Here are a number of imaginative representations of the Nativity, representing Jesus' birth, from different places and cultures. A few are traditional, others more contemporary. Which ones do you like? Do any stoke your imagination?
Here are artistic images of Jesus from places around the world. In the gospels, Jesus lives among the people, he meets them where they dwell and work and share life together. He receives their hospitality and becomes the living Word of God among them. The next-to-last image, which hangs in our church's upper lobby, is by American artist Warner Sallman (1940). We are used to "seeing" Jesus this way. The stained-glass image after it is also American, but clearly very different. The window is in the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, where in 1963 white supremacists bombed the Sunday School of this African American congregation, killing four girls. Imagine the meaning of a crucified Christ of color to this congregation. PScott has seen this one up close. Rembrandt's Head of Christ, which hangs in The Louvre, is included here. There is a Byzantine image of Christ painted on a wall at St. Catherine'...
The word confirm means "to make firmer or stronger." Through baptism you were welcomed into the worldwide community of the Christian Church. God's covenantal claim of love, from the very beginning and extending throughout your life journey in gracious ways, was celebrated. Parents, family, and community made promises to nurture you in the faith and accompany you in your journey of growth until you made your own decisions of faith. Our promises were to God and to one another. Confirmation is the process through which you confirm your relationship with God and your growth in it, celebrating your God-given life and claiming your identity as a disciple of Jesus. You confirm the essence of the promises once made on your behalf. A Confirmand considers giving her/himself wholeheartedly to God, seeking to know God's will for your life. You acknowledge Jesus as your Lord and Savior to follow all the days of your life. You seek the Holy Spirit's guidance in all you do...
What Jesus refers to as "the kingdom of God" (in the New Testament basileia: realm or dominion) is also referred to in the Gospel of Matthew as "the kingdom of the heavens." At the outset of his ministry, Jesus announces, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news." The kingdom of God is the place where God's power of love transforms human lives. This is a realm that can be "seen" and "entered into" (John 3:3-5). When we pray the Lord's Prayer, as Jesus has taught us to pray, we pray that God's kingdom will come on earth and God's will be done on earth. The way we live our lives in faith is an answer to the very prayer that we make. In a Foundations of Faith Class, people shared some of their understandings of the kingdom of God, which included: --"God-with-us" --anywhere, everywhere that God is --the place where God's will is being done --th...
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