All tagged family
I can’t help but wonder how we would each be shaped and formed by the idea of our prayers all beginning with us sitting in the long and loving gaze of the triune God. The idea that God delights in our being and the piece of Himself that He has placed in all of us.
I was reminded in this encounter of how adaptable chaplains have to be on a daily basis. We show up for the crises but also the liminal space of the unknown. And where others see barriers, we often see an opportunity to build a bridge.
What does it look like to move from exclusion to representation to inclusion? It was a hard question to wrestle with because it meant that we had to acknowledge all of the ways that we were falling short.
It’s common knowledge that marriage is a risky business. If you’re strictly looking at it from a success rate, you might have better results investing in real estate. Sadly, too many modern marriages just don’t survive. Yet, even with high divorce rates, cohabitation soaring, and marriage rates falling, people are still taking the risk. And for most, I daresay, they don’t go into marriage expecting it to end. They, instead, are drawn to the hope of a love story that will have a happy ending.
How great and enduring should our gratitude be? It should be immeasurable and eternal. And how can we show it? By remaining at His feet, serving His cause, confessing before the world that He was “wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities, and by his stripes we are healed.”
One idea to reach the community is through outreach events, or “bridge events.” These events are designed to invite neighbors, colleagues, and community members, giving them a chance to come through our doors. The fall and winter seasons are great times to plan some of these events.
God adopted the unadoptable—you and me. He did not care for our defects and disabilities. He just wanted to make us members of His family, to be our Father again, to make us His beloved children again.
It strikes me that any one of these communication qualities that I listed is a game-changer for the people around us. There are the rare people, like my dad, who have many admirable communication habits, but if you have any one of these and are maybe working on another, then you are in a strong position to show Jesus to others.
One of the most common desires I heard from so many people really came down to the same request from God: we wanted His presence.
God says that we are his children. We are no longer orphans or nameless. We do belong. If you are one of his children, God has given you his name.
No matter what feelings the holidays bring up for you, I pray you have a moment where time stands still, and the love of heaven descends upon you.
God’s ideal of family relationships is mutual subjection without any kind of discrimination as expressed in Ephesians 5:21, exercising it from the perspective of the new creation that Christ has inaugurated.
As spiritual leaders, it is important that we stay firmly grounded. After all, we do not want our people being led by someone who is blown sideways by every sly or crafty doctrine that comes along.
ACU is in its 116th year of Summit, and this spring’s edition focuses on the living word of God and the impact it has on our churches, our ministries, and our lives.
In short, decide what matters to your church. Then do what it takes to further that approach.
Sometimes as we are facing difficult things, our manner in doing so impacts more people than we know. We must live faithfully.
Imagine that you are happily married at age twenty. What would you do if, by age thirty, you became widowed and penniless, and a parent to a dozen children?
It’s that time of the year when I, along with the Philadelphia Community Bail Fund, work to liberate as many Black mothers out of jail as we can for Mother’s Day.
I don’t want the message of this post to be only that we pray, but also about what it means to genuinely connect with God as a family.
Richard Blaisdell just retired after over 40 years of ministry. And we need more preachers like Richard. Here are four things preachers need to learn from his life and ministry.
