James A. Harnish

Extraordinary Ministry in Ordinary Time

Sat, 14 May 2022 04:10:03 GMT

What energizes someone in pastoral ministry for the long haul? Holy days like Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost are the exception. Ordinary Time, the longest season of the Christian year, is where pastors spend most of their ministry.

James Harnish invites pastors and other ministers to see Ordinary Time as a metaphor for the ordinary days of ministry. "Whether we thrive or merely survive depends on what we do with the ordinary days," he writes.

Harnish encourages ministers to develop spiritual disciplines and personal relationships to nourish their souls for long-term ministry. He highlights the importance of reflection on scripture, spiritual reading, journaling, prayer, and spiritual conversation with trusted friends.

This 6-week study focuses on themes Harnish found crucial in over four decades of ministry: power, people, places, proclamation, perseverance, and promise. Daily readings help readers develop their own customized practices of spiritual formation to sustain and strengthen their life and ministry.

Easter Earthquake

Sat, 14 May 2022 01:33:24 GMT

Have you ever been in an earthquake? Earthquakes shake our most basic assumptions: that the ground will remain steady beneath our feet, that the world's current existence is the way it will always be. But when tectonic plates shift under the earth's surface and the ground shakes beneath our feet, it rattles the bedrock assumptions on which we build our lives.

The Gospel of Matthew reports that on the first Easter morning, an earthquake rocked the earth, ripped open the tomb, and scared the Roman guards at the tomb, who "shook with fear and became like dead men" (Matthew 28:4).

This is the second earthquake reported by Matthew. The first one took place on Good Friday, when the noonday sky turned black and Jesus died.

In Easter Earthquake, James Harnish invites us to place the resurrection at the center of our Lenten journey. This 6-week study explores how Christ's resurrection shakes some of our most basic assumptions about ourselves and God.

"The earth-shaking promise of Easter is that God has not forsaken any of us," Harnish writes. "The risen Christ will meet us along the confused, chaotic, fearful paths of our lives and speak the same words the women hear at the tomb: 'Do not be afraid .'"

This book reverses the usual focus of Lenten studies by starting at the empty tomb and seeing the entire journey in light of the resurrection. Join James Harnish in this energizing exploration that will inspire you to live as a more faithful disciple of Jesus Christ.

FEATURES

A guide for daily mediation and prayer
An outline for small-group meetings
Begins with Ash Wednesday and continues through Easter
Each week contains 5 readings, a prayer focus, and suggestions for small-group interaction
Includes a hymn each week

Extraordinary Ministry in Ordinary Time

Thu, 05 May 2022 20:45:17 GMT