Download or read book Flunking Sainthood written by Jana Riess and published by Paraclete Press. This book was released on 2011-11-01 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This wry memoir tackles twelve different spiritual practices in a quest to become more saintly, including fasting, fixed-hour prayer, the Jesus Prayer, gratitude, Sabbath-keeping, and generosity. Although Riess begins with great plans for success (“Really, how hard could that be?” she asks blithely at the start of her saint-making year), she finds to her growing humiliation that she is failing—not just at some of the practices, but at every single one. What emerges is a funny yet vulnerable story of the quest for spiritual perfection and the reality of spiritual failure, which turns out to be a valuable practice in and of itself. Praise for Flunking Sainthood: " Flunking Sainthood is surprising and freeing; it is fun and funny; and it is full of wisdom. It is, in fact, the best book on the practices of the spiritual life that I have read in a long, long time." - Lauren Winner, author of Girl Meets God and Mudhouse Sabbath Jana Riess reminds us that saints are different from most of us: They are special, we are barely normal. They get it right, we rarely get it. They see God, we strain to see much of anything. And, Jana is no saint. Rather than climbing to the pinnacle and sitting on a pedestal to tell us how it could be, Jana slides right next to us and reminds us that sainthood is overrated. With humor and insight she whispers to is that our lives matter just as they are. She prods us to never let our failures hold us back. She calls us to something greater than spiritual success - ordinary faithfulness. Flunking Sainthood is the book I’m giving to my friends who are seeking to make sense of their emerging faith. - Doug Pagitt, author of A Christianity Worth Believing “Jana Riess may have flunked at sainthood, but she's written a wonderful book. It's both reverent and irreverent, and it will make you want to become a better Christian -- or Jew, or Muslim, or Zoroastrian, or Jedi, or whatever you happen to be.” - AJ Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Biblically "Warm, light-hearted, and laugh-out-loud funny, Jana Riess may indeed have flunked sainthood, but this memoir assures us that she is utterly and deeply human, and that is something even more wonderful. Honest and sincere, she will endear you from page one." -- Donna Freitas, author of The Possibilities of Sainthood “With a helpfully hilarious account of her own grappling with godliness, Jana Riess proves to be a standup historian well-practiced in the art of oddly revivifying self-deprecation. She loves her guides, historical and contemporary, even as she finds them alternately impractical, harsh, or "infuriatingly jolly." The book is freaking wonderful—a candid and committed tale of prayers that resists supersizing and spirituality that has no home save the glory and the muck of the everyday.”--David Dark, author of The Sacredness of Questioning Everything “Jana Riess's new book is a delight—fun, funny, engaging and a powerful reminder that the greatest work in our lives is not what we'll do for God but what God is doing in us.” --Margaret Feinberg, www.margaretfeinberg.com, author of Scouting the Divine and Hungry for God “Flunking Sainthood allows those of us who have attempted new spiritual practices-- and failed-- to breathe a great sigh of relief and to laugh out loud. Jana Reiss’s exposé of her year-long and less-than-successful attempts at eleven classic spiritual practices entertains and educates us with its honesty and down-to-earthiness. In spite of Jana’s paltry attempts at piety and her botched prayer makeovers, God showed up in the surprising, sneaky ways that only God does. Jana is the kind of girlfriend I like to have--hilarious, smart, stubborn, irreverent, and totally gaga over God. She writes in the unfiltered, uncensored way I’d write if I had the skill and the guts (Oh sorry, Mom, I meant gumption, not guts.)” --Sybil MacBeth, author of Praying in Color

