No Cross No Crown

Nineteenth-century New Orleans was a diverse city. The French-speaking Catholic Creoles, whether black, white, or racially mixed-so different from the city's English-speaking residents-inspired intense curiosity and speculation. But none of the city's inhabitants evoked as much wonder as did the Sisters of the Holy Family, whose mission was to evangelize slaves and free people of color and to care for the poor, sick, and elderly. These women, whose community still thrives, are portrayed in an account written between 1896 and 1898 by one of their sisters, Mary Bernard Deggs, who shortly before her death made it her mission to record the remarkable historical journey the women had taken to serve those of their race. Although Deggs did not officially join the Sisters of the Holy Family until 1873, she was a student at the sisters' early school on Bayou Road and thus would have known, as a child, Henriette Delille, the founder and first mother superior of the Sisters of the Holy Family, and the other women who joined her. This account captures, in a most graphic way, the founding of the Sisters of the Holy Family in New Orleans in 1842 and the difficult years that followed. It was not until 1852 that the foundresses were able to take their first official vows and exchange their blue percale gowns for black ones (and it was 1873 before they were permitted to wear a formal religious habit). Shortly before Delille's death in 1862, Union forces seized the city, and Delille's successor, Juliette Gaudin, faced dire economic circumstances. The war and postwar years economically devastated New Orleans and its population. Freed slaves poured into the city, unintentionally adding themselves to the already overwhelming mission of the sisters. Those were the poorest and most uncertain years the sisters were to face. We know very little about Sister Mary Bernard Deggs herself, but her history of the early years of the Sisters o

Bishop Jakes, the "New York Times"-bestselling author of "Reposition Yourself," returns with a thorough examination of the power of forgiveness.

The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown guides serious New Testament students through the historical, literary, and theological dimensions of the biblical text, allowing them to better understand and share God’s “word of truth” (2 Tim 2:15). It offers a thorough introduction to all twenty-seven books of the New Testament and closely examines events such as Christ’s incarnation and virgin birth, his crucifixion and resurrection, and triumphant return. The second edition features updated bibliographies and footnotes, interpretation sections that cover different literary genres in the New Testament, an epilogue that canvasses the entire storyline of Scripture, and a variety of maps. All of these new features contribute to making this a life-long resource for students of Scripture.

As well as the name of a virus, a corona is a crown, the pearly glow around the sun in certain astronomical conditions and a poetic form where interlinking lines connect a sequence. It is the perfect name therefore for this new collection of 150 poems by the bestselling poet Malcolm Guite, each one written in response to the Bible’s 150 psalms as they appear in William Coverdale’s timeless translation. The Psalms express every human emotion with disarming honesty, as anger and thankfulness alike are directed at God. All of life is here with its moments of beauty and its times of despair and shame. Like the Psalms themselves, the poems do not avoid the cursing and glorying over the downfall of your enemies, but wrestle honestly with them as we do when we come to say them.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon (18341892), as his sermons and expositions testify, treasured the last words of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. In his ministry, Spurgeon made the whole life of Christ worth beholding: His life, death, resurrection, and His work as the heavenly mediator. In his book, The Cross before the Crown: Charles Spurgeon on Christs Last Words on the Cross, the author brings together twenty-two sermons and six expositions by Spurgeon; one sermon by Octavius Winslow (18081878), and one selection by Matthew Henry (16621714) from his Commentary. Meant to be used as a devotional, this book will help you develop a deeper understanding of Christs ultimate sacrifice for us, His believers. In his sermons, with the effective ministration of the Holy Spirit (Spurgeon leaned very heavily on the aid of the Spirit), he constantly exalted the One greater than all the patriarchs, prophets, priests, and princesses. The Cross before the Crown: Charles Spurgeon on Christs Last Words of the Cross is a testament to Spurgeons power as the Prince of Preachers.