Current Affairs and Causes on Play

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Genesis 2:15-17, Exodus 20:1-17 , Job 1:6-12, Matthew 7:13-14, 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, Psalm 119:105

Games aren’t appealing because they are fun, but because they are limited. Because they erect boundaries. Because we must accept their structures in order to play them.

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Author

C. S. Lewis

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Concerns

To play well the scenes in which we are 'on' concerns us much more than to guess about the scenes that follow it.

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Building for Glory and Good

Author

Tom Nelson

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Scripture

Genesis 1:26–28, Exodus 35:30–35, Proverbs 8:22–31, Matthew 25:14–30, Colossians 3:23–24, Psalm 104:24

I love watching young boys and girls build things with Legos. Their small, creative masterpieces cannot help but reflect their image-bearing nature and remind us we were all made to make things. When ...

liturgy

Adapted From Psalm 33

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Scripture

Psalm 33:null

Shout for joy in the Lord, O you righteous! Praise befits the upright. Give thanks to the Lord with the lyre; make melody to him with the harp of ten strings! Sing to him a new song; play skillfully...

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Strategic Withdrawal: A Wise Strategy

Author

Ruth Haley Barton

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Scripture

Exodus 33:7–11, 1 Kings 19:3–9, Exodus 20:8–11, Mark 6:30–32, Luke 5:15–16, Psalm 46:10

When we hear the word retreat many of us think of the military use of the word, which refers to the tactic troops use when they are losing too much ground, when they are tired and ineffective, a...

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Pragmatism vs. the Pursuit of Truth

Author

R. C. Sproul

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Scripture

Exodus 1:15–21, Daniel 3:16–18 , 1 Kings 3:16–28 , Matthew 4:1–11, Galatians 1:6–10, Psalm 73:

Pragmatism may be defined simply as the approach to reality that defines truth as “that which works.” The pragmatist is concerned about results, and the results determine the truth. The problem with t...

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Sacred Space: Lessons from Ethiopia’s Church Forests

Author

William Rowley

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Too Busy for God? American work culture is all-pervasive. For many members of your congregation, it can be a real fight to get actual time off—and cell phones and the internet has made it possible to...

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Cultivating a Spirit of Generosity: A Pastoral Call to Year-End Giving

Author

Aaron Schweizer

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Scripture

Proverbs 11:1, Philippians 4:18

As a five-year-old at Christmas I remember how excited I was to get my first bike. It was a yellow BMX Huffy, a mean machine for a kid in the late 70s. It is one of my fondest memories because I remem...

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God–our Father, Lord and indwelling

Author

Richard Herman

Scripture

Philippians 4:6-7, 1 Timothy 2:1-2, Psalm 133:1, 2 Corinthians 9:13-14, Matthew 28:19-20

God–our Father, Lord and indwelling Spirit of grace and power: Thank you for hearing us when we pray whether in songs of rejoicing or through tears of sorrow. Thank you for gifts–for the gifts of musi...

liturgy

A Thanksgiving Litany

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Let us give thanks to God our Father for all his gifts so freely bestowed upon us. For the beauty and wonder of your creation, in earth and sky and sea. We thank you, Lord. For all that is gracio...

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John Perkins' Children: Among the Very First Students to Integrate at an All-White School

Author

John M. Perkins

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Six of my children—Spencer, Joanie, Phillip, Derek, Deborah, and Wayne—were among the first black children to attend the all-white school in Mendenhall. But while they were there, their white teachers...

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Author

Alain de Botton

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The attentions of others matter to us because we are afflicted by a congenital uncertainty as to our own value, as a result of which affliction we tend to allow others’ appraisals to play a determinin...

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Dressed in a Brief Authority

Author

Graham Tomlin

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Shakespeare’s play, Measure for Measure is an exploration of the nature of power and mercy. Isabella, the novice nun, trying to persuade the tyrant Angelo to have mercy on her brother Claudio, utters ...

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Confess Your Mixed Motives

Author

Kent Annan

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Scripture

Micah 6:8, James 1:27, Isaiah 1:17, Romans 12:2, Galatians 6:9-10

In U2’s song “One,” Bono sings, “Have you come here to play Jesus / To the lepers in your head?”2 Yes, if you are involved in justice work, you probably have. So have I. This isn’t bad. Just honest. W...

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Losing Your Name

Author

Bonnie Greer

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The most poignant and powerful time for me in the film 12 Years a Slave was not when the beatings took place or the general degradation meted out to the hero as a matter of course or even the general ...