Download or read book Flunking Sainthood Every Day written by Jana Riess and published by Paraclete Press. This book was released on 2014-12-01 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over one year recounted in Flunking Sainthood, Riess failed twelve different spiritual practices. To her surprise, thought, she learned something important even from the ones she failed most spectacularly. This new 365 daily devotional, readers who are looking for spiritual growth will find guidance, arranged according to monthly practices such as gratitude, generosity, prayer, Sabbath-keeping, and hospitality. Each day’s reading has a reflection from a contemporary or classic spiritual thinker, a short scripture verse, and a brief prayer, reflection, or follow-up action. This daily devotional helps us know that there is great compassion for all of us who are flunking sainthood as we learn that spiritual growth is a lifelong journey without a fixed destination. Jana Riess is the author of The Twible and Flunking Sainthood: A Year of Breaking the Sabbath, Forgetting to Pray,and Still Loving My Neighbor, which was named by Publishers Weekly as one of the best religion books of the year. “This book is about how to relax in our imperfections, trust God’s grace, and take authentic and practical steps toward deepening maturity in faith.” —Sharon Garlough Brown, author of Sensible Shoes “This devotional will stimulate your brain, companion your soul, and inspire you.” —Lauren F. Winner, author of Mudhouse Sabbath and Still “In addition to being a sagely writer, Jana is an avid quote collector. Here are 365 gems, full of mojo in insight for normal folks like us, along with a simple challenge to make each day a wonderful experience of falling forward.” —Brian D. McLaren, author of We Make the Road by Walking “Refreshingly realistic about our human imperfections and heartily confident of grace.” —Marjorie Thompson, author of Soul Feast “Jana is a thoughtful, wise, and compassionate guide to the life of the spirit, and this book will be a daily gift to all of us who are flunking sainthood—but hope to raise our GPA.” —Greg Garrett, author of The Other Jesus “Relax, spiritual slackers. Somebody else has done all the reading. Now you have a book of poetic inspiration, Bible verses, current bestsellers and ancient thinkers, one for each day. Skip a day? No guilt. Don’t understand? You’ll catch up. What’s the point? Try doing it, anyway. Seriously? Hilariously.” —Lillian Daniel, author of When “Spiritual But Not Religious” Is Not Enough

Download or read book The Next Mormons written by Jana Riess and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2019-02-01 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: American Millennials--the generation born in the 1980s and 1990s--have been leaving organized religion in unprecedented numbers. For a long time, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was an exception: nearly three-quarters of people who grew up Mormon stayed that way into adulthood. In The Next Mormons, Jana Riess demonstrates that things are starting to change. Drawing on a large-scale national study of four generations of current and former Mormons as well as dozens of in-depth personal interviews, Riess explores the religious beliefs and behaviors of young adult Mormons, finding that while their levels of belief remain strong, their institutional loyalties are less certain than their parents' and grandparents'. For a growing number of Millennials, the tensions between the Church's conservative ideals and their generation's commitment to individualism and pluralism prove too high, causing them to leave the faith-often experiencing deep personal anguish in the process. Those who remain within the fold are attempting to carefully balance the Church's strong emphasis on the traditional family with their generation's more inclusive definition that celebrates same-sex couples and women's equality. Mormon families are changing too. More Mormons are remaining single, parents are having fewer children, and more women are working outside the home than a generation ago. The Next Mormons offers a portrait of a generation navigating between traditional religion and a rapidly changing culture.

Download or read book The Book of Mormon written by and published by Turner Publishing Company. This book was released on 2011-04-11 with total page 207 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An inside look at the foundational sacred text of one of the world's youngest and fastest growing religions The Book of Mormon stands alongside the Bible as the keystone of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church/Mormonism). Translated by the prophet Joseph Smith from ancient writings inscribed on golden plates, the Book of Mormon is an account of people living in the Western Hemisphere in a timeline that parallels that of the Bible. It covers a thousand years of loss, discovery, war, peace, and spiritual principles that focus on the teachings of Jesus Christ, outlining a plan for salvation and the responsibilities we must assume to attain it. The Book of Mormon: Selections Annotated & Explained explores this sacred epic that is cherished by more than twelve million members of the LDS church as the keystone of their faith. Probing the principal themes and historical foundation of this controversial and provocative narrative, Jana Riess focuses on key selections that offer insight into contemporary Mormon beliefs and scriptural emphases, such as the atonement of Christ, the nature of human freedom, the purpose of baptism, and the need for repentance from sin. She clarifies the religious, political, and historical events that take place in the ancient communities of the Book of Mormon and their underlying contemporary teachings that serve as the framework for spiritual practices that lie at the core of Mormon life. Now you can experience this foundational sacred text even if you have no previous knowledge of Mormonism. This SkyLight Illuminations edition presents the key teachings and essential concepts of the Mormon faith tradition with insightful yet unobtrusive commentary that helps to dispel many of the misconceptions that have surrounded the Book of Mormon since its publication in 1830.

Download or read book The Prayer Wheel written by Patton Dodd and published by Convergent Books. This book was released on 2018-02-20 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Award-winning religion journalists describe a recently rediscovered medieval prayer tool that provides fresh inspiration and daily prayers for contemporary Christians. All people of faith struggle at times to sustain a flourishing prayer life--a loss felt all the more keenly in times like ours of confusion, political turbulence, and global calamity. The Prayer Wheel introduces an ancient prayer practice that offers a timeless solution for the modern faithful. The Prayer Wheel is a modern interpretation of the Liesborn Prayer Wheel, a beautiful, almost wholly forgotten, scripture-based mode of prayer that was developed in a medieval times. The Liesborn Prayer Wheel resurfaced in 2015 in a small private gallery near New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. It faithfully and beautifully presents seven prayer paths for personal or group use. Each path invites contemplation on the "big ideas" of the Christian faith--the Lord's Prayer, the Beatitudes, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and key words from the life of Christ. In the tradition of lectio divina and walking a labyrinth, The Prayer Wheel simply and directly takes readers into a daily, wholly unique encounter with God. As the prayers in this book unfold, readers will find an appealing guide for contemplation, a way of seeing God in new ways, and an essential new tool for Christian formation.

Download or read book Learning to Speak God from Scratch written by Jonathan Merritt and published by Convergent Books. This book was released on 2018-08-14 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a rapidly changing culture, many of us struggle to talk about faith. We can no longer assume our friends understand words such as grace or gospel. Others, like lost and sin, have become so negative they are nearly conversation-enders. Jonathan Merritt knows this frustration well. After moving from the Bible Belt to New York City, he discovered that the sacred terms he used to describe his spiritual life didn’t connect as they had in the past. This launched him into an exploration of an increasing American reluctance to talk about faith—and the data he uncovered revealed a quiet crisis of affecting millions. In this groundbreaking book, Jonathan revives ancient expressions through incisive cultural commentary, vulnerable personal narratives, and surprising biblical insights. Both provocative and liberating, Learning to Speak God from Scratch will breathe new life into your spiritual conversations and invite you into the embrace of the God who inhabits them.

Download or read book Sensible Shoes written by Sharon Garlough Brown and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2013-02-27 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sharon Garlough Brown tells the moving story of four strangers as they reluctantly arrive at a retreat center and find themselves drawn out of their separate stories of isolation and struggle and into a collective journey of spiritual practice, mutual support and personal revelation.

Download or read book Don t Be Afraid to Say Yes to God written by Pope Francis and published by The Word Among Us Press. This book was released on 2018-02-01 with total page 82 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Set out for the future without fear! That’s the message of Pope Francis to young people as he challenges them to follow Christ and his plan for their lives. In this collection of short excerpts of his talks from around the world, Pope Francis speaks to the best instincts of young people, inviting them to do their part to build a better, more just world. He encourages teens and young adults to say yes to all that God is asking of them, even while acknowledging that following the Lord wholeheartedly involves risks as well as rewards. Popular youth speaker Fr. Mike Schmitz provides follow-up reflections and questions after each selection that are designed to help young people draw closer to God in prayer, giving them the courage to rise up and embrace the pope’s words. This book can profoundly influence the choices that young people make at crucial decision points in their lives.

