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]

Christians and Politics Amare Tabor  The idea of Christians engaging in politics has never been a popular or a noncontroversial one. There were times when the church got too involved in politics and lost her prophetic voice or withdrew altogether from engaging in issues of social justice. Ethiopian evangelicals have always looked on politics with wary eyes. Interestingly, those outside the Christian community never fail to censure Christians for participating in politics - except when they need them on their side! So where is the balance? How does Jesus' instruction that Christians are 'in' the world but not 'of' the world translate in practical terms? How could Christians play a role in the political process without compromising their witness? Or to state positively, How could Christians bring to bear their faith values on social policy issues? We believe those and similar questions could be tackled intelligently and with grace. We appreciate brother Amare Tabor f

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day. And God said, "Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water." So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. God called the expanse "sky." And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day. And God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear." And it was so. God called the dry ground "land," and the gathered waters he called "seas.&quo

Pope says African church must oppose 'toxic waste' of materialism Source: By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service Africans must tap into the strengths of their cultural and religious values to promote reconciliation on the continent and to resist the "spiritual toxic waste" spread by the West, Pope Benedict XVI said.Presiding Oct. 4 over the opening Mass for the special Synod of Bishops for Africa, Pope Benedict said the vocation of the Catholic Church on the continent is to work for peace and to promote the holiness that will lead to justice, strong families and care for the weakest members of African societies.Although there was a sprinkling of the languages spoken most in Africa, the major part of the Mass in St. Peter's Basilica was in Latin or Italian, including the pope's homily. The Mass booklets used by the congregation and concelebrants were illustrated with sacred art from Congo, Togo, Burundi and Ethiopia . Accompanied by guitars and drums, a