Kirjahaku

Can mystics be political activists? Can our encounter with God inspire us to be agents of social transformation? Through the lens of Howard Thurman's life and mystical theology, Bruce Epperly explores what it means to join prophetic ministry with personal and social healing. Despite the racism he experienced throughout his life, Thurman joined his spiritual experiences with a commitment to racial and social healing. He was a prophet, challenging racism and social injustice. He was also a healer who experienced God's presence in oppressor as well as oppressed. Thurman's holistic spirituality provides a pathway for social healing in a time characterized by polarization, incivility, and hatred. Thurman reminds us that we can both picket and pray, and protest injustice while working toward reconciliation.The spiritual exercises at the end of each chapter draw on Howard Thurman's work to challenge us--if we practice these exercises seriously and with commitment--to develop a new view of our opponents. They help us toward loving our enemies, and becoming the "friendly world of friendly persons" that Thurman described.

Journey inside the pages of Scripture to meet a personal God who enters individual lives and begins a creative work from the inside out. Shaped with the individual in mind, Immersion encourages simultaneous engagement both with the Word of God and with the God of the Word to become a new creation in Christ. Immersion, inspired by a fresh translation--the Common English Bible--stands firmly on Scripture and helps readers explore the emotional, spiritual, and intellectual needs of their personal faith. More importantly, they'll be able to discover God's revelation through readings and reflections. Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah has eight sessions.

Taking inspiration from the Spanish word for retirement--jubilacion-- veteran minister Bruce Epperly challenges and empowers clergy to see retirement as a celebration of new possibilities and not an inexorable diminishment towards irrelevance. Similar in spirit to the Jubilee year described in scripture, retirement can be a time of transformation and exploration, of freedom to try on new versions of yourself and new paths of service. In that spirit, clergy can embrace creative transformation in their relationships, neighborhoods, religious communities, and politics. No longer tethered to the politics and administrative duties of congregational leadership, they can now freely commit themselves to relational, intellectual, and spiritual growth. They can also focus on personal, community, and planetary healing and transformation. Retired clergy can become sages and wisdom givers sharing their insights and energy with seminarians and novice pastors, congregations, and communities. Bringing together the fruits of conversations with more than 100 retired clergy, theological reflection, and spiritual practices, this text provides a way forward for clergy considering retirement and retired clergy. Based on interviews from persons from diverse denominations, theological perspectives, and ethnic and racial backgrounds, this text garners wisdom from pastors on their retirement journeys, from personal preparation and public announcement to first steps following retirement and long-term adventures.

Taking inspiration from the Spanish word for retirement--jubilacion-- veteran minister Bruce Epperly challenges and empowers clergy to see retirement as a celebration of new possibilities and not an inexorable diminishment towards irrelevance. Similar in spirit to the Jubilee year described in scripture, retirement can be a time of transformation and exploration, of freedom to try on new versions of yourself and new paths of service. In that spirit, clergy can embrace creative transformation in their relationships, neighborhoods, religious communities, and politics. No longer tethered to the politics and administrative duties of congregational leadership, they can now freely commit themselves to relational, intellectual, and spiritual growth. They can also focus on personal, community, and planetary healing and transformation. Retired clergy can become sages and wisdom givers sharing their insights and energy with seminarians and novice pastors, congregations, and communities. Bringing together the fruits of conversations with more than 100 retired clergy, theological reflection, and spiritual practices, this text provides a way forward for clergy considering retirement and retired clergy. Based on interviews from persons from diverse denominations, theological perspectives, and ethnic and racial backgrounds, this text garners wisdom from pastors on their retirement journeys, from personal preparation and public announcement to first steps following retirement and long-term adventures.

Pastors today are overwhelmed by the perfect storm of too many responsibilities, too few resources, and too rapid congregational, cultural, and technological changes. Many of them confess that the cares of modern ministry have nearly choked the life out of their holy service. Here is a resource for integrated personal and professional transformation and healing for pastors; better equipping them to be effective spiritual leaders for the long haul of professional ministry. We are in a time of great spiritual awakening among Christians, people of other faiths, and self-described spiritual but not religious seekers. Insightful spiritual leadership is needed now more than ever to navigate the waves of pluralism, postmodernism, and globalism. Spiritual leaders need to sharpen their mission, administration, outreach, and preaching skills, but they also need to deepen their commitments to spiritual growth and self-care practices to insure healthy and effective ministry over the long haul.