Download or read book Thrift Store Saints written by Jane Knuth and published by Loyola Press. This book was released on 2010-10-01 with total page 137 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First place winner for "Popular Presentation of the Catholic Faith" from the Catholic Press Association! Thrift Store Saints is a collection of true stories based on Jane Knuth’s experiences serving the poor at a St. Vincent de Paul thrift store in the inner city of Kalamazoo, Michigan. At the outset of the book, Knuth is a reluctant new volunteer at the store, sharing that her middle-class, suburban, church-going background has not prepared her well for this kind of work. By the end of the book, Knuth has undergone a transformation of sorts, and neither she nor we can ever view the poor in the same way again. Knuth’s transformation is rooted in the prevailing message of Thrift Store Saints: When we serve the poor, they end up helping us as much as we help them. Throughout the book we are introduced to new “saints,” as Knuth thoughtfully, at times humorously, describes how her encounters with the poorest people led her to the greatest riches of God’s grace. Thrift Store Saints makes clear that it doesn’t require heroic Mother Teresa-types to make a difference with the poor, and it even more powerfully shows us that working with them is not gloomy, depressing work. Knuth’s moving stories demonstrate the profound joy any of us can experience when we see serving the poor not as social work, but as a spiritual path that leads us to the heart of Jesus.

Download or read book The Book of Mormon Girl written by Joanna Brooks and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-08-07 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From her days of feeling like “a root beer among the Cokes”—Coca-Cola being a forbidden fruit for Mormon girls like her—Joanna Brooks always understood that being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints set her apart from others. But, in her eyes, that made her special; the devout LDS home she grew up in was filled with love, spirituality, and an emphasis on service. With Marie Osmond as her celebrity role model and plenty of Sunday School teachers to fill in the rest of the details, Joanna felt warmly embraced by the community that was such an integral part of her family. But as she grew older, Joanna began to wrestle with some tenets of her religion, including the Church’s stance on women’s rights and homosexuality. In 1993, when the Church excommunicated a group of feminists for speaking out about an LDS controversy, Joanna found herself searching for a way to live by the leadings of her heart and the faith she loved. The Book of Mormon Girl is a story about leaving behind the innocence of childhood belief and embracing the complications and heartbreaks that come to every adult life of faith. Joanna’s journey through her faith explores a side of the religion that is rarely put on display: its humanity, its tenderness, its humor, its internal struggles. In Joanna’s hands, the everyday experience of being a Mormon—without polygamy, without fundamentalism—unfolds in fascinating detail. With its revelations about a faith so often misunderstood and characterized by secrecy, The Book of Mormon Girl is a welcome advocate and necessary guide.

Download or read book The Twible written by Jana Riess and published by . This book was released on 2013-11 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It's the Bible, now with 68% more humor and 99% fewer begats You've wanted to read the Bible, but it's Uber-long and, let's face it, sometimes boring. You're a busy person with stuff to do. You want the Bible, only funnier. And shorter. Enter The Twible, which brings you every chapter as tweeted in 140 characters or less, from Genesis to Revelation Find out what the Bible says you're supposed to do if a friend starts worshiping another god, your child disrespects you in public, or you break the Sabbath. (The answers to those dilemmas are to stone your friend, stone your child, and stone yourself. In that order.) Learn where Paul swears in the New Testament, and why Jeremiah could benefit from antidepressants. Inside The Twible you'll find: - A tweet for each of the 1,189 chapters of the Bible - A summary of every book of the Bible in seven words or less - Dozens of informative sidebars (print edition only) - More than 50 original cartoons - A glossary telling you who's who in the Bible - Unicorns From start to finish, The Twible brings the Bible to wonderful, wicked, weird life. "The Twible adapts the Old Testament to the light-hearted quipping familiar in everyday Tweets." -- The Guardian, UK "The Twible is the most entertaining version of my dad's book I've read in the last two millennia " -- Jesus Christ] "Twible is the best example I have ever seen of the reverence of irreverence." -- Phyllis Tickle, author of The Divine Hours "I wouldn't object if Twibles were in every hotel room." -- Hemant Mehta, The Friendly Atheist blogger "Forget about reading the Bible in a year. Now you can read it in an hour, thanks to the subversive, somewhat disturbed, mind of Jana Riess." -- Peter Enns, author of Genesis for Normal People "The perfect (surreptitious) iPad or Tablet companion for draggy Sunday (or Saturday) morning services. Caution: Not to be used for congregational Scripture reading." -- Mark I. Pinsky, author of The Gospel According to the Simpsons "Whatever you think of Twitter, there can be no speedier or funnier way to read through the Bible than with Riess's Twible providing spot-on interpretation chapter by chapter." -- Kristin Swenson, author of Bible Babel "The Twible is an indelible book that reads like an oddly religious comedy but has the impact of a brilliant jingle that sticks in your brain to the point of madness." -- Frank Schaeffer, author of And God Said, "Billy " "This is brilliant stuff-hilariously accurate summaries of complex material." -- Debbie Blue, pastor; author of Consider the Birds: A Provocative Guide to the Birds of the Bible "This is absolutely the funniest and most fun Bible 'translation' ever." -- Steven L. Peck, author of The Scholar of Moab

Download or read book Sober Mercies written by Heather Harpham Kopp and published by Jericho Books. This book was released on 2014-05-06 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Where do you turn for hope when you already have the answer--but the answer isn't working? As a long-time Christian, Heather Kopp never expected to become an out-of-control alcoholic who kept private stashes of booze all over the place--tucked behind books in her study, zipped into a special compartment in her oversized purse, at the back of her closet stuffed inside her boots. Even as her career and marriage teetered on the brink, Kopp couldn't get a grip, desperately hiding the true extent of her drinking from the rest of the world--her husband included. During the day she wrote books about God and prayer and family. At night she'd locked herself in her bathroom to guzzle chardonnay. For her, as for many Christians who struggle with addiction, overwhelming shame and confusion only made things worse. Why wasn't her faith enough to save her? Why didn't repentance, Bible reading and prayer work? Where was God? Meanwhile, as she watched in horror, her grown son descended into his own nightmare of drugs and alcohol. She feared for his life, yet she couldn't stop drinking long enough to help him--or find a way out for herself. Until the day everything changed. Engaging, funny and bracingly honest, Kopp shares her remarkable journey into darkness...and back to the light again. Her story reveals the unique challenges and spiritual conundrums Christians face when they become ensnared in an addiction, and the redemption that's possible when we finally reach the end of ourselves. If you love Jesus but shop too much, drink too much, eat too much, crush on men who aren't your husband, or otherwise fixate on doing things you hate but can't stop doing, SOBER MERCIES is for you. As you follow Kopp's sincere, stumbling journey toward freedom and a deeply satisfying relationship with God, you'll find renewed hope--and practical steps of recovery--for your own journey.

Download or read book Monastery Mornings written by Michael Patrick O'Brien and published by Paraclete Press. This book was released on 2021-08-17 with total page 170 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A love letter to a community of Trappist monks who provided family when it was needed the most. This warmhearted memoir describes how a small, insecure boy with a vibrant imagination found an unlikely family in the company of monks at Holy Trinity Abbey, in the mountains of rural Latter-day Saint Utah. Struggling with his parents' recent divorce, Michael O'Brien discovered a community filled with warmth, humor, idiosyncrasies, and most of all, listening ears. Filled with anecdotes and delightful "behind the scenes" descriptions of his experiences living alongside the monks as they farmed, prayed, buried their dead, ate, and shared the joys of life, Monastery Mornings speaks to the value of spiritual fatherhood, the lasting impact of positive mentoring, and the stability that the spiritual life can offer to people of all ages and walks of life.

