JourneyWise
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Engaging insights and educational musings to guide and inspire you on your journey from the scholars and thinkers at the JourneyWise network.
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Advent
Christmas
Lent
Easter
Health & Wellness
Bible Reading
Faith
Joy
Love Jesus
Grief
Press Releases
Advent
JourneyWise Advent Resources 2024
The other day, I was at Costco, headed to the paper towels, when I overheard a conversation that caught my attention. I casually pulled my buggy up to the children's book area to see what the commotion was about. "A Bluey advent calendar!!! We have to have this!!" A...
A Gospel for the Wanderer
It seems for quite a lot of people, there is a very real need to assert that they may be wandering, but they’re definitely not lost, and no one needs to save them. Bumper stickers proclaim this “not lost-ness” and Pinterest boards are filled with memes about the virtues of wandering.
Keep Knocking
What do you do when you don’t just want something, but you genuinely need it? You find a way to get it, don’t you? You keep pushing for it, and you don’t back down. You know that no one is going to give you what you need. You have to make it happen on your own.
Christmas
Twelve Days
I was having a conversation with a young(ish) pastor about a book the other day, and he mentioned that he and his family were “wrapping up the twelve days of Christmas.” I just looked at him. “Um… how can you be wrapping up the twelve days of Christmas, when they haven’t started yet?” He told me he thought it started on December 13, and wrapped up on the 25th, and didn’t really believe me when I told him the season starts on Christmas morning, and ends on Twelfthnight (January 6). It’s what is called “Christmastide,” and is a celebration that begins with the birth of Jesus and end on Epiphany, the day we celebrate the three kings arriving to meet the baby Jesus. My background is in medieval church history, and I think there are rich Christian traditions surrounding the holiday season that are often overlooked or forgotten. So, just in case you weren’t clear on your church history, I thought it would be good to talk about Christmastide.
Thoughtful vs. Lavish Gifts
In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus tells us not to worry because we have a Heavenly Father who meets our needs. The verses say:
“That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are?” (Matthew 6:25-26 NLT)
Advent: The Gift of the Unexpected
I love Christmas because it is about surprises! We sneak around and buy gifts, then we wrap them and place them under our Christmas trees. There is still a little kid in most of us. Have you ever gotten one of those gifts that totally caught you off guard? Have you ever given a gift that you could hardly keep secret because you knew the person opening it would be so surprised? There is so much joy in watching someone receive a gift they never expected.
Lent
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Easter
Preparing for Holy Week
Holy Week is the centerpiece of the Christian year. During this week, we celebrate the events leading to his crucifixion and resurrection.
Blessed Are Those Who Mourn
Jesus encourages us to love with real openness and honesty, but such love also brings great vulnerability. By loving and living in a way that we mourn deeply, we open ourselves up to incredible heartache, trouble, and hurt. But! We also draw closer to Jesus, and, with Him, there is potential for great joy because Jesus has overcome the world. (See John 16:33.) In other words, the risk of grief or mourning can be overwhelming. It is not easy to love people to a point where we mourn over hardship and loss. But, through it, God promises life-changing joy if we are willing to take the chance.
Our Comfort in Mourning
As Advent is a season to prepare for the coming of Jesus, Lent is a time to face the reality of death in the world as we look forward to the resurrection power brought to us on Easter. As we sit with the brokenness, death, and suffering we see around us, we can learn from Jesus who took our mourning seriously.
Health and Wellness
Practice Makes Progress, Jesus Makes Perfect
So here it is again, a new year-January, 2023. And with the new year all of us are faced with that daunting task of trying to make this a better year than the previous one both for ourselves and for those around us. That usually entails something like New Year’s resolutions. We know they are needed, we know we probably won’t keep them and yet we keep making them. So what is the problem? Is it that we make poor resolutions or that we are just pitiful people and cannot do the right thing no matter how hard we try?
Bible Reading
Are You Ready for Real Methodism?
