A rich and soul-searching novel about an Iranian-American girl whose enigmatic father has decided to arrange her marriage. Jasmine Fahroodhi has always been fascinated by her enigmatic Iranian father. With his strange habits and shrouded past, she can't fathom how he ended up marrying her prim American mother. But lately love in general feels just as incomprehensible. After a disastrous romance sends her into a tailspin, causing her to fail out of college just shy of graduation, a conflicted Jasmine returns home without any idea where her life is headed. Her father has at least one idea—he has big plans for a hastegar, an arranged marriage. Confused, furious, but intrigued, Jasmine searches for her match, meeting suitor after suitor with increasingly disastrous (and humorous) results. As she begins to open herself up to the mysteries of familial and romantic love, Jasmine discovers the truth about her father, and an even more evasive figure—herself—in this highly original and striking debut novel.

Learn to Live and Lead a Life of Authentic Worship The Way of Worship is a practical, hands-on guide for readers seeking to better equip themselves as worshipers and worship leaders. Written by veteran worship leader Michael Neale and worship-theologian Dr. Vernon M. Whaley, this book combines skillful storytelling and biblical wisdom to help guide readers through the scriptural foundