Confirmation Handbook Rev
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Load more
Recommended publications
-
SHABBAT SHALOM, HEY! Written and Illustrated by Ann D
READING A GIFT for JEWISH CHILDREN and their families. GUIDE SHABBAT SHALOM, HEY! Written and Illustrated by Ann D. Koffsky Sing along with the lion, monkey, and toucan as they get everything ready for Friday night dinner. Shabbat Shalom! JEWISH CONCEPTS USING THIS BOOK AT HOME The Jewish Sabbath, Shabbat, is a joyous holiday that arrives Preparing for Shabbat is a time of pleasurable anticipation. every Friday night at sundown and continues until Saturday Depending on their ages and skill levels, children can be evening, when three stars appear in the night sky. The active participants in much of it. Very young children can biblical injunction to “remember the Sabbath day and keep it learn the names of the ritual objects used during Shabbat, holy” (Exodus 20:8) has taken shape in practices held by and can enjoy the sensory pleasures of looking at candlelight, Jews all over the world. The objects that appear in this book sipping grape juice, and eating tasty challah. As they grow, – candles, a cup of grape juice (or wine), and challah (a encourage your children to help set the table, fold napkins, traditional braided bread) – are used on Friday evening with make place cards for guests, get dressed up in nice clothing, blessings that usher in this special day. Another beloved pour grape juice, and learn to recite the blessings. Involving Shabbat prayer is Birkat Hayeladim, the blessing of children, children helps create excitement for the day. It also helps which gives parents the opportunity to take a few moments strengthen the habit of observing Shabbat, which encourages each week to express love and gratitude for the precious families to pause from the pressures of the week and focus young members of their family. -
The Life of Jesus and the Sacrament of Baptism
BRINGING GOD AND HUMANITY TOGETHER: The Life of Jesus and the Sacrament of Baptism Intro I. The Gospel Story: God living a human life II. Baptism: Humans living a divine life Intro A. The two directions: God to us, and us to God 1. In every presentation so far, we’ve seen a consistent pattern to the relationship between God and humanity: ● First, God comes to us ● Then, hopefully, we go to God 2. We saw this pattern in revelation and faith, in the stories of creation and the Old Testament, and in the Annunciation event. ● Each time, God takes the initiative on our behalf (creating us, revealing Himself to us, proposing to become man in order to save us) ● And, when things go well, we respond to Him in love (we obey Him, accept His testimony through faith – or, in the case of Mary at the Annunciation, we consent to cooperate with His plan). B. Now it’s time to look at these two movements in a little more detail. 1. What was it actually like when God became man? What do the Gospel stories tell us about Jesus’ personal history? ● In other words, What does it look like for God to live a human life? 2. And what can we do, concretely, to respond to God’s initiative? How do we begin to live as Christians? Well, we’ll see, the Christian life starts with Baptism. a. So the second part of this presentation is about Baptism, and it answers the question, What does it look like for humans to live a divine life? So let’s see what happens when divinity and humanity are brought together, in Jesus Christ and in us. -
Jacob Benmosche Lieberman
Shabbat Shalom. Our Torah portion for this week is Parashat Vayishlach, in which we read about the journeys of our patriarch Jacob and his family after Jacob completes his service for Laban, his father-in-law. G-d commands Jacob to return to the home from which he fled many years before just after stealing his older brother Esau’s birthright as the first-born son of Isaac and Rebecca. Jacob and his family’s return will necessitate at the very least a meeting between Jacob and Esau, if not also a confrontation, since the two brothers had not seen each other since Jacob’s deception of their father robbed Esau of many privileges including the top spot in the family. Understandably, Jacob is afraid to face Esau and his anger. Jacob sends ahead a messenger to Esau to let him know of his return and learns that Esau is coming to meet him, along with 400 men. This exacerbates Jacob’s fear. He divides his family into two camps, with the hope that one will survive should Esau and the men attack. Bravely, Jacob plans to stand in front of his camp to lead them forward, but he doesn’t want to take it on the chin unless he absolutely has to. Before the brothers will meet, Jacob arranges for several messengers to greet Esau and appease him with many generous gifts. Jacob’s planning done for the big reunion ahead, he settles down to sleep for the night. In that sleep, what dreams may come. All night and near into the dawn, Jacob wrestles with a man who may just be an angel. -
