I enjoyed a passing point made by Derek Tidball recently at Keswick. Here’s the text: “Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart.” (2Cor.4:1) Derek pointed out that we live in a culture saturated by meritocratic thinking. You have to have a certificate to be able to everything. The same is often true in church world. People expect you to be able to do this and do that like the best of names. The pressure is on if you are involved in ministry, and the pressure is to live up to the standards of expectation imposed by the church. All too easily we can fall into the trap of thinking that we are in ministry because of our merit – our education, our training, our skills, our abilities, etc. But when we realize that we are in ministry through God’s mercy, that changes everything. Suddenly ministry becomes about response. It becomes about our wonder at His mercy toward us. It becomes a real sense of privilege, rather than pure pressure and evangelical purgatory (as some church situations can feel for some in so-called “service”).
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Why Do You Preach – Part 2
Sending Ganesh-Chaturthi greetings, Zed urges Hindus undertake deeper study of …
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Sending Ganesh-Chaturthi greetings, Zed urges Hindus undertake deeper study of … – Sify
Lytia Solomon had never met a park ranger or taken a family vacation to a national park. And growing up in Philadelphia as a “complete urban city girl,” she never knew what a park ranger did. Religion and Spirituality – Temples – Hinduism – India – United States
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In venture with Temple U., Park Service combats looming shortage of rangers
Congressional candidates intensified efforts to inject the divide over an Islamic center near ground zero into midterm campaigns.
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G.O.P. Sees Mosque Near Ground Zero as Campaign Issue
I assume large numbers of people spent an hour or two at church this morning, but I did something vastly better: I got out of bed, drove roughly 20 miles east to Multnomah Falls in the Columbia River Gorge, and ran the mile-long trail of switchbacks to the top. Then I ran back down and did the same again.
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Better Church
The readers' editor on… troubles with contexts and 'voices', in print and online The Guardian Last Monday, 9 August, the satire turned on Julia Roberts's reported conversion to Hinduism . In the course of the column one retort was “It's sodding ..
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The readers’ editor on… troubles with contexts and ‘voices’, in print and online – The Guardian
Location: City University of New York NYC Event Date: 11.17.09 Speakers: Daniel Dennett, John Haught, William P.
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Dan Dennett – Great Issues Forum – What Is Religion 1-8
Randall Stephens Listen to Sunday’s All Things Considered (NPR) for a feature on black preaching from the 18th century to the present . Guy Raz speaks with Martha Simmons about her new edited volume, Preaching with Sacred Fire . The story includes audio clips of 20th-century sermons and some insight on how black preaching through the centuries opens a window onto the African-American experience
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Black Preaching and African-American History
By Stanley Koh COMMENT It was a dark and stormy night. On a lonely road, a tired taxi driver was heading for home when a woman in a white dress and red overcoat hailed him
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As if objective reality isnt scary enough…
Back in 1886, it was “base ball” and players wore wool uniforms and flimsy gloves. In the foothills near Sacramento, a group of “ballists” stick to some old-time traditions
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At the really old ball game