Have you ever wondered what it means to be a Methodist, really? Or, maybe you’ve wondered if there is really a core of essential content to Methodism? Maybe it is just the church you go to if you get married and he’s Baptist and she’s Roman Catholic. You know, the compromise church. Or maybe some of you know recent Methodism too well and you see it not as the compromise church but as the compromised church.
Epiphany of Epiphany
I was asked to write this article on Epiphany by Chip, and in all honestly my first question was, “Chip… what is Epiphany?” You see, most of the great folks I work with have a Methodist or Anglican background. I, on the other hand, have a Baptist background, and we Baptists don’t celebrate Epiphany. When I asked Nicolet, “What is Epiphany?” she laughed and said, “Chip probably doesn’t remember you’re a Baptist.”
What’s In A Name?
His arrival astonished our human expectations. Matthew describes it in this way: “‘They will call him Immanuel’ (which means ‘God with us’)” (Matthew 1:23). God came to earth in Jesus Christ to be with us. We have the privilege of traveling through life with the greatest Teacher, Friend, and Savior we could ever know.
Faith
JourneyWise Advent Resources 2024
The other day, I was at Costco, headed to the paper towels, when I overheard a conversation that caught my attention. I casually pulled my buggy up to the children's book area to see what the commotion was about. "A Bluey advent calendar!!! We have to have this!!" A...
A Gospel for the Wanderer
It seems for quite a lot of people, there is a very real need to assert that they may be wandering, but they’re definitely not lost, and no one needs to save them. Bumper stickers proclaim this “not lost-ness” and Pinterest boards are filled with memes about the virtues of wandering.
Keep Knocking
What do you do when you don’t just want something, but you genuinely need it? You find a way to get it, don’t you? You keep pushing for it, and you don’t back down. You know that no one is going to give you what you need. You have to make it happen on your own.
Joy
JourneyWise Advent Resources 2024
The other day, I was at Costco, headed to the paper towels, when I overheard a conversation that caught my attention. I casually pulled my buggy up to the children's book area to see what the commotion was about. "A Bluey advent calendar!!! We have to have this!!" A...
A Gospel for the Wanderer
It seems for quite a lot of people, there is a very real need to assert that they may be wandering, but they’re definitely not lost, and no one needs to save them. Bumper stickers proclaim this “not lost-ness” and Pinterest boards are filled with memes about the virtues of wandering.
Keep Knocking
What do you do when you don’t just want something, but you genuinely need it? You find a way to get it, don’t you? You keep pushing for it, and you don’t back down. You know that no one is going to give you what you need. You have to make it happen on your own.
Love Jesus
Preparing for Holy Week
Holy Week is the centerpiece of the Christian year. During this week, we celebrate the events leading to his crucifixion and resurrection.
Blessed Are Those Who Mourn
Jesus encourages us to love with real openness and honesty, but such love also brings great vulnerability. By loving and living in a way that we mourn deeply, we open ourselves up to incredible heartache, trouble, and hurt. But! We also draw closer to Jesus, and, with Him, there is potential for great joy because Jesus has overcome the world. (See John 16:33.) In other words, the risk of grief or mourning can be overwhelming. It is not easy to love people to a point where we mourn over hardship and loss. But, through it, God promises life-changing joy if we are willing to take the chance.
He Meets Us Where We Are
When we receive something from someone without seeing our need for it, we tend to be less grateful toward them. We don’t take the gift seriously, and it doesn’t affect our lives as much. A similar result can happen in our relationship with Jesus. He meets us where we are, but if we aren’t in a place where we recognize our need for Him, we can easily brush Him off.
Grief
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Press Releases
DR. REV. CYNTHIA DAVIS NAMED EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT
In the Center for Applied Theology, Davis will be overseeing the existing relationships with its partners including United Theological Seminary, Asbury Seminary, and World Methodist Evangelism.
JOURNEYWISE LAUNCHES RESOURCES
JourneyWise, a multimedia network dedicated to helping people “Love Jesus and Love Like Jesus,” will launch its first two books this fall with publishing partner Whitaker House.