Are you looking for a new way to renew your worship, respond to the needs of the church and community, and connect with people in their passage of life--both chronological and crisis? This book offers a rich resource to you, both as a tool for worship and also devotionally as you face the deepest questions of life. Here you will find one way that the church can renew and rediscover its healing ministry. Abigail Evans, a leading specialist in bioethics and health ministries, explores how God's gift of healing is available during all seasons of a person's life and how the power of hope and healing are affirmed and redirected through liturgical services, sacraments, and rites. This distinctive resource features specific healing liturgies for injury, illness, death, separation, retirement, and a host of other major life events, from a wide variety of religious traditions.

What are the relevant conceptualities and terminologies marking the coupling of religion and medical interpretations of illness in different religions such as Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and Christianity? How do religious orientations influence courses of a disease? How do experiences of illness change images of the divine in late modernity? This collection of essays from a symposium held at the International Research Institute of the University of Heidelberg examines connections between religious and medical interpretations of illness in different cultures in order to suggest criteria for coupling religion and medicine in ways that enhance rather than diminish life. By discerning which relationships between religion and medicine appear to be beneficial and which harmful, the book as a whole proposes criteria that are not limited to a single scientific approach, cultural tradition, or time period (such as the present). The book has four parts, which deal with Islamic medicine, Chinese medicine, and the relationship between religion and medicine in both Jewish and Christian traditions. All chapters cover from antiquity to the present.

The purpose of this project was twofold: 1) to research how the church community can be a place of healing in people's lives, and 2) to suggest practices that when enacted would help a church to be a place of healing. Church life was differentiated into three levels: Pastorally, Relationally, and Congregationally. A group of people were interviewed who had received some type of healing and their lives and were asked to share how the church community helped in the healing process. Based off of the information gathered in the interviews, practices were suggested for the church at each of the three levels of church life.

Maybe the only thing new about sexual abuse is quality discussion from several professions (psychology, theology, and pastoral care). Here are the insights of over two dozen psychologists, theologians, and those in pastoral care, all targeting the issue of sexual abuse. Designed as a resource for Christian educators, therapists, pastors, social workers, group leaders, and survivors, The Long Journey Home combines current research in mental health with rich theological reflection, global concern with fervent pastoral wisdom for the local faith community. Whether you are a counselor, professor, pastor, or spouse of a survivor, you hold in your hand a fresh resource of information and advocacy for those suffering from the devastating effects of sexual abuse and rape. The breadth of material, biblical insight, discussion questions, and helpful resources gathered here just may be the tool of a generation.

This new book on worship by renowned hymn writer and professor Ruth C. Duck provides theological foundations for worship and explores the variety of ways Christians have adapted worship to various cultures to help them live faithfully and to communicate the Gospel to others. The author celebrates the many languages and cultural settings in which the Gospel has been, and is, preached, sung, and prayed. The goal of this volume is to support good pastoral and congregational reflection on what worship is and does. Consequently, Duck discusses many different forms of worship from several cultures (African-American, Asian, Euro-American) and offers advice on how to read a congregation and define its culture in order to plan culturally appropriate worship. Although the book does not offer prescriptive formulas or advise a single pattern of worship, it includes many practical suggestions for preparing and leading worship, including diverse ministries of music, movement, and visual arts that are becoming more popular today. From worship's theological underpinnings, the book turns to worship leadership, forms of prayer, preaching, the sacraments, ordination, and various liturgies. Because of its emphasis on Spirit-led worship, this comprehensive book on Christian worship will be used for years to come not only as a core textbook for seminarians and ministry students from a variety of cultures and traditions, but also as a resource for local church pastors and laity who are dedicated to the enlivening of Christian worship.