Shalom Aleichem
Rosh Hashonah ראש־השנה 2013 / 5774 This High Holiday program was created by Boston Workmen’s Circle/Arbeter Ring 1762 Beacon Street Brookline, MA 02445-2124 617-566-6281 http://www.circleboston.org We gratefully thank countless sources and the many individuals who provided inspiring and thoughtful text, poems, art and music, contributing to this richly moving annual community event. 1 Sholom Aleykhem (Instrumental, followed by singing) Leshone Toyve. Welcome to the New Year, 5774. For thousands of years the Jewish people have celebrated the New Year with joy, hope, and thoughtful reflection. Today we are here to continue that tradition. The holidays of Rosh Hashonah and Yom Kippur provide time and space for self-examination and personal reflection. We are here to reflect on the year that has passed and open our hearts to the possibilities of the year to come. Today is a day of introspection and growth, of assessment and healing, of receptiveness and renewal. We evaluate and measure ourselves and our choices. We strive to take responsibility and to write our own destiny for the New Year. We ask: What has transpired this past year and what adjustments can we make to the next year individually, in our communities, and in the world? What do Rosh Hashonah and Yom Kippur mean to our community and to our families and ourselves? Today, we will consider these questions together, as a community. At this time, please turn and introduce yourself to someone sitting near you. If you are comfortable, join hands as we sing. Hiney Ma Tov (How Good and Pleasant It Is for People to Live Together in Unity) Hiney ma tov umanayim Shevet akhim gam yakhad Hiney ma tov umanayim Shevet akhim gam yakhad Hiney ma tov Shevet akhim gam yakhad Hiney ma tov Shevet akhim gam yakhad Oy vi gut un vi voyl es is Brider un shvester tsuzamen Oy vi gut un vi voyl es is Brider un shvester tsuzamen Oy vi voyl es iz Brider un shvester tsuzamen Oy vi voyl es iz Brider un shvester tsuzamen 2 The Names of the Holiday There are different names for the holiday we are celebrating today. -
Shalom: Peace, Not Just Peace of Mind Parashat Ki Tetze Rabbi Daniel Cotzin Burg, Beth Am 9.6.14 ~ 11 Elul 5774
Shalom: Peace, Not Just Peace of Mind Parashat Ki Tetze Rabbi Daniel Cotzin Burg, Beth Am 9.6.14 ~ 11 Elul 5774 This week I spent a day in Washington with thought-leaders, rabbis and policy analysts. We were speaking about Israel, America’s relationship with the Jewish state and the current deeply troubling state of affairs in the Middle East. The most surprising and powerful presentation of the day was that of Mosab Hassan Yousef, son of Sheikh Hassan Yousef, a founder and spiritual leader of Hamas. Given the events of this summer, it was particularly poignant to hear the heartfelt and courageous words of this young author and former Israeli asset (as he sat on the dais across from his Shin Bet handler). To even begin to conceive of such heroism, we almost have to transport ourselves into a different time – say Germany of the 1940s, when precious few righteous individuals resisted and acted against the scourge of Nazism. We might visit Rwanda or Cambodia, Darfur or America’s antebellum south. There are far too many examples in human history of pervasive, systematic violence and too few stories of those who made the hardest choices to turn against their fathers, brothers and their communities and attempt to salvage their dignity and humanity. Or perhaps we should roll the Torah back from its current location near the end, to a story near the very beginning whose hero, a simple man named Noah, is tzadik tamim haya b’dorotav, “a righteous man, blameless in his generation” (Gen. 6:9). I would argue it’s virtually impossible for us, most or all of us in this room, to know what it is like to live among the truly malevolent and depraved – a society so bad God sees no recourse but to erase it and start over. -
Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World
EJIW Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World 5 volumes including index Executive Editor: Norman A. Stillman Th e goal of the Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World is to cover an area of Jewish history, religion, and culture which until now has lacked its own cohesive/discreet reference work. Th e Encyclopedia aims to fi ll the gap in academic reference literature on the Jews of Muslims lands particularly in the late medieval, early modern and modern periods. Th e Encyclopedia is planned as a four-volume bound edition containing approximately 2,750 entries and 1.5 million words. Entries will be organized alphabetically by lemma title (headword) for general ease of access and cross-referenced where appropriate. Additionally the Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World will contain a special edition of the Index Islamicus with a sole focus on the Jews of Muslim lands. An online edition will follow aft er the publication of the