The Ethiopian Church Journal Blog

Bless the Lord, my soul; all my being, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, my soul; do not forget all the gifts of God, who pardons all your sins, heals all your ills, delivers your life from the pit, surrounds you with love and compassion, fills your days with good things; your youth is renewed like the eagle's. The Lord does righteous deeds, brings justice to all the oppressed. His ways were revealed to Moses, mighty deeds to the people of Israel. Merciful and gracious is the Lord, slow to anger, abounding in kindness. God does not always rebuke, nurses no lasting anger, has not dealt with us as our sins merit, nor requited us as our deeds deserve. As the heavens tower over the earth, so God's love towers over the faithful. As far as the east is from the west, so far have our sins been removed from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on the faithful. For he knows how we are formed, remembers that we are dust. Our days are like the grass

Churches in the developed world are becoming more and more market-oriented, private, personality-driven and democratic. There is an attempt to practice spirituality without the Holy Spirit, without the Bible as the final authority, and without submitting to the lordship of the resurrected and living Jesus Christ. This is a recipe for cold religion. By contrast, are churches in the Global South 'over-heated'? Are they indiscriminately adopting marketized religion? What should happen to remain faithful to the life and teachings of Jesus and His church? And what are the consequences of not being faithful? Here is a case from Germany. Ed. Germany's 'Cold Religion' A Berlin-based journalist says that Martin Luther would have driven most of Germany's bishops from their pulpits. Source: CT Bon Jovi, Mikhail Gorbachev, and Hillary Clinton will appear at the $7.4 million bash recognizing the 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall coming down, but Berlin-based journalist Ma

Billy Graham on his 91st birthday shares wisdom Source: The Tennessean/November 7, 2009 Q : There are many preachers who burn out early, because they've got to work two jobs in order to make ends meet, or who labor for years with little results, or who would rather start a new church than pastor an older small church. What advice do you have for preachers who are just starting out or who have reached the burnout point? A : Some churches, I'm afraid, don't realize just how stressful a pastor's job can be. We need to pray for our pastors, and congregational leaders especially need to be alert to the problems their pastors face and do what they can to help them and encourage them. The first thing I often tell a new pastor or missionary is to stay close to Christ. God called them into the ministry, and He alone can give them the wisdom and strength they'll need, by His Holy Spirit. It's easy to get so busy in the ministry that we fail to spend time alone with God

Ethiopian flute "To what then shall I compare the men of this generation, and what are they like? They are like children sitting in the market place and calling to one another, `We piped to you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not weep.' For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine; and you say, `He has a demon.' The Son of man has come eating and drinking; and you say, `Behold, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' Yet wisdom is justified by all her children." [ Parable of Jesus, Gospel of Luke 7:31-35]