Nurturing Spirituality

Be brave. Be strong. Don't give up. Expect God to get here soon. Psalm 31

How does God define bravery? Certainly not like the world. One of my favorite movies, for all of you great-grandfathers out there, is Lonely are the Brave, from 1960, starring Kirk Douglas, Walter Matthau, Carroll O' Connor, John Cassavettes and Gena Rowland, among others. It is a metaphorical story about the last cowboy who refuses to accept the terms of a world where cars and laws replaced horses and cunning. For most of my life I thought this movie epitomized what it meant to be brave, and to be free.

But God calls us to a different type of bravery. He  calls us to give up not only what the world wants, but what we think we want. He is, after all, the God of love, and while he is perfect in everything, his greatest creation is love. His love is best seen in how he cares for us, how he connects us to him through each other, and most of all, how he does this through his son. What is bravery from God's perspective? Each and every day he waits for each of us to walk with him and love each other through him. This bravery is not solitary, apart from everyone and everything, but connected to each other through his spirit of love.

Nurturing Audio & Video

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Reflections to Consider

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Nurturing Publications

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Publications

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Nurturing Music

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Music

  • Jesus be the centre

    Center is a song that speaks of the essence of our life in Christ, and echoes the words the Christ Read More
  • I Lift My Hands

    A powerful hymn of adoration and praise Arkansas Gospel Mass Choir. This succinctly captures the joy of knowing our savior. Read More
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Nurturing Reflection

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Audio & Video

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Favorites

  • Transforming this World: The Hope of Glory by NT Wright +

    Wright confronts the perspective that this world doesn’t matter, and that we live only to be in heaven. He shows Read More
  • What is Good in a World that Defies Hope: a talk by NT Wright +

    This is the second part of three talks by NT Wright at Harvard University in November, 2008 on the topic Read More
  • The Stream, the Lake and the River: NT Wright +

      Acts 2.1-21; John 7.37-39; a sermon at the Eucharist on the Feast of Pentecost, 11 May 2008, by the Read More
  • Jesus in the Perfect Storm by NT Wright +

    Zechariah 9.9-17; Luke 19.28-48; A sermon for Palm Sunday, April 17, 2011, In the University Chapel of St Salvator, St Read More
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Hidden Blessings

  • Christ is a Great Savior: a review of the movie Amazing Grace +

    Amazing Grace is a historical drama about William Wilberforce who was elected to British Parliament at the age of 21 Read More
  • Wilberforce, Hollywood's Amazing Grace, Charlotte Allen +

    William Wilberforce's relentless campaign eventually led the British Parliament to ban the slave trade, in 1807, and to pass a Read More
  • Making Beauty out of Ugly Things: Grace by U2 +

    Grace, she takes the blame She covers the shame Removes the stain It could be her name Grace, she carries Read More
  • The True Nature of Grace and Love: a movie review of the Soloist +

    The 2009 movie The Soloist is based on a book by the same name, written by Los Angeles Times columnist Read More
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