Usually when we pray we try to shut out the outside world and focus on the interior, the spiritual, in order to be able to be with God. Instead, this book invites us to be with God through the very tangible, specific objects of our everyday life. We're invited to take another look--as well as another listen, taste, touch, and smell--at what is right before us and see God there. A rock, a shoe, a pen--all offer an opportunity for entering into prayer and experiencing God's presence.

ÒTHE FATHER IS SEEKING TRUE WORSHIPERS...THEY THAT WORSHIP IN SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH.Ó -John 4:23-24 Are we true worshipers? What does it mean to worship in spirit and in truth? Is God pleased with our worship in this modern age? Becoming True Worshipers takes a deeper look at the priority, the process, and the power of true worship. ItÕs insights and principles will transform you and set you free.

The Love That Connects Us All is the moving and honest story of author Brigitta Beer's exploration through the dark night of the soul. She validates her experience through the writings of mystics past and present, including Jesus, Rumi, John de Cross, Meister Eckhart, Hildegard of Bingen, Teresa of Avila, the Sufis, Dante, Dorothy Walters, Rilke and Caroline Myss. Beer describes the stages of her journey and her spiritual development, relating them to the four paths of Creation Spirituality. She also likens the experience to finding the philosopher's stone in her own heart. It is a journey of longing and unity that, in the end, can only be found through the love in her own heart. Beer shows us a mystical path that has no boundaries and can be a path for everyone-a path into the healing of your "self."

The links between religion and food have been known for centuries, and yet we rarely examine or understand the nature of the relationship between food and spirituality, or food and sin. Drawing on literature, politics, and philosophy as well as theology, this book unlocks the role food has played within religious tradition. A fascinating book tracing the centuries-old links between theology and food, showing religion in a new and intriguing light Draws on examples from different religions: the significance of the apple in the Christian Bible and the eating of bread as the body of Christ; the eating and fasting around Ramadan for Muslims; and how the dietary laws of Judaism are designed to create an awareness of living in the time and space of the Torah Explores ideas from the fields of literature, politics, and philosophy, as well as theology Takes seriously the idea that food matters, and that the many aspects of eating – table fellowship, culinary traditions, the aesthetic, ethical and political dimensions of food – are important and complex, and throw light on both religion and our relationship to food

This book is a look at the spirituality of marriage through the lens of Christian spirituality. It will help you see how your faith and spirituality is lived out daily in your marriage, not just in the churchy activities you may attend. Through looking at grace, vocation, community, asceticism, incarnation, discernment, dying, and rising, you will see more fully the holiness of what you are already living in your marriage, as well as some ways that you can enhance and support that holiness. The term “holiness” may not be used that often when it comes to marriage, but when you begin to see God's presence everywhere, it is clear that your life is holy—that is, drenched in God—indeed.

Themelios is an international, evangelical, peer-reviewed theological journal that expounds and defends the historic Christian faith. Themelios is published three times a year online at The Gospel Coalition (http://thegospelcoalition.org/themelios/) and in print by Wipf and Stock. Its primary audience is theological students and pastors, though scholars read it as well. Themelios began in 1975 and was operated by RTSF/UCCF in the UK, and it became a digital journal operated by The Gospel Coalition in 2008. The editorial team draws participants from across the globe as editors, essayists, and reviewers. General Editor: D. A. Carson, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School Managing Editor: Brian Tabb, Bethlehem College and Seminary Consulting Editor: Michael J. Ovey, Oak Hill Theological College Administrator: Andrew David Naselli, Bethlehem College and Seminary Book Review Editors: Jerry Hwang, Singapore Bible College; Alan Thompson, Sydney Missionary & Bible College; Nathan A. Finn, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary; Hans Madueme, Covenant College; Dane Ortlund, Crossway; Jason Sexton, Golden Gate Baptist Seminary Editorial Board: Gerald Bray, Beeson Divinity School Lee Gatiss, Wales Evangelical School of Theology Paul Helseth, University of Northwestern, St. Paul Paul House, Beeson Divinity School Ken Magnuson, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Jonathan Pennington, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary James Robson, Wycliffe Hall Mark D. Thompson, Moore Theological College Paul Williamson, Moore Theological College Stephen Witmer, Pepperell Christian Fellowship Robert Yarbrough, Covenant Seminary

“Jim Manney is the perfect person to write this beautiful book. Let the wisdom of St. Ignatius guide you gently through your days with these lovely meditations.” — James Martin, SJ, author of My Life with the Saints How can I find meaning and joy? How can I think clearly? What’s valuable in life, and what’s irrelevant? How do we manage anger? What can we do about envy, laziness, resentment? How do I know what matters most? What do I really want? These are the questions that lie at the heart of Ignatian spirituality, the five-hundred-year-old wisdom tradition that has shown leaders, seekers, and doers the way to live a better life. The daily readings in this book emphasize answers to pressing questions about satisfaction in work and relationships. St. Ignatius and his friends believed that “God is found in all things” and “love is best expressed in deeds rather than words.” The Ignatian way is profoundly practical. It guides us through the great challenge of life — finding God and finding our place in God’s work to save and heal the world.

Worship is dialogue. It is more than that, but it is not less than that. The way Baptists have worshiped for three and a half centuries demonstrates this consistently, in spite of their penchant for freedom and autonomy. No one tells Baptists how to order their worship services. They don’t have a common liturgy that they must follow, and yet their services look remarkably similar. This is largely due to two controlling factors in their worship: The Bible that they embrace as inspired, inerrant, authoritative, and sufficient; and the Christ-revealing gospel that is contained within its pages. When the word of God is followed closely, a shape for worship order begins to emerge. It is the same “gospel-shape” that is found throughout the Bible. When the word of God is applied to a worship service in which God and his people are engaged in a worship conversation, a consistent contour of gospel elements and content begins to emerge that reveals the glory of the Christ we gather to worship. He is so glorious that when we behold him, we are transformed into the same image from one degree to another. This is the power of corporate worship (2 Cor 3).

Be it fair trade coffee or foreign oil, our choices as consumers affect the well-being of humans around the globe, not to mention the natural world and of course ourselves. Consumption is a serious ethical issue, and Christian writers throughout history have weighed in, discussing topics such as affluence and poverty, greed and gluttony, and proper stewardship of resources. These voices are often at odds, however. In this book, Laura M. Hartman formulates a coherent Christian ethic of consumption, imposing order on the debate by dividing it into four imperatives: Christians are to consume in ways that avoid sin, embrace creation, love one's neighbor, and envision the future. An adequate ethics of consumption, she argues, must include all four considerations as tools for discernment, even when they seem to contradict one another. The book includes discussions of Christian practices such as fasting, gratitude, solidarity, gift-giving, Sabbath-keeping, and the Eucharist. Using exemplars from the Christian tradition and practical examples from everyday life, The Christian Consumer offers a thoughtful guide to ethical consumption.