Your children aren’t behaving the way they should. Do they need another stern talking-to, another firm reprimand? Perhaps. More likely, says Justin Whitmel Earley, they need a kid-adapted version of what monastic and other intentional Christian communities call a “rule of life”—a set of habits and deliberate rhythms structuring playtime, mealtime, and bedtime toward a youthful growth in godliness. “When it comes to spiritual formation,” Earley writes, “our households are not simply products of what we teach and say. They are much more products of what we practice and do.”
In this sweeping account of Protestant praise and worship music since the 1940s, Ruth and Lim, two experts on worship trends, track the development of two parallel streams that gained momentum and influenced each other over the decades: one that emphasized worship as a gateway to experiencing God’s presence, and another attuned to reaching a changing culture with contemporary forms and styles. As the authors explain, “Their banks were sometimes low, allowing a floodplain to form in which the two rivers occasionally met. These floods anticipated the eventual situation: by the end of the twentieth century the two rivers melded into one.”
For Christians seeking a deeper understanding and closer experience of the Holy Spirit, a good rule of thumb is never to consider the Spirit in isolation but only in the context of his dynamic relationships within (and beyond) the Trinity. In this book, theologian and Ambrose University president Gordon Smith takes up the Spirit’s relationship first (and most critically) to Christ, and then to Scripture, the created order, and the church. Drawing on global, Pentecostal, and other Christian traditions, Smith asks us to open ourselves to “new and surprising expressions of the Spirit in our world, in our churches, and in our individual lives.”
While we pray for peace, we need moral clarity about this war.
As my doubts about his teachings grew, so did a secret fascination with Jesus.
Christian artists work at the intersection of music and climate change.
