It’s about the giving, really. So that all those holy folk who moan about the marketing and such can tend to miss the deep, abiding truth that, for a month, at least, and once in every year, all sorts of people seek to find new, and surprising ways to make other people smile, ways to say, in varying degrees of warmth, “I love you,” or at least, “I care,” ways to call a temporary halt to grab-and-gain, and set aside a time and place for simple gratitude instead. Given the way we spend the remainder of our days and months, one might be excused for calling this an honest-to-God miracle. … [Read more...]
Hymns for Lent and Easter
New hymns for Lent and Easter by Presbyterian poet J. Barrie Shepherd! This year, Presbyterian minister and author of several beloved volumes of poetry, J. Barrie Shepherd, has crafted seasonal hymns for the Presbyterian Outlook. His new hymn texts are set to familiar tunes. Your hymn purchase includes downloads of a PDF of the lyrics scored with the music for a half-page regular sheet of paper, a second PDF of the lyrics scored with music for a half-page of legal-sized paper (large print) and a document with lyrics only. You have permission to print as many copies as needed for your use. Each hymn is just $10! Deep in the Heart of Winter (click here to preview the hymn text) A hymn for early Lent ANGEL’S STORY (“Oh Jesus, I Have Promised") Deep in the heart of winter, when days seem cold and bleak Our faith calls us to enter this space of seven weeks. We turn to prayer and fasting, take scripture as our guide, Prepare our souls for Easter, … [Read more...]
Seasonal hymns by J. Barrie Shepherd
Beloved Presbyterian poet J. Barrie Shepherd has crafted hymns for Advent, Christmas and welcoming in the new year set to familiar Christmas tunes and other well-loved hymns. Your hymn purchase includes downloads of a PDF of the lyrics scored with the music for a half-page regular sheet of paper, a second PDF of the lyrics scored with music for a half-page of legal-sized paper (large print) and a document with lyrics only. You have permission to print as many copies as needed for your use. Good Joseph Was a Gentle Man (preview of full hymn text) Good Joseph was a gentle man he loved his bride-to-be, Rejoiced in every blessed hour spent in her company. So when the neighbors told him that his Mary was with child, he heeded what the Angel said and they were reconciled. ST. LOUIS (“O Little Town of Bethlehem”) Click here to purchase "Good Joseph Was a Gentle Man" for $10. Gathered in That Humble Place (preview of full hymn text) Gathered in that humble … [Read more...]
Grave guard
Guarding a grave is hardly the most lively way to spend this early springtime night, or serve almighty Rome. Why would anyone steal a corpse, particularly one so battered and broken as this one has to be after all that happened to it yesterday? That flogging with the lead-tipped cat doesn’t leave that much to nail up, or so the crucifixion detail tell me. And by the time they’ve torn the whole mess down again – out of respect for some Jewish feast, or so I heard – there’s little one could recognize as having once been human. Still, Pilate wants us here, so here we are. Wonder what he did to provoke such unrelenting fury from the temple crowd. Wonder what they said to get our Pilate into such a dither; all that back and forth around the palace and the square. And then the water bowl and towel, that odd and almost guilty public handwashing. Caesar’s Procurator surely ought to be more decisive, more imperial, far less reasonable as he implements the wisdom … [Read more...]
What’s right about my church?
The very first, and best thing right about my church is that it’s not my church at all. If it was I’d be in deepest trouble, that’s for sure. First Church of Me may sound, at first, appealing, but I fear the worship soon would turn a tad monotonous, and the offerings and mission trips repetitious and reflexive. Church school would lack for content, while the Te Deum might relapse to mere tedium. So what’s right, and true and even holy about “my” church is that it is not, and never has been mine, but remains the church of One whose grace and mercy reaches wide and deep to welcome one and all, invites them to belong, and be at home with her, or maybe even him. Who knows? Share your story of “what’s right” with the Outlook by emailing it to [email protected] … [Read more...]
Lux plus Veritas
We try to drive the dark away this shining season, string twining cords around our shrubs and trees, doors, windows, porches too, bedeck our shadowed world with myriad winking, blinking, points of multi-colored light. All this to stretch the dwindling daylight out, limit the chill domain of winter’s night. “It makes the holidays more bright,” we tell ourselves, forgetting that the stable cave we celebrate was lighted by, at most, one of those tiny, clay, oil lamps; that the clear radiance that streamed above, around, beyond that battered-blessed manger drew from deep within the all-surrounding dark. Even so, one sparkling island night in Maine, I introduced our first granddaughter, raised in illuminated New York City, to the black-velvet-spread celestial of The Milky Way. Her sheer astonishment made clear that we must claim our darkness too, if we would glimpse the glory of the elemental light. … [Read more...]
- 1
- 2
- 3
- …
- 6
- Next Page »
Tweet With Us
Be A Facebook Fan
Our World in Photos
Pin With Us