Deus Misereatur

The Loving Push: How Parents and Professionals Can Help Spectrum Kids Become Successful Adults by Debra Moore My rating: 5 of 5 stars Most parents grapple with how to guide their children into a valuable and viable adulthood. Through all of my years of parenting and my time of consoling and counseling many parents in churches where I have pastored, this is a steady stream of stress. But add to this the particular struggles of autism, and the frustrations and feelings of futility can be greatly exacerbated. To restore hope and rebuild courage in parents with children on the spectrum comes a new 288 page paperback. “The Loving Push: How parents and professionals can help spectrum kids become successful adults” has co-written by Dr. Temple Grandin, author, professor and lecturer who is on the spectrum; and Dr. Debra Moore, author and psychologist who has worked with many clients dealing with HFA and Asperger’s. As the authors state, they “want to increase the odds that your child grow...

Sunday morning: Our Father, you are the LORD, and there is no other. You form the light and create darkness; you make peace and create calamity (Isaiah 45.7); 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. It is to you that we come and pray, in the strength of the Spirit and the righteousness of Christ Jesus. Rebuild and build up peace, order and justice in the nations of the world, especially North and South Korea, Mexico, Egypt, Taiwan, and Azerbaijan, so that the peoples may live safely, thrive, and hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Bring relief to those in our country who have been hit hard by financial woes; give our elected and appointed leaders shrewdness and perseverance for reining 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-headedne...

The Earliest Christologies: Five Images of Christ in the Postapostolic Age James L. Papandrea IVP Academic (InterVarsity Press) PO Box 1400 Downers Grove, IL 60515 ISBN: 978-0-8308-5127-0; $18.00; May 2016 Reviewed by Rev. Dr. Michael Philliber for Deus Misereatur Happily in the Middle; 5 Stars out of 5 If Richard Weaver was correct in positing that ideas have consequences, then in the same vein Christologies have corollaries and repercussions.  James L. Papandrea, author, speaker, musician and associate professor of church history at Garrett-Evangelical Seminary at Northwestern University, champions exactly this premise in his soon-to-be published 144 page paperback, “The Earliest Christologies: Five Images of Christ in the Postapostolic Age”. In this short, readable work Papandrea sets four aspiring Christologies, from the late first and second Centuries, beside the Christology of the mainstream or majority Church from the same period. Though at first glan...

Remember, O Lord Jesus Christ, our God, your mercies and loving-kindnesses, which have been from everlasting to everlasting, and for the sake of which you did become man and stoop to endure crucifixion and death for the salvation of all who rightly believe in you. You rose from the dead for our justification and ascended into heaven, and sit at the right hand of God the Father, from whence you shall come to judge the living and the dead; and as our great High Priest you regard the humble prayers of all who call upon you with their whole heart. Incline your ear and hear our humble entreaties. First of all remember your holy, catholic and apostolic Church, which you have purchased with your precious blood, including St. Mark’s UMC; St. Mary’s Christian Methodist Episcopal Church; St. Matthew’s UMC, Selecman UMC and South Lee UMC ; and also your servants who are under persecution for your sake and for the sake of your holy gospel. Confirm and strengthen your Church, enlarge and mu...

Almighty and Everliving God, infinite, eternal and unchangeable in your being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth ( Westminster Shorter Catechism 4 ), we come and make our requests to you. We, your servants and children of this congregation, request your help to put away falsehood, so as to speak truth with our neighbors, for we are members of one another. That no corrupting talk would proceed out of our mouths, but only such things as a good for building up, that our words may give grace to those who hear us. That we may not grieve the Holy Spirit, by whom we have been sealed unto the day of redemption. That all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor and slander would be put away from us, along with all malice. And that we may be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as you in Christ forgave us (Ephesians 4.25-32). On behalf of Mark and Lori Berry in Peru we pray that you would grant to them peace, protection, trustworthy co-laborers and all...

Theology and the Mirror of Scripture: A Mere Evangelical Account Kevin J. Vanhoozer and Daniel J. Trier IVP Academic (InterVarsity Press) PO Box 1400 Downers Grove, IL 60515 ISBN: 978-0-8308-4076-2; $26.00; November 2015 Reviewed by Rev. Dr. Michael Philliber for Deus Misereatur 4 Stars out of 5 Maybe the hinge is binding because there’s something wrong with the door altogether, or maybe there’s nothing more than a bit of rust and grime that have begun to encumber the door from opening and closing properly. Whatever it is, my truck door is giving me fits! It catches, groans and pops every time I open and close it. In many ways, evangelicalism is in a bind and catching. It doesn’t appear to be “working” correctly any longer. That’s why Kevin J. Vanhoozer, Research Professor of Systematic Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois, and Daniel J. Trier, Blanchard Professor of Theology at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois, have penned ...

The Relevance of Religion: How Faithful People Can Change Politics by John Danforth My rating: 5 of 5 stars Incivility, with all of its rudeness in personal and political discourse and discourtesy on social and audio-visual media, seem to have confiscated and impounded our shared psyche as a nation. Simultaneously, into this caustic environment is being poured a highly-flammable fuel that explodes and melts down discussion and disagreement, and dissolves any hope of reaching the common good. The Ninth Commandment clearly announces that we’re not to bear false witness against our neighbors. And yet people of strong Christian convictions violate the Ninth Commandment minute-by-minute on Facebook, via email and by means of other outlets. You see it when we post and publicize scathing, often half-truth fabrications against this or that Governmental office holder and others. To propose a remedy, John Danforth, Lawyer, Episcopal priest, one-time Republican Senator for Missouri and United ...