J. Brent Bill Religion Books
of the many pies which were baked
Chicken Soup for the Soul - Quaker style! Imagination and Spirit offers the "best of the best" by contemporary Quaker authors with a brief biography of each. Features work of Daisy Newman, Jessamyn West, Richard J. Foster, Douglas V. Steere, Thomas Mullen, D. Elton Trueblood, Elizabeth Gray Vining, Scott Russell Sanders, Irene Allen, Phil Gulley, James A. Michener, Thomas Kelly, Jan De Hartog, Elfrida Vipont Foulds, and David Yount.
People of all faiths and backgrounds are drawn to silence. We yearn for it in these busy and difficult times, but often, when silence becomes available, we don't know what to do with it. For centuries, Quakers have taught that when we are silent, God grants us insights, guidance, and spiritual understanding that is different from what we might realize in our noisy, everyday lives. This wise book invites us to discover this and other unique gifts of the Quaker way. It is a satisfying experience and taste of a spiritual tradition unflinching in its dedication to listening for the sounds and voice of God."A quietly lovely book in a hasty, clanging world. Holy Silence is a cooling balm." -Philip Gulley, author of the best-selling Home to Harmony series
Provides insight into the Quaker custom of mindful seeing, explaining how to find God's light in people and the everyday things of the world.
Offers a fresh and deeper way to live a God-directed life that eschews simple spiritual solutions and takes believers to the deepest, most soulful parts of their being, leading them into a way of moving through life with purpose and promise.
Offering a fresh and deeper way to live a God-directed life that eschews simple spiritual solutions, this volume explains that discernment is unique to each person. The text leads the reader into a life of continuous experiences of God and of transformation.
Perhaps you've been missing out. God has given us five senses and a brain with two sides. Yet we often approach God in one way only: through words that are analyzed and processed logically in our left brain. The right brain, however, is the creative, intuitive center--the place that connects most to our seeing, smelling, touching, tasting and hearing, and that roots experiences in our hearts in transforming ways.In Awaken Your Senses, longtime ministers Beth Booram and Brent Bill invite you to engage your right brain in your faith through sensory spiritual practices that position your heart for divine encounter. Readings and a variety of exercises that utilize your whole body lead you to experience God in new ways by tasting chocolate, words, matzoh, Scripture, forgiveness seeing the moon, wisdom, art, glory, your best self touching others, stones, prayers, rubble, Jesus hearing silence, music, pain, footsteps, the Spirit, the news smelling gardenias, life, salty air, home, healing oil, coffee Teaching you to pay attention in love to your surroundings, Booram and Bill will help you open your eyes and ears and nose to a sensuous faith--one in which God can be experienced each day as we live and move and have our being.So whether you're weary, stuck, struggling, growing or on information-overload, the exercises and reflections offered here can bring refreshment--a cold drink of water, a gentle breeze--to your soul. Come experience God with all of who you are, and discover more of who he is.
Do you long for deeper communion with God? Spiritual director Jennie Isbell and Quaker minister Brent Bill know how easy it is to lapse into repetitious refrains of prayer: "Our hearts told us that we had lapsed into easy God speak. We weren't reaching deep into our spirits and drawing out living words of praise, confession, concern, intercession and longing. We were tired of speaking in clipped shorthand to God. We wanted to pray in such a way that we showed up with our whole selves." If you have experienced a similar longing, come join the authors on this prayer journey into the deep waters of the Spirit. This book offers companionship and guidance as you begin to notice, consider and deepen your prayer experiences, with refreshing exercises sprinkled through every chapter to offer you a fresh language for prayer. Find God here―in the nouns and the verbs of your conversation.
On quick observation, the Quaker lifestyle boasts peace, solitude, and simplicity?qualities that are attractive to any believer of any denomination or religion. Yet living a life of faith is not as simple as it may look. In fact, it?s often characterized more by the stumbles than the grace.?When someone asks me what kind of Christian I am,? says Quaker author J. Brent Bill, ?I say I?m a bad one. I?ve got the belief part down pretty well, I think. It?s in the practice of my belief in everyday life where I often miss the mark.? In Life Lessons from a Bad Quaker, a self-professed non-expert on faith invites readers on a joyful exploration of the faith journey?perfection not required. With whimsy, humor, and wisdom, Bill shows readers how to put faith into practice to achieve a life that is soulfully still yet active, simple yet satisfying, peaceful yet strong.
Do you long to live the abundant life that Jesus promised his followers? If so, then you will want to weave the threads of beauty, truth, life, and love into the tapestry of your life. When these essentials are each present in some measure in our relationships, ministries, vocations, and life choices, then we are more likely to find ourselves living a good and abundant life with God.
This book invites all people of faith to consider how our personal and communal faith practices in growing deeper spirituality should bring us to a fresh engagement with the needs of this world. This includes being active in promoting those values which align with our understanding of the gospel and standing against injustice, oppression, and evil inflicted on any of God's children. Such activism, rooted in deep spirituality, may include being what Quaker civil rights activist Bayard Rustin called “angelic troublemakers.”