God who paints Himself in the depths of our souls. We must merely open our hearts to receive Him and His loving presence. As a humble cook, Brother Lawrence learned an important lesson through each daily chore: The time he spent in communion with the Lord should be the same, whether he was bustling around in the kitchen—with several people asking questions at the same time—or on his knees in prayer. He learned to cultivate the deep presence of God so thoroughly in his own heart that he was able to joyfully exclaim, “I am doing now what I will do for all eternity. I am blessing God, praising Him, adoring Him, and loving Him with all my heart.” This unparalleled classic has given both blessing and instruction to those who can be content with nothing less than knowing God in all His majesty and feeling His loving presence throughout each simple day.
A God Named Desire
Ty Gibson - 2010
We are creatures of intense desire. We emerge from the womb longing for touch and affection. Desire pulsates within us every waking moment of our lives. Our hearts are fueled by hungry yearnings for connection, for relationship, for a sense of belonging. We plunge into life, giving ourselves away to him or her, to this or that, drinking in every promise of fulfillment. And yet, we always emerge from the quest for love still feeling a persistent and insatiable desire for something more. A God Named Desire is about that something more. There are some books that speak with an unusual level of clarity to the deepest issues that press the human heart. This is one of those rare books. You will never see god, or yourself, the same after the insights of A God Named Desire are introduced into your mind.
When the Word Leads Your Pastoral Search: Biblical Principles and Practices to Guide Your Search
Chris Brauns - 2010
At any given time there are thousands of churches seeking a lead pastor. While a great resume, a friendly smile and a memorable sermon will convince many, what should local congregations focus on to find a new shepherd? Chris Brauns believes to find a great preacher the search must focus on God's Word and how the candidate relates to it and preaches from it. This book is a must have resource for search committees and church leaders addressing the needs of churches in the transition of pastoral leadership. It assists by approaching their responsibilities in a biblical way and providing critical help in key practical matters. From the initial formation of a search committee to the final terms of agreement with the new pastor, Brauns shows you how to "major on the majors" and away from subjective approaches of evaluating candidates and their sermons. Great also for pastors or pastoral students to know how to prepare, the book includes such practical tools as interview questions for candidates and the top mistakes search committees make.