Category Archives: Jesus Christ

Latest course in our Introducing the Book of Common Prayer series: Crossing Thresholds with Roger Ferlo and Suzann Holding

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Crossing Thresholds is an insightful and helpful reminder that life is a journey and that God — and our church — are with us every step of the way.  We are born, perhaps we fall in love, we sin, we get sick, we die, we return to God.  And in all of these, there are powerful words and actions to commemorate, to honor, to recognize, and to invite God’s blessing and presence.ferlo and holding

The Prayer Book serves as an invaluable resource for marking important milestones like baptism, marriage, reconciliation, marriage, sickness, and death – referred to as the ‘Pastoral Offices.’  In this course Roger Ferlo lectures on baptism and matrimony, explaining the theological foundations of these important rites.  Suzann Holding walks us through confession, prayer for the sick, and the practical theology surrounding end of life issues and liturgies.  You’ll leave this course with an enriched understanding of both the purpose and the content of these holy rites.

Click here to register or for more information.

This course is the seventh in an 8-part series called Introducing the Book of Common Prayer. The next course will be launching in the coming weeks, so stay tuned. This series is brought to us by our partners at Bexley Seabury Federation, an Episcopal center for learning and development. Bexley offers online and in-person classes for everyone at its Chicago, IL and Columbus, OH campuses. For more information visit www.bexleyseabury.edu.

Living A Spirit-Filled Life with Fr. Albert Cutie Touches Hearts

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“Fr. Albert hits another home run!” ~Jim F.cutie

“I love his class!”  ~Sara M.

“The course was great. I learned a great deal, mostly about myself. Thank you!” ~Nancy F.

We are thrilled once again with the richness, wisdom, and inspiration of The Big Class, this time taught by Father Albert Cutie on how to make the Holy Spirit part of your everyday life.  Nearly 1,000 people from 21 countries took the course. 14% of those who answered our survey said the course had a major impact on their spiritual lives, and countless snippets of profound insight and grace arose during the discussions:

  • In response to a question about how the Holy Spirit helps us become God’s new Temple, one participant wrote, “We are the place where people are reconciled to God and to each other. It reminds me of the way Jesus connected the gift of the Holy Spirit with the power and responsibility of forgiving sins. In our lives, we can live that powerful promise of forgiveness. We can model the possibility of repentance, of returning to God and knowing that we will be received. We can be icons and signs of reconciliation/healing. We can live in our lives what used to be done in the Temple. In this way of living, heaven and earth touch, and we get a glimpse of God.”
  • In response to a question about what “living in community means to you,” one respondent wrote, “Living in community is so much more than church to me. It means doing my part, wherever I am and allowing others to do theirs. If I am a part of the Body of Christ, I am that wherever I am. I can’t very well leave that part of me at home when I go to the grocery store.”
  • A question about how to define “openness to the Holy Spirit” yielded this comment: “Openness means removing the barriers that we put in place to keep God out because we don’t want to relinquish control.” And another participant wrote, “Openness to me is a matter of mindset — an intentional placing of one’s self on the potter’s wheel and a submission to being formed. In this crazy modern life, the problem is not one of understanding so much as distraction.”

We are so grateful to be able to provide these courses to a worldwide audience for free. A huge thank you to our sponsors, Bexley Seabury, The Episcopal Church, The Episcopal Diocese of Southeast Florida, Logos Bible Software, and Forward Movement.

Now that the worldwide class is complete, the course is open to all for $10 or $15/month for individual subscribers – or if your congregation is a subscriber, you may now add it to your congregation’s online school. Click here for more information or to register for Living a Spirit-Filled Life.

Latest in our Introducing The Book of Common Prayer series: Creeds and Commitments

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In Creeds and Commitments, the Rev. Dr. Jason Fout invites us to think a bit about the beliefs and doubts that inform our Church and our own faith journeys.  What is a creed? Why do statements of faith matter? How and where do we find these in the Book of Common Prayer?

Jason begins by asking us to consider what we mean by belief and why it matters; he then delves into the history of the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds as well as some other key fouthistorical commitments.  He closes by inviting us to examine what we believe about belief itself; he reminds us that belief is a matter of commitment and, like any other significant commitment, necessarily involves doubt.  These doubts and beliefs are what make our Church — and our very selves — what they are today.