Pastors today are overwhelmed by the perfect storm of too many responsibilities, too few resources, and too rapid congregational, cultural, and technological changes. Many of them confess that the cares of modern ministry have nearly choked the life out of their holy service. Here is a resource for integrated personal and professional transformation and healing for pastors; better equipping them to be effective spiritual leaders for the long haul of professional ministry. We are in a time of great spiritual awakening among Christians, people of other faiths, and self-described spiritual but not religious seekers. Insightful spiritual leadership is needed now more than ever to navigate the waves of pluralism, postmodernism, and globalism. Spiritual leaders need to sharpen their mission, administration, outreach, and preaching skills, but they also need to deepen their commitments to spiritual growth and self-care practices to insure healthy and effective ministry over the long haul.

Perhaps the world is saved one act, one click, or one post at a time.When we do ordinary things with great love, as Therese of Lisieux counseled, we bring beauty and healing to our companions on the Internet and to the planetary mind. The omnipresent God is as near as the next key stroke, the next post or response to another's online comment. We need a whole-person spirituality grounded in a sense of the holiness of all creation and reverence for life, despite the conflicts that characterize our world-and given the amount of time most of us spend online, we need to include these activities in our spiritual lives.Bruce Epperly guides his spiritual Internet manual with the wisdom of the Christian mystical tradition. These insights, both ancient and modern, help us to claim our vocation as God's companions in healing the world-through the vehicle of social media and other online interactions. Each chapter's dialogue with a mystic concludes with a spiritual practice that enables us to discover, in the spirit of the patriarch Jacob's exclamation, that "God is online, and we did not know it."

Retirement is an invitation to embark on a holy adventure. Retirement does not mean passivity or sitting on life's sidelines. Bruce Epperly knows from experience that even in retirement, we can be agents of our own destinies. We may discover deeper passions that we had not previously imagined. Roads not taken may emerge, and gifts undiscovered may be mined. Retirement can also be a pilgrimage of faith, stretching far into the future and lived out one unrepeatable day at a time as we embark on a holy adventure, with God and loved ones as our companions.Let these Soul Seeds be an inspiration to listen to your inner wisdom, to the voice of the Spirit whispering to you in the contours of your own unique and precious life. Trust that God will provide for your deepest needs and that the Spirit will inspire you each new day. Rejoice in the retirement years

Who do you say Jesus is?In his answer to this age-old question, Bruce Epperly brings us a new vision of Jesus of Nazareth, the healer, mystic, and prophet who is always more than we can imagine. This Jesus embraces all times and places with his mystical union with God, his healing presence, and his transforming prophetic challenge.Rather than requiring supernatural intervention from outside our reality, the Jesus of the Gospels is present in the natural, ordinary-yet-amazing world we too inhabit. The energy of his love opens up new realms of unexpected possibilities within our daily lives. At the same time, he points the way to meeting the challenges of our broken world. He calls us to venture out beyond the safe boundaries of doctrines and institutions, into new adventures of spiritual growth and inclusive ethical imagination. The quest to know Jesus never ends-and yet at the same time, he lives in us, inspiring us to embrace the ever-present God and transform the world.

We need to move from individualism and consumerism to simplicity of life and a sense of the common good. We need a worldview that inspires transformed spiritual practices as well as personal and community commitments to justice and ecological healing. We need to align ourselves with God's vision of planetary healing.The fifty days of devotional readings and spiritual practices offered here, grounded in the insights of process theology, are designed to do just that. Process theology provides a practical, life-changing vision for our pluralistic, postmodern, and planetary age. Our theological visions can cure or kill. Images of God emphasizing power, domination, and predestined privilege have led to planetary destruction and the eradication of indigenous people. In contrast to life-destroying theologies, we need theological visions that empower, heal, and inspire us to become God's companions in changing the world. Theology-and process theology, in particular-can be understood as a series of affirmations that can change our minds and change the world, if held sincerely and practiced consistently. These affirmations are intimately connected with spiritual practices that can be used by laypeople as well as religious and academic professionals to enable an experience of the profound interconnectedness of life and our intimate companionship with a loving, living God

Life is a holy adventure in which our lives emerge from our relationships and the institutions that have shaped us. In this second edition, I want to give thanks to the institutions that have most shaped me spiritually and professionally: Claremont School of Theology, Claremont Graduate School, and the Disciples Seminary Foundation in Claremont; the United Church of Christ; and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). This book is an embodiment of the United Church of Christ's affirmation: "God is still speaking."