For more than 10 years, thoroughly Protestant Kathleen Norris had been an oblate at a Benedictine monastery. In The Cloister Life, the celebrated author turns to the priory as her spiritual landscape, as she takes us through a liturgical year, inspiring us to evaluate our own lives and values. Norris provides tremendous insight into the languages, customs, ceremonies, and sexuality of the men and women who have chosen the cloistered life. With insight...

This best-selling book shares the history of the United Church of Christ, background on its predecessor bodies, explanation of its emblem, and Statement of Faith.

Worship is the work of the people of God. Patterns of worship shape how we pray and how we live. Despite its centrality to church life, worship is too often taken for granted as something a congregation experiences rather than collectively creates. “The Work of the People” simply and clearly explains the structure of worship, the actions and words we use in liturgy, the environment in which it all happens-in other words, what we are doing and...

A guide to biblically shaped worship, which has the greatest missional impact in a post-Christian culture By the Waters of Babylon examines a relationship between worship, culture, and evangelism that is centered in a desire for biblical fidelity rather than cultural relevance. Imagine how the Hebrews felt during their years of captivity in Babylon. How could they sing the songs they once sang in the spender of Jerusalem now that they sat in exile?...

In this book, 'the author reaches out to believers who trust in the truth of Holy Scripture, but who may not necessarily appreciate the relevance of pre-Christian worship to that described and laid down in the New Testament – anyone of faith would gain a great deal from reading this monograph and even perhaps some who do not share this faith, but are interested in learning more of the history and meaning of worship!' The Bible relates how God created...