This course is the fifth in an 8-part series called Introducing the Book of Common Prayer. The next three courses will be launching in the coming weeks, so stay tuned. This series is brought to us by our partners at Bexley Seabury Federation, an Episcopal center for learning and development. Bexley offers online and in-person classes for everyone at its Chicago, IL and Columbus, OH campuses. For more information visit www.bexleyseabury.edu.

Registration is now open for The Big Class with Father Albert Cutie

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Living a Spirit-Filled Life

“God speaks in the silence of the heart.” ~ Mother Teresa

cutieThis Pentecost, join thousands of students around the world to learn how to live a Spirit-filled life. Students can begin registering today to take the course for free anytime between June 8 – 15. Click here to register and learn more.

Fr. Albert Cutie, New York Times bestselling author, talk show host, and Episcopal priest in Southeast Florida, will teach “The Big Class.” The course will expand on Fr. Cutie’s books and sermons that focus on how we bring God into our everyday lives. This course follows the tremendous success of Bishop Michael Curry’s January class, “How to Be a Crazy Christian” for which 3,000 students from 30 countries registered.

Fr. Cutie will also moderate the course and answer online questions during the week of The Big Class. Participants can take the class anytime during the week of June 8-15 at churchnext.tv. The course takes about 45 minutes to complete and need not be taken in one sitting. No special software is required. Click here for organizational materials for congregations who wish to take the class together.  Click here for a preview clip of the course on YouTube.

Throughout Living a Spirit-Filled Life, students are encouraged to think about and to experience the Holy Spirit and its meaning for their lives. “We are living in one of the most anxious times in history,” writes Fr. Cutie. “Dramatic changes are everywhere – technology, communications, relationships – and the pace of this change has many of us reeling in anxiety.  This means many of us find it difficult to find God, even though we know God is there. A Spirit-filled life is the life in which we can let go and let God.” The Big Class will help Christians deepen their commitment to follow the Spirit and proclaim the love of God in their lives and communities.

The Big Class is a worldwide initiative in open online learning for all who want to go further in their walk with Christ and is free to everyone, everywhere, thanks to the support of Bexley Seabury, The Episcopal Church, The Episcopal Diocese of Southeast Florida, Logos Bible Software, and Forward Movement.

 

Part 2 of The Book of Common Prayer: Spirituality of the Prayer Book

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What is the Spirituality of the Book of Common Prayer?  How does it inform people’s lives and beliefs as members of the worldwide Anglican Communion, as Christians in general?  Whether you’re a lifelong Episcopalian, a newcomer to the denomination, or a member of another faith tradition, you’ll find much of interest and much worthy of thought in this new course. Click here to learn more and sign up for this course.

After all, when the crafters of the Book of Common Prayer (BCP) set out to assemble an accessible guide to prayer and liturgy they were also intentional about putting together a resource that could shape disciples for a lifetime. Karl Ruttan

In this course, spiritual director, teacher, and writer Karl Ruttan shows us how the Book of Common Prayer can be used to deepen our spiritual lives. It’s called ‘The Spirituality of the Book of Common Prayer.’  Karl begins by telling us how the BCP serves as a handbook for holiness.  He then walks us through its origins in Benedictine spirituality. He also shows us how to use the Daily Offices, or daily prayer liturgies for morning and evening prayer. Karl ends by showing us how we might use the Baptismal Covenant as a foundation for a rule of life.

This course is the second in an 8-part series called Introducing the Book of Common Prayer. The next six courses will be launching in the coming weeks, so stay tuned. This series is brought to us by our partners at Bexley Seabury Theological Federation, an Episcopal center for learning and development. Bexley offers online and in-person classes for everyone at its Chicago, IL and Columbus, OH campuses. For more information visit www.bexleyseabury.edu.

Join us!

New Course: Making Sense of the Cross Part III: Theories of the Cross, with David Lose

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davidloseWhatever we say about the cross, we are also saying about God. So what does the cross mean? What can it tell us about God? How can it help us approach, understand, and know God better? In Part III of this three-part series, David Lose introduces us to the three most popular theories, or ways of understanding the Cross, that Christians have turned to through the years.

This online course is based on the Augsburg Fortress DVD-based curriculum of the same name, so if you’ve experienced that teaching, this will be very familiar.

In this six-part class Dr. Lose walks us through:

  •  The Ancient Theory Explained
  • The Ancient Theory Evaluated
  • The Substitution Theory Explained
  • The Substitution Theory Evaluated
  • The Love Theory Explained
  • The Love Theory Evaluated

This is a pre-recorded online course that will take an average learner about an hour to work through. You can pause the class at any time and return to pick it up later.

This is the third of three courses in the the online learning version of Making Sense of the Cross series. Part One is called Experience and the Cross. Part Two is called The Bible and the Cross. None of these videos is downloadable, however there are text files included with the classes that you may download.

If you would rather purchase the 6-part Augsburg Fortress DVD-based series, click here.

For more information and to register, click here: Making Sense of the Cross III:  Theories of the Cross

 

Available Now: Making Sense of the Cross Part Two: The Cross and The Bible, with David Lose

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Whatever we say about the Cross, we’re also saying about God.  And yet far more people are puzzled about the Cross than would claim to understand it. In this second of his three-part Church Next course called Making Sense of the Cross, author, theologian, and pastor David Lose helps us understand what the Bible can teach us about the Cross. For more information about Making Sense of the Cross Part II, click here.

davidloseThis online course is based on the Augsburg Fortress DVD-based curriculum of the same name, so if you’ve experienced that teaching, this will be very familiar.

This class includes six lessons:

  • A Man Hanging on a Tree
  • Why Four Gospels?
  • Matthew and the Cross
  • Mark and the Cross
  • Luke and the Cross
  • John and the Cross

This course helps us understand how each of the gospels can teach us something new about the Cross and about God; it is perfect for newcomers and lifelong Christians alike.

If you would rather purchase the 6-part Augsburg Fortress DVD-based series, click here.

Again, for more information and to register for Making Sense of the Cross Part II, click here.

New Course: How to be a Crazy Christian

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This last week, we launched our first free, online course called The Big Class with Bishop CurryBishop Michael Curry. This class will be open on Wednesday for you to take or to add to your own schools. It would be a great course to do in a lead up to Lent, during Lent, or even in Easter as it talks about what it means to follow Jesus and what it means to be a Crazy Christian.

You can find the class here!

This is a course with a warning label: All who enter here, expect to be transformed. Episcopal bishop Michael Curry is an inspiring and enthusiastic reformer with a clear call to reinvigorate the Church. Many people have experienced Christ’s transforming power through Bishop Curry’s ministry.

Garrison Keillor once said going to church makes someone a Christian about as much as sitting in a garage makes someone a Chevrolet. Bishop Michael Curry, of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina has a heart for reawakening believers to the tremendous gift and challenge of giving our all to follow Jesus. His term for this kind of person is a Crazy Christian.

In this 45 minute class, Bishop Curry will tell us:

  • What Is a Crazy Christian?
  • Why Being a Crazy Christian is Easy – and Hard
  • Habits of a Crazy Christian
  • Giving Yourself Permission

This course is ideal for those who are looking to be encouraged and challenged in their Christian faith.

Bishop Michael Curry serves as the Bishop of North Carolina in the Episcopal Church, and is a popular speaker and writer. His most recent book is Crazy Christians: A Call to Follow Jesus.

New Course: Who is Jesus?

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Jason FoutJesus wrote no books, built no empires, nor left us so much as an image of himself – yet his life has impacted the world more than any other.

Who is Jesus? Ask ten people and you may get 11 answers… In this thought-provoking course theologian and seminary instructor Jason Fout persuasively argues that the best way to begin is through the resurrection.

Who was this man and how can we best get to know him?

In this course author, priest, and teacher Jason Fout suggests four helpful lenses in which to view Christ:

  • Resurrection
  • Teaching
  • Atonement
  • Incarnation

This class is appropriate for people who are new to the Christian faith as well as seasoned believers who are looking for new insights into this engaging topic.

Find out more about this course, Who is Jesus.