Don E Saliers

The United Methodist Church is at a crossroads, and nothing is more important than reclaiming our sacramental distinctiveness in times of great divisiveness. This book takes a fresh look at Wesley's core teachings on the Lord's Supper, letting each unique feature of Wesley's communion theology become a lens to navigate troubled waters. The author explores the historical background of each characteristic, finds evidence in writings of John and Charles Wesley, and applies them to the struggles of present-day United Methodism. He concludes with signs of life emerging in divisive and uncertain times, as people come back to the table to move forward into the future.

Discover how the Psalms can speak powerfully to today's church, offering lyrical theology that shapes prayer, reflection, preaching, and worship. This volume in the Belief series explores how the Psalms speak as lyrical theology in today's world. Drawing on the Psalter's genres of praise and lament, the Psalms' reception in Christian tradition, and their range of musical settings, Kris Kvam and Don Saliers show how the Psalms can teach, comfort, and challenge the church. Giving the biblical tradition a liberationist pulse, this commentary provides pastors with a practical guide for engaging the lectionary Psalm readings and bringing the richness and depth of these ancient texts into contemporary preaching and ministry. Additionally, this volume is useful beyond the pulpit, serving teachers, worship leaders, spiritual seekers, and students interested in the Psalms as a theological, cultural, and liturgical resource. The Belief series offers a fresh and invigorating approach to the Bible. Building on a wide range of sources, noted scholars provide a theologically focused commentary that considers the contemporary relevance of the texts for those who preach and lead. This series is an invaluable resource for those who want to ponder the deep theological meaning of biblical books for Christians and their communities today.

We in mainline churches are uneasy, maybe even scared. Why are our voices not heard? After all, we are the reasonable Christians, the updated Christians, the respectable ones who have dominated the cultural landscape since colonial times. This book presumes that trying to reverse the loss of our traditional status in society is both futile and beside the point. What's called for when we find ourselves in a state of crisis is to rediscover the big picture, the Christian hope projected on a large screen. This requires the courage to revisit the sources from which all Christian hope springs, rediscovering their life-giving power. That power rises from the counterintuitive affirmations of the gospel represented in Christ's incarnation; his healing the afflicted; his raising the dead; his vulnerability; his cross, resurrection, and "universal restoration" (Acts 3:21). Preaching and worship that embodies and lifts up the hard parts, the life-giving parts, is neither fundamentalist nor an exercise in nostalgia. It is rather evidence of confidence in the triune God who makes the unknowable known. The Good Shepherd promised: "My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me" (John 10:27). And when they do, they will.

We in mainline churches are uneasy, maybe even scared. Why are our voices not heard? After all, we are the reasonable Christians, the updated Christians, the respectable ones who have dominated the cultural landscape since colonial times. This book presumes that trying to reverse the loss of our traditional status in society is both futile and beside the point. What's called for when we find ourselves in a state of crisis is to rediscover the big picture, the Christian hope projected on a large screen. This requires the courage to revisit the sources from which all Christian hope springs, rediscovering their life-giving power. That power rises from the counterintuitive affirmations of the gospel represented in Christ's incarnation; his healing the afflicted; his raising the dead; his vulnerability; his cross, resurrection, and universal restoration (Acts 3:21). Preaching and worship that embodies and lifts up the hard parts, the life-giving parts, is neither fundamentalist nor an exercise in nostalgia. It is rather evidence of confidence in the triune God who makes the unknowable known. The Good Shepherd promised: My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me (John 10:27). And when they do, they will.

Hospital and hospice chaplains are expected to assist individuals and families face the reality of their mortality via a gentle, calming presence. To the greatest extent possible, chaplains help people die with an awareness of being loved, of loving and forgiving, and of gratitude for the life they have lived. But terminal agitation and spiritual distress are common components of the final stage of life. How do professional chaplains honor and attend to each individual's spiritual/religious needs to the best of their abilities in the days preceding death? This book explores that critical question.

Hospital and hospice chaplains are expected to assist individuals and families face the reality of their mortality via a gentle, calming presence. To the greatest extent possible, chaplains help people die with an awareness of being loved, of loving and forgiving, and of gratitude for the life they have lived. But terminal agitation and spiritual distress are common components of the final stage of life. How do professional chaplains honor and attend to each individual's spiritual/religious needs to the best of their abilities in the days preceding death? This book explores that critical question.

This book presents a relatively brief but highly engaging essay on the major concerns and questions regarding Worship as it intersects with theology - past and present. Don Saliers is a senior scholar in this field, one who is able to address in a clear and concise style the scope and contours of this question as it relates to theological inquiry and application. He will sketch the nature and significance of the subject, the history of reflection, the current lines of inquiry, and his own contribution to the discussion. The scope of the essays cannot be exhaustive and completely interdisciplinary. Instead, Saliers will open the broader lines of discussion in suggestive, evocative, and programmatic ways. "The Horizons in Theology" serve as supplements and secondary required texts in colleges and seminaries, as well as the interested nonspecialist reader.

This resource displays the variety of ways in which the Wesleys' concept of 'the religion of the heart' (that is, the affective dimension of Christian faith) has been understood and embodied in the Methodist tradition. The author then offers some practical suggestions on how a livelier piety, a more deeply felt faith, can be fostered in local congregations, without leading into anti-intellectualism, fanatical emotionalism or maudlin sentimentality. This part approaches theology, worship, preaching, pastoral care, and educational ministry.

What makes Christian worship both true and relevant to ever-changing human circumstances? How can our gathering about the Scriptures, the Table of the Lord, and the waters of baptism shape and express authentic Christian faith in the world of everyday life? In this book, Don Saliers finds a fresh way of answering these questions by exploring four "senses" of God: awe, delight, truth, and hope. Why are wonderment, surprise, truthfulness, and expectancy so often missing or diminished in Christian liturgy today, whether Protestant or Roman Catholic, "high church" or "low church", "traditional" or "contemporary"? These are essential qualities of both worship and life. Saliers contends that we are still restless for communion with God, and suggests how these essentials may be rediscovered by every worshiping congregation. At stake are the means of grace received from Christ, attested to in the Scriptures and shown in every faithful worshiping assembly.

In Worship As Theology, Don Saliers discusses how worship is both theological (God-centered) and anthropological (embodied and embedded in specific human and cultural contexts). He illuminates worship as a theology "prayed, sung, and enacted." At the same time--by focusing upon specific dimensions of liturgical action such as praising, thanking, invoking, confessing, proclaiming, interceding, and blessing--he addresses the differences between the liturgical/sacramental and the "free-church"/evangelical church traditions. Underlying Saliers' approach is his basic conviction that Christian liturgy is an eschatological art. Theological integrity in worship, he asserts, calls for a permanent tension in the forms and patterns which reflect the "already" and "not yet" of Christian life in the world for the sake of the world. Worship As Theology, therefore, begins and ends with the eschatology of the divine promise, that the church's cry is still "Come, Lord Jesus!" and that God's will be done on earth "as in heaven."

The New Handbook of the Christian Year: Second Edition, by Hoyt L. Hickman, Don E. Saliers, Laurence Hull Stookey, and James F. White. Lectionary, prayers, responses, and Communion services updated for consistency with books of worship from several denominations. Includes: glossary of Christian symbols, glossary of liturgical terms, annotated bibliography, index of Scripture readings, index of Psalms, and an ecumenical service for the sacrament of the Lord's Supper."