Deus Misereatur

  It wasn’t the book I expected. I was thinking it was going to be historical retellings of events in Christian history. Instead, I was surprised with “ Faith in Society: 13 Profiles of Christians Adding Value to Modern Society ” being a book for High School and College students as they consider their future vocations. Anthony Bradley, professor of religious studies and Director of the Center for the Study of Human Flourishing at the King’s College in New York City, has pulled together thirteen short essays that challenge the notion that Christians can primarily do “Kingdom work” only in secular institutions and contexts, and show how they can actually make important inroads into our world by working in Christian contexts. The overall point of the book is to help teenage and college Christians think through how they can employ their faith and their degrees, and bring both together into the contexts of business, technology, politics, literature, and more. This is quite a useful man...

  (Originally posted 13 February 2023. Updated with Abigail's review on 21 February 2023. MWP) For someone who is still 16 years old in his heart, it was a delightful book. “Enchantment Incorporated” is a 186-page softback penned by Zachary F. Carden, Director of Family Ministries at The Church of the Apostles in Atlanta, Georgia. The tale is a fantasy piece that melds together modern technology, including cellphones, computer programs, and lasers with dragons, elves, gnomes, dryads, naiads, Minotaur’s, and a host of other creatures. It’s a story of a collision of realms and existences in the present.   Under and inside the story echoes another one. This one feels like it walks along a gospel path. There’s a (good) creation. Then there’s a fall, where things go horribly sour. Next comes a rescue that gives way to a renewed creation. Further, there is a lover who sacrifices for the beloved. Inside the fall, and as the rescue is unfolding, there is a disparate team melded t...

  Our Father, you are the LORD, and there is no other. You form the light and create darkness; you make peace and create calamity; you O LORD do all these things, that all may know from the rising of the Sun to its setting that there is none besides you (Isaiah 45:6-7). It is to you that we come and pray, in the strength of the Spirit and the righteousness of Christ Jesus. Rebuild peace, order and justice in the nations of the world, and most especially right now, in Turkey and Syria, so that the peoples may live safely, thrive, and hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Grant recovery where there has been disaster. But also, bring relief to those in our country who have been hit hard by financial woes; give our elected and appointed leaders the shrewdness and perseverance for reigning in our debt that we may not misuse our future; govern the decisions of our judges to eschew immorality and inequality; cause the hearts of the inhabitants of this nation to move toward prudent level-headed...