Hymn society tournament reveals 'greatest hymn of all time'

Hymn society tournament reveals 'greatest hymn of all time'
Religion News Service: "Holy, Holy, Holy!" has been chosen in a March Madness-like tournament as "the greatest hymn of all time."

Church in Africa celebrates 50 years of growth, mounting influence
Crux: At Africa's continent-wide bishops' conference, senior African Catholic leaders are expressing public pride in five decades of rapid growth and missionary expansion.

Body image by faith: Who is most satisfied with their appearance?
ARDA: Studies found that both attendance of religious services and informal spirituality are related to positive body image.

Puerto Rico's bishops call for Governor Ricardo Rosselló to step down
America: The Catholic bishops of Puerto Rico joined other civil society actors who have been calling for the governor's resignation.

Apportionment collection rates down after GC2019
United Methodist News: This year's January-to-June annual conference apportionment rates to the seven general church funds were $4.9 million behind the first half of 2018.

Stolen cash found in priest’s car

Stolen cash found in priest’s car: Car crash uncovered tens of thousands taken from Santa Rosa parishes
CSU Northridge student: I believe in God but it doesn’t affect how I live: Honest responses from campus interviews
Catholic professional group coming to LA archdiocese: Program developed in Phoenix diocese helps participants share their faith in their personal and professional lives

God Blessed My Church with Migrants

God Blessed My Church with Migrants I don’t want to imagine my community without faithful leaders like Cesar Quintero. Eric Costanzo

Editor’s note: Last Thursday, Politico reported that Trump administration advisers had proposed dropping the US refugee cap to zero next year, to the dismay of advocates like the National Association of Evangelicals’ humanitarian arm World Relief. The Trump administration already cut the ...

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“You can’t love what you don’t know.”

Americans Who Know Religion Best Hold Worse Views of Evangelicals Pew: Religious literacy usually helps Americans appreciate other faiths. Evangelicals score highest when it comes to their own. Kate Shellnutt

There’s an adage that sometimes comes up in the church: “You can’t love what you don’t know.” Research has shown that people with the greatest understanding of other faiths tend to have more positive views of outside traditions. But a recent survey found one key exception: ...

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How Can So Many Pastors Be Godly and Dysfunctional at the Same Time?

Spiritual Formation How Can So Many Pastors Be Godly and Dysfunctional at the Same Time? Illuminating the blind spots in most approaches to spiritual formation. Todd Wilson

Pastors can be godly and dysfunctional at the same time. They can be holy and not whole. They can be biblically faithful and psychologically broken. They can be prayer warriors and control freaks, spiritually mature and emotionally repressed. They can sincerely love Jesus yet be addicted to food or porn or pain meds. I know this to be true from experience. For many years as a pastor, I was godly and dysfunctional at the same time. If you had come to live with me for a week in January 2015, slept ...

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"Through Death and Beyond" with David Roper

"Through Death and Beyond"

(Tell the next generation) that this is God,

our God forever and ever.

He will guide us forever. —Psalm 48:14

I caught a sequence on Sports Center the other day in which the sportscaster noted that an aging, ailing former-NFL player was "listed as day to day." But then he added an unexpectedly profound philosophical one-liner, "But then again, aren’t we all?"

Indeed. "Out, out, brief candle!”

But here, in an old poem there is a happy surprise: Literally, the text reads "This is God, our God forever and ever. He will lead us beyond dying," i.e., "through death and beyond.” [Additionally, the Hebrew verb translated “lead” refers to a shepherd’s work. Indeed the Septuagint, the Greek version of the Old Testament, uses poimainei, “he will shepherd (us) through death...”] 

The love, the joy, the warmth of fellowship that we enjoy each day with our Lord cannot be brought to an end by death. Once we've been joined to the eternal God—our God through Jesus Christ—how can we not be with him and he with us forever? Indeed, when our time comes, he will walk with us through the Valley of the Shadow of Death and “beyond”—into life everlasting. He will be “our God forever and ever.”

David Roper

7.23.19

E-musings are archived at http://davidroper.blogspot.com.

U.S. women's soccer team can teach the church about worthiness

The Bible Beautiful Project

A faith-driven bike shop

A faith-driven bike shop teaches repair skills and helps provide bicycles to its neighbors

Village Wrench in West Greenville, South Carolina, helps meet tangible needs such as bike repair and transportation. But it also offers youth development and a community gathering place.

Strategy questions Village Wrench says its motto is "fix bikes, make friends." How could your institution provide a safe place for relationships to form? Church members describe bike repair as a need that was "hiding in plain sight." What needs are hiding in plain sight in your community?

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The Saving Nature of a Liberal Education

Pan-Amazon Pandemonium

William Kilpatrick
 

There’s a funny scene in Oklahoma in which Curly sings a slyly mocking song about Jud Fry, the menacing hired hand. Curly assures Jud that though people dislike him now, they’ll miss him when he’s gone. To make the point, he imagines Jud’s funeral and how people will lament his passing. And so the audience […]

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The Saving Nature of a Liberal Education

Ashley G. Miller
 

Reading good books can help save your soul. A liberal education and Christianity share a mutual pursuit of the truth. With the torrential influx of electronic entertainment and the focus on STEM-based disciplines, people today are reading books less than ever before. This is one of the great crises of our time. The National Endowment […]

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