print edition. If you require further information, please send an e-mail to [email protected] EJIW_Preface.indd 1 2/26/2009 5:50:12 PM Australia established separate Sephardi institutions. In Sydney, the New South Wales Association of Sephardim (NAS), created in 1954, opened Despite the restrictive “whites-only” policy, Australia’s fi rst Sephardi synagogue in 1962, a Sephardi/Mizraḥi community has emerged with the aim of preserving Sephardi rituals in Australia through postwar immigration from and cultural identity. Despite ongoing con- Asia and the Middle East. Th e Sephardim have fl icts between religious and secular forces, organized themselves as separate congrega- other Sephardi congregations have been tions, but since they are a minority within the established: the Eastern Jewish Association predominantly Ashkenazi community, main- in 1960, Bet Yosef in 1992, and the Rambam taining a distinctive Sephardi identity may in 1993. -
The Miracles of Jesus Christ As a Mode of Teaching
THE MIRACLES OF JESUS CHRIST AS A MODE OF TEACHING BRUCE M. METZGER 1. BIBLICAL MIRACLES IN GENERAL Before giving direct consideration to the subject itself, it will not be out of place to deal with certain preliminary matters regarding Biblical miracles in general. First of all, it may perhaps be appropriate to suggest a definition of a miracle. An old definition which will serve as a working hypothesis runs as follows: "A miracle is an event in the external world that is wrought by the immediate power of God." This definition, it should be pointed out, does not imply that other events a.re not attribut able to the power of God. On the contrary, we may believe that ordinary events depend ultimately on the power of God just as much as miracles do. There is this difference, however; in the case of ordinary events God uses means, what we call the order of nature, to bring those events to pass. But in the case of miracles, according to this definition, he does not rely upon secondary causes, but puts forth his creative power as he put it forth when first he made all things of nothing. With regard to the miracles in the Bible as a whole, some people have a quite mistaken notion. They imagine that the Bible is simply crowded with na.rratives of miraculous events; that almost every page of. the Bible tells of a miraculous act of God. Actually, however, this is far from being the case. In the Bible miracles are confined almost entirely to four periods of time, separated from each other by centuries. -
Miracles Published on Inters.Org (
Miracles Published on Inters.org (https://inters.org) Miracles Copyright © Interdisciplinary Encyclopedia of Religion and Science ISSN: 2037-2329 and the author. No part of this article may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted without the prior permission of the Editors. To refer to the content of this article, quote: INTERS – Interdisciplinary Encyclopedia of Religion and Science, edited by G. Tanzella-Nitti, I. Colagé and A. Strumia, www.inters.org Date: 2017 DOI: 10.17421/2037-2329-2002-GT-4 Giuseppe Tanzella-Nitti [1] I. The Religious Dimension and Christological Specificity of Miracles - II. The Miracles Related by the Gospels: Their Meaning and Historical Value 1. The Terminology of Miracles in Sacred Scripture 2. The Miracles of Jesus of Nazareth 3. The Historical Significance and Realism of the Miracles Reported by the Gospels - III. Miracles according to the Teaching of the Catholic Church - IV. Philosophical and Biblical Criticisms of the Possibility and Significance of Miracles 1. Spinoza, Hume, Voltaire, Bayle, Kant, the Young Hegelians and Contemporary Criticism by A. Flew 2. The Biblical Hermeneutics of Miracles and the Existential Value of Their Semiological Aspect: Blondel, Bultmann - V. The Natural Sciences and an Understanding of the Ontological Dimension of a Miracle 1. Miracle’s Possibility and its Recognition: Psychological, Ontological and Semiological Dimensions - 2. God’s Actions in Conformity with Nature, or against Nature, according to Thomas Aquinas - VI. Prospects and Guidelines for Theological Work – VII. The Presence and Reality of Miracles in the Experience of Faith 1. Do Miracles Happen Today? 2. The Evaluation of Miracles in the Canonical Procedure for the Canonization of Saints 3. -
The Divine Courtroom in Comparative Perspective