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Name a Day and Give me a Hearing

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

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Scripture

Revelation 2:10, Psalm 71:20-21, Philippians 3:10-14, Luke 21:16-19, 2 Corinthians 4:17-18, Romans 8:17-18, James 1:12

One of the great leaders of the first generation after the apostles was a man named Polycarp. Polycarp, it is believed, was discipled by the apostle John and carried out a long and fruitful ministry i...

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What it Means to be White

Author

Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove

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Race

In his book Reconstructing the Gospel , pastor Jonathan WIlson-Hartgrove tells a story that occurred shortly after he and his family, white ethnically, decided to move into a historically African A...

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Describe Your First Encounter with Race

Author

Daniel Hill

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Race

Whenever I lead a training session on cultural identity—particularly when there’s a strong white presence—I begin with this question: “Describe the first encounter you remember having with race.” Most...

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Differences in Economics from the Ancient World to Ours

Author

Ben Witherington III

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At this point in the discussion some will remark that the Old Testament says a good deal about being prosperous and even occasionally speaks about wealth, but not about money per se. That is the case ...

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Not Addicted

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

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Scripture

John 8:36, Romans 6:16, Galatians 5:1, 1 Corinthians 6:12, Proverbs 14:12, Isaiah 5:20

Tallulah Bankhead (1903-1968) was a flamboyant actress, whom one critic called “more an act than an actress.” At the opening-night party for a play in which she was performing, she got into an argumen...

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Bringing the Human Race to Its Knees

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Cormac McCarthy

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In Cormac McCarthy’s modern classic, No Country for Old Men, sheriff Ed Tom Bell (played by Tommy Lee Jones in the Major Motion Picture) pontificates on this rising evil that has infiltrated his until...

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Playing Busy like a Fiddle While the World Burns

Author

Jen Pollock Michel

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Scripture

Ecclesiastes 2:22-23, Psalm 46:10, 1 Corinthians 15:58

As early as April 2020, a debate raged about the responsibilities of those of us turned safely inside during this global storm. For those time privileged enough to find their calendars suddenly cleare...

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Author

Eugene Peterson

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The Latin words humus, soil/earth, and homo, human being, have a common derivation, from which we also get our word 'humble.' This is the Genesis origin of who we are: dust - dust that the Lor...

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Author

Karl Barth

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Scripture

2 Corinthians 8:1-4, Luke 7:36-50, Acts 2:44-47, John 13:12-15, Luke 10:25-37

Grace must find expression in life, otherwise it is not grace.

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Whatever Circumstances Arise

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

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Scripture

Ecclesiastes 5:4-5, Numbers 30:2, Matthew 5:33-37, James 5:12, Psalm 15:1-4

Ira Gershwin (1896–1983), the celebrated American lyricist, was known for his collaborations with his brother George on numerous iconic songs and musicals. He was also an avid, though notoriously unlu...

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Addiction & Idolatry

Author

Andy Crouch

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In his excellent book on the subject of power (Playing God), author Andy Crouch describes the connection between idolatry and addiction: In modern, secular societies perhaps the clearest example of ...

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A New Thing Has Been Made

Author

Jonathan Cornell

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Scripture

Matthew 3:1-12, Galatians 3:26-29, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Ephesians 2:14-16, Colossians 3:10-11

My kids love the movie Remember the Titans . It’s the story of the integration of the TC WIlliams High School Football Team in Alexandria, Virginia, in the 1960s Civil Rights era. The white players a...

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C. S. Lewis on the End of the World

Author

C. S. Lewis

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Scripture

Luke 21:5-19

If we are all going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, let that bomb when it comes find us doing sensible and human things praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children...

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We are Better Together: Moving from Empire to Kingdom

Author

Angie Ward

Keywords

A Multi-faceted Church Who loses by the church and parachurch’s lack of unity and cooperation? Absolutely everyone : congregations, ministry organizations, ministry leaders, individual believers . ....

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As Good as it Gets

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 32:22–32 , 1 Kings 19:1–18, Ecclesiastes 1:1–11, Luke 19:1–10 , John 5:1–9 , Psalm 42:1–11

Have you ever seen As Good As It Gets, the late-nineties film starring Jack Nicholson? In it, Nicholson plays a cranky, misanthropic writer in New York City, snapping at anyone who crosses his p...

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