Whether we realize it or not, our churches are full of those who have experienced and are living with the aftereffects of horror and trauma, whether as survivors, carers, or perpetrators. The central question of this book is simple: How can our churches become open to the Trinity such that they are trauma-safe environments for everyone? How can we join the triune God to become trauma-safe churches? While the reality is bleak, the church can dare to hope for healing because of the reality of God and the body of Christ. Using the metaphor of the dawn of Sunday, the authors propose a double witness to trauma that straddles the boundary between the deadly silence of Holy Saturday and the joy of Easter Sunday. While witnessing loss and lament we can also be open to the possibility of new life through God's trinitarian works of safety and recovery in the church. This involves adopting some basic principles and practices of trauma safety that every pastor, congregation, and layperson can begin using today. Creating trauma-safe churches is possible through God the Trinity.

Throughout this e-book, Fr. Stephen S. Wilbricht, csc, emphasizes the link between Baptism and death, assisting Christians in grasping who we are called to be in this life as disciples and who we are promised to become in eternal life as saints. As the author points out the centrality of baptismal identity to the funeral liturgy, he makes apparent that the union established at Baptism continues until all reach Christ. Such an appreciation for life in the Body of Christ will help the community recognize both their responsibilities at the death of a member and the union that remains with that member as all journey to the divine. Wilbricht explores the Church’s theology of Baptism and death, and provides pastoral suggestions that will encourage communities to carry out their commitment to care for the grieving and bury the dead.

Worship A down-to-earth guide to planning and implementing meaningful worship experiences for pastors, written especially for those new to the job. This practical book is for new pastors as they move into the role of worship leader and planner. When faced with the weekly rhythm of planning and leading worship, new pastors sometimes find themselves overwhelmed with the tasks. The book centers on the pastor and his/her identity as worship leader, on guidelines for leadership, and on the 'why' and 'how' of worship services. Contents include: The Pastor as Leader; Leading on Your First Sunday; Rituals: "The way we do it here"; Leading in the Worship Service; Leading Prayer; Leading Communion; Leading Baptism; Leading through the Christian Year; Leading with Musicians; Leading the People into Leadership.To read chapter oneclick here "I heartily commend this book to new pastors. Get it and read it before you show up at your first appointment. Barbara Day Miller will save you from many a heartache and embarrassment. Though tagged as a new pastor's guide, most pastors I know will benefit by reading the New Pastor's Guide, especially the latter chapters about leading with musicians and guiding members of the congregation into worship leadership." Reverend Daniel T. Benedict, Jr., Director of Worship Resources, General Board of Discipleship, United Methodist Church "In the past couple of years, I have worshipped in about a hundred congregations. After that experience, I can tell you, HERE IS THE BOOK WE NEED! Barbara Day Miller packs this little book with a lifetime of the creative worship leadership and the inspired preparation of pastors to lead worship. Combining practical help with a deep theological understanding of, and heartfelt love of Christian worship, she gives pastors everything they need to lead God's people in prayer and praise." William H. Willimon, Bishop, the North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church. Barbara Day Miller is the Assistant Dean of Worship at Candler School of Theology in Atlanta, Georgia. Church & Ministry/Church Life//Worship/Liturgy

This is a book for those who are not yet comfortable with prayer or who have reached an impasse in their prayer lives. Cole offers help to both groups by demonstrating different kinds of prayer, helping the reader find ways to pray in various situations, and providing sample prayers. He also suggests practical ways of approaching scriptural prayers such as the Lord's Prayer and the Psalms, contemplative prayers such as open prayer and centering prayer, prayer within the traditions of the church, and prayer using the language of worship. The volume includes study questions at the end of each chapter.

Is God Still at the Bedside? by Abigail Rian Evans offers an expert interdisciplinary Christian perspective on the complex web of issues surrounding death and dying. Evans here combines first-person stories and interviews with research gathered from the medical, theological, legal, ethical, and pastoral disciplines. Her comprehensive, insightful work will not only benefit families struggling with difficult end-of-life decisions but also inform the doctors, nurses, and pastors who serve them. Book jacket.