Deus Misereatur

  Fond memories swirl through my head about reading loads of books to my kids when they were little. We found plenty of material, but when it came to Bible stories and little books that focused on one Bible story or another, the field was antiquated and narrow. Old 1950s and 1960s art work, script that could be a bit corny, crayon marks, and all. Though our children have long been grown, I'm still always looking for good material for parents to read with their youngsters. Sarah Walton, author, wife and mother, has pulled together a pleasant retelling of our Lord's story of the prodigal son and his stuffy brother in the 56-page hardback, "The Long Road Home: A Tale of Two Sons and a Father's Never-Ending Love". The delightful illustrations are provided by Christina Yang, a seasoned illustrator and designer. Between the two, "The Long Road Home" is just the kind of book I look for when thinking about reading to kids and grandkids. The story encompasses two...

  There’s a risk when getting into someone else’s life story. To actually commit yourself to listening as they recount the paths they’ve taken, the dark corners in their lives where lurk wild things, the odd reasonings in their heads, and more. The risk happens at different levels. One risk is that if a person really tunes in to the tales of another’s life, as weird or dark or grief-filled as it may be, there’s a lot of commonality. ‘This person is very much like me, and I find myself thinking the same way they did.’ If you really listen, it can be eye-opening. Ashley Lande, author and writer in rural Kansas, takes a bold step by inviting you into her life story in her award-winning autobiographical narrative, “The Thing That Would Make Everything Okay Forever: Transcendence, Psychedelics, & Jesus Christ”. It’s in both paperback and Logos Digital formats. And it is a page-turning journey through a life looking for the thing that would make everything okay forever. Simply becaus...

  You who are the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy, who has said: “ I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite ” (Isaiah 57:15). We rejoice and give you our great thanks and ask you to hear our grateful prayers offered in concert with Psalm 70: Make haste, O God, to deliver me! O LORD, make haste to help me! Hear the groans and grief of those hurting through sickness, weakening bodies, sad hearts and desperate conditions (…). Speedily deliver them and swiftly help them. Hear the cries and despair of those who are down and out, done in and destitute, whether in our congregation, in our city, under our bridges, or around our neighborhoods, and make haste to help them. Let them be put to shame and confusion who seek my life! Let them be turned back and brought to dishonor who delight in my hurt! Let them turn back because...