Since it was first introduced in the Summer of 2000, Common Praise the new Hymns Ancient & Modern has sold over one hundred thousand copies, and been adopted by parishes in every diocese in England and Wales including eight English cathedrals and in five of the seven dioceses in Scotland. It is also used in numerous schools, colleges, hospitals, residential homes, retreat houses, religious communities, crematoria, missions and military garrison chapels.
Tsoknyi Rinpoche is a reincarnate lama educated in the Tibetan Buddhisttradition. He has been teaching students from around the world since 1990.“Being carefree, you can fit in anywhere. If you’re not carefree you keepon bumping up against things. Your life becomes so narrow, so tight; itgets very claustrophobic. Carefree means being wide open from within,not constricted. Carefree doesn’t mean careless. It is not that you don’tcare about others, not that...
Quintessential Dzogchen elucidates how our confusion can dawn aswisdom. Arranged for the simple meditator, these pithy instructionsstrike the heart of the Buddha’s teachings by explaining how to bothacknowledge and train in your own enlightened essence.Quintessential Dzogchen is an invaluable handbook replete with sourcematerials for those who seek further guidance. In forty-two writings bysome of the greatest masters, both past and present, as well as excerptsfrom the most profound...
Why are 80 percent of our congregations stagnant or dying? There are a variety of reasons. This book dives deeply into one of the main reasons–the failure to adapt to the cultural changes of our day. When the Reformation began 500 years ago it sparked a number of radical changes (like worshipping in the vernacular rather than in Latin, etc.) that shocked the church. Over time many saw the merit of those changes and adapted. In the very same way today, major cultural changes are taking place. Is...
Resisting Tyranny is a new book about an American Revolutionary patriot, Matthew Lyon, a Congressman from Vermont, who was thrown into jail for criticizing then President John Adams under the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798. This is the story of a young Irish immigrant who became a leader in the Republican Party of his time, a crusading newspaper editor, and the founder of a town in Vermont and another in Kentucky. His legacy makes history come alive in our time with warnings for us to treasure...
This collection of poems honors the Sabbath, a sacred time of rest decreed by God. The Sabbath is a legacy from my parents, and theirs was a bequest from their ancestors. I pass on my inheritance to friends and family of now and those yet to be. The verses reach deep into the depths of ourselves and awaken reverent feelings we stockpile during the week. Not only do these variations on a theme delve into the deep crevices of our souls, but they uplift, dignify, enhance, and ennoble us. The...
We shouldn't be too surprised if Jesus, the Son of David, was also a song writer. The Lord's Prayer is a psalm, and reading the prayer as a psalm opens up its meaning. To read the Lord's Prayer as a psalm, you have to be able to read a psalm as a psalm. So this book is first of all an adventure in reading the Bible's poetry–the psalms, of course, but also much of the prophets' testimony. The Old Testament's poetry is rich in themes important to the Lord's...
The book looks into the liturgy of the Mar Thoma Church. The Mar Thoma Church claims to be eastern and reformed. An enquiry is made into the liturgy of the passion week and the Eucharist to look into the theology of Atonement (work of Christ) and the nature of the Holy Spirit respectively. The measuring rod to determine the Eastern and the Reformed nature is the Eastern Fathers such as Gregory Nazianzen, Athanasius, St. Basil, etc., and the Reformer John Calvin. The theology of atonement (work...
What if suffering were not arbitrary? Not meaningless, nor a sign of punishment or defeat, but a fundamental element of healing, growth, and triumph? What if suffering were positive? This book is a study and meditation on the nature, origin, and reality of suffering. Contemplating the suffering of Christ and other biblical figures, J. Bryson Arthur investigates a theology of suffering that testifies to its necessity within the plan of God. Bryson reminds us that the nature of suffering is to...
He was called «the greatest of all mystical theologians» by spiritual teacher Thomas Merton. And when St. John of the Cross was proclaimed to be a Doctor of the Church, Pope Pius XI praised his work as «a guide and handbook for the man of faith who proposes to embrace a life of perfection.» The writings of the pious Carmelite priest, as well as those of St. Teresa of Avila, are regarded as the peak of Spanish mysticism. This remarkable guide to the spiritual life stands as his most popular work....