Book Reviews 167 his suggestion seems to be generally true, there are other statements from her suggesting that the Holy Spirit operates in various modes. He shows scenes, gives thoughts, provides explanations, revives the memory, suggests words, etc. Sometimes several modes operate simultaneously; at other times the Spirit only uses one mode (see, e.g., E. G. White, MS 31, 1889; idem, Letter 265, 1907; idem, Spiritual Gifts [Battle Creek, MI: Review & Herald, 1860], 2:292–93; idem, “Questions and Answers,” Review and Herald [Oct. 8, 1867], 260). Hence, Levterov’s distinction seems too static and absolute. Poking around in someone else’s work is always easier than making a substantial contribution oneself. Despite some minor flaws, Theodore Levterov’s book stands as a seminal contribution to Adventist scholarship and self-understanding. It provides deep insights into the early Seventh-day Adventist efforts and challenges in understanding Ellen White’s prophetic ministry, her role in the church, and the differences in scope and authority between her writings and the Bible as the ultimate rule of faith and practice. The historical development of the arguments illustrates how these challenges turned the attention of early Adventists to particular issues, provoking them to study and come to a better, more precise, and more realistic understanding of the prophetic gift. Levterov needs to be commended for his scholarly work, and his work is recommended to everyone interested in Ellen White studies or early Adventist studies. Berrien Springs, Michigan Denis Kaiser Mermelstein, Ari, and Shalom E. Holtz, eds. The Divine Courtroom in Comparative Perspective. Leiden: Brill, 2015. -
Shabbat Prayer Book
Welcoming Shabbat ,ca ,kce Beth Shir ShAlom Santa Monica, California Shabbat ,ca ,kce An artist is like God, but small. He can't see out of God’s creation, for it includes him. With the seas divided, all the animals named, and the sun and moon and stars set in their tracks, an artist spends his life not only wondering, but wanting to work like God with what he can command: his paints. He tries to copy God’s creations. He tries to shape beauty with his hand. He tries to make order out of nature. He tries to paint the thoughts and feelings in his mind. An artist is like God as God created him. Small, strong, and with limited days, his gift of breath is spent over his paintbox. Choosing and brushing his colors, he tries to make paint sing. — M.B. Goffstein Welcoming Shabbat - 1 - SHALOM ALEYCHEM ofhkg ouka 'iIhkg h f£tk©n ',¥r¨©v h f£tk©n 'ofh kg oIk¨J /tUv QUrC JIs¨E©v 'oh fk§N©v h fk©n Qk#¤N¦n 'iIhkg h f£tk©n 'oIk¨©v h f£tk©n 'oIk¨Jk of£tIC /tUv QUrC JIs¨E©v 'oh fk§N©v h fk©n Qk#¤N¦n ָרְ כנִ י f£tk©n 'oIk¨Jk f£tk©n 'oIk¨©v h iIhkg h' /tUv QUrC JIs¨E©v 'oh fk§N©v h fk©n Qk#¤N¦n 'iIhkg h f£tk©n 'oIk¨©v h f£tk©n 'oIk¨Jk of§,t m /tUv QUrC JIs¨E©v 'oh fk§N©v h fk©n Qk#¤N¦n Shalom a-ley-chem mal-a-chey ha-sha-reyt mal-a-chey el-yon, mi-me-lech mal-chey ham-la-chim Ha-Ka-dosh ba-ruch Hu. -
Gospel John Confronts, Indeed Bombards, the Reader with the Person of Jesus
INTRODUCTION Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:30-31) So concludes John’s gospel. After 20 chapters, his intent should hardly come as a surprise! From the very outset of his gospel John confronts, indeed bombards, the reader with the person of Jesus. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:1, 14) Look again at 20:30-31 and you will find the key words which reveal John’s plan as an evangelist-writer. Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples (which are not recorded in this book.) But these are written that you may believe 1that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. In John’s gospel the miracles of Jesus are called signs which are to produce belief which results in life. Everything in John’s 21 chapters is to this end. If one were to take an afternoon and read through all four gospels in the order we find them in our Bibles, John would stand out. -
Historical Evidence of Jesus' Miracles
Historical Evidence of Jesus’ Miracles © Robert J. Spitzer, S.J., Ph.D. – Magis Center – June 2015 Introduction Three historical events convinced the early Church that Jesus was not only the Messiah, but also who He said He was—the exclusive Son of the Father (whom the Church recognized as “the Son of God”): 1. His Resurrection—transformed in Divine Glory, 2. His gift of the Holy Spirit (through which the Apostles worked miracles in His name), 3. His miracles by His own authority during His ministry. We have discussed the evidence for Jesus’ Resurrection in Glory in a previous article on this landing page (“contemporary evidence for Jesus’ Resurrection”). In this article we will discuss the other two events—Jesus’ miracles (Section I) and Jesus’ gift of the Holy Spirit to the Apostles and the Church (Section II). I. Jesus’ Miracles For Jesus, miracles are not merely an indication of divine power; they are the initiation of God’s kingdom in the world. He performs miracles to vanquish evil and to bring the kingdom so that we may be saved. In this respect, Jesus’ ministry of exorcism, healing, and raising the dead is unique in the history of religions. In order to understand the significance of this unique ministry, we will consider four major areas of contemporary scholarship: 1. The Purpose and Distinctiveness of Jesus’ Miracles (Section I.A.). 2. A Brief Consideration of the Criteria of Historicity (Section I.B.). 3. The Historicity of Jesus’ Exorcisms and Healings (Section I.C.). 4. The Historicity of Jesus Raising the Dead (Section I.D.).