Download or read book Holy Envy written by Barbara Brown Taylor and published by Canterbury Press. This book was released on 2019-03-30 with total page 157 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The renowned Christian preacher and New York Times bestselling author of An Altar in the World recounts her moving discoveries of finding the sacred in unexpected places while teaching world religions to undergraduates in Baptist-saturated rural Georgia, revealing how God delights in confounding our expectations. Christians are taught that God is everywhere--a tenet that is central to Barbara Brown Taylor's life and faith. In Holy Envy, she continues her spiritual journey, contemplating the myriad ways she encountered God while exploring other faiths with her students in the classroom, and on field trips to diverse places of worship. Both she and her students ponder how the knowledge and insights they have gained raise important questions about belief, and explore how different practices relate to their own faith. Inspired by this intellectual and spiritual quest, Barbara turns once again to the Bible for guidance, to see what secrets lay buried there. Throughout Holy Envy, Barbara weaves together stories from her classroom with reflections on how her own spiritual journey has been challenged and renewed by connecting with people of other traditions--and by meeting God in them. At the heart of her odyssey is her trust that it is God who pushes her beyond her comfortable boundaries and calls us to "disown" our privatised versions of the divine--a change that ultimately deepens her relationship with both the world and with God, and ours.

Download or read book Sealed written by Katie Langston and published by Thornbush Press. This book was released on 2021-04-06 with total page 219 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Katie Langston is an unlikely convert to Christianity. She grew up in a devout, conservative Mormon family in Utah, served a proselytizing mission to Bulgaria when she was 21, married for "time and all eternity" in the Mormon temple when she was 23. From the outside, she had a typical Mormon life. Inside, she was coming apart at the seams. From childhood, she battled "The Questions"—obsessive-compulsive disorder, though she didn't have a diagnosis for it until much later—and lived inside a complex maze of anxiety and fear. This was compounded by Mormonism's emphasis on "worthiness," a designation of acceptability in Mormon practice, that brought her to the edge of despair as a young mother. Then, almost by accident, she had an encounter with the grace of Jesus Christ—and her world changed. In candid but not sensationalized ways, Langston explores little-understood Mormon practices and teachings while grappling with universal human questions such as the nature of faith, the complexity of family, the process of healing, and what it means to truly belong. This book is intended to be a bridge-builder, a way to help non-Mormons understand Mormonism and Mormons orthodox Christianity through the power of personal narrative. Most of all, it is a testimony of Jesus Christ, in the hopes that those who read it—Mormon, Christian, or neither—will catch a glimpse of the spectacular, life-changing grace of God.

Download or read book Mom Seeks God written by Julia Roller and published by Abingdon Press. This book was released on 2014-04-01 with total page 126 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first months and years of motherhood can be the most challenging and disorienting of your life—and faith. When you’re surrounded by the happy chaos of children, how do you spend quiet time with God if the only quiet time you get is while you sleep? How can you demonstrate a solid spiritual life to your children if you don’t have time to pursue one yourself? When Julia Roller discovered that her spiritual growth had been stunted by the busyness of life with her toddler, she embarked on a yearlong journey through ten spiritual disciplines: prayer, fellowship, submission, study, simplicity, silence, worship, fasting, service, and celebration. As she focused on each discipline, she discovered practical ways to observe them—even in the chaos of her every day. Mom Seeks God offers a highly relatable story and useful advice to help new moms grow in their faith as they address life changes with grace, patience, and prayer. As readers discover ten essential faith practices, they’ll learn that motherhood, itself, is a spiritual discipline, and may be God’s most effective technique for forming a more Christ-like life.

Download or read book Bridges Ministering to Those Who Question written by David B. Ostler and published by Greg Kofford Books. This book was released on 2022-04-05 with total page 229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Second Edition, with a new chapter on ministering to and within mixed-faith marriages and families. With the advancement of the internet, changing worldviews, and the rising generation of millennials, Latter-day Saints today face unique challenges to faith on an unprecedented scale. Unlike most books written to help those struggling with their testimonies, Bridges: Ministering to Those Who Question is geared at helping local leaders and family members better understand the sources of these challenges and how to minister to those affected by them. This ministering is done through building bridges of love, empathy, and trust regardless of whether or not someone retains their belief or continues to participate. Author David B. Ostler, a former mission president, utilizes surveys with local leaders and disaffected members, research from social science and religious studies, and teachings from Church leaders to show how Latter-day Saints can work to better support those who have questions and create church environments where all can feel welcome.