The Glory Of The Cross

“The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.” —Matthew 13:31–32 When Jesus began his ministry, he announced that the kingdom of God was at hand. But many modern-day Christians don’t really understand what the kingdom of God is or how it relates to the message of the gospel. Defining kingdom as the King’s power over the King’s people in the King’s place, Patrick Schreiner investigates the key events, prophecies, and passages of Scripture that highlight the important theme of kingdom across the storyline of the Bible—helping readers see how the mission of Jesus and the coming of the kingdom fit together. Part of the Short Studies in Biblical Theology series.

The principal liturgies of Holy Week underwent a series of revisions between 1951 and 2011. In this book, noted liturgist Paul Turner charts the rubrics and prayers of the current rites paragraph by paragraph, explaining the historical development of individual components, how and why the post 'Vatican II liturgical reform made its revisions, and where the Roman Missal, Third Edition has added nuances. This book will help ministers, liturgists, catechists, and all the faithful enter more deeply into the mystery of the cross of Christ, their glory and their hope.

The Paschal Triduum is the heart of the liturgical year. This sacred season brings us more deeply into the life, death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ—the Paschal Mystery. This inspiring booklet provides a spiritual journey through the Three Days by exploring the rituals that take place on Holy Thursday evening, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday. The questions at the end of each short chapter will help readers to glory in our Lord’s Cross and live it in their lives.

In many ways, Easter is supposed to be the high-point of the year for Christians, where we remember the three days that changed history for ever. But for many of us, the day quickly comes and goes without us really feeling any different. Yet for centuries Christians around the world have marked the season of Lentthe forty days leading up to Easteras a way of reflecting on their need for forgiveness and anticipating Christ's work on the cross. These daily readings present deep theology in a concise and understandable way, allowing you to soak up the real meaning of Christ's death and resurrection. Each week, you'll read through one or two chapters of John's Gospel. The Sunday reading provides an introduction to the passage as a whole, while the rest of the week's reflections work through it in smaller sections. A carefully selected prayerdrawn from the rich work of writers throughout church historyis included each day. So this Lent, prepare your heart with 47 days of short and st

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Pulitzer Prize–winning author Jon Meacham explores the seven last sayings of Jesus as recorded in the Gospels, combining rich historical and theological insights to reflect on the true heart of the Christian story. For Jon Meacham, as for believers worldwide, the events of Good Friday and Easter reveal essential truths about Christianity. A former vestryman of Trinity Church Wall Street and St. Thomas Church Fifth Avenue, Meacham delves into that intersection of faith and history in this meditation on the seven phrases Jesus spoke from the cross. Beginning with “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do” and ending with “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit,” Meacham captures for the reader how these words epitomize Jesus’s message of love, not hate; grace, not rage; and, rather than vengeance, extraordinary mercy. For each saying, Meacham composes an essay on the origins of Christianity and how Jesus’s final words created a foundation for oral and written traditions that upended the very order of the world. Writing in a tone more intimate than any of his previous works, Jon Meacham returns us to the moment that transformed Jesus from a historical figure into the proclaimed Son of God, worshiped by billions.

Just a few days before His crucifixion, Jesus said concerning His approaching death, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit" (John 12:23-24). In this statement, Christ presented the Cross as the means of showing with great power and glory what He accomplished for those who believe in His death, burial, and resurrection. In it He also set the pattern for all those who would follow Him by denying themselves, taking up their cross daily, and following Him. The riches of Christ's spiritual achievement for all who believe are manifest on the Cross as it is explained in the New Testament in all its dimensions. In The Glory of the Cross-Our Life Through His Death, the author explains in thirty-one concise chapters all that Christ did accomplish and will continue to accomplish for us through His Cross. Understood fully, these truths will lead to a heart overflowing with the truth of Galatians 2:20, "I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me." Read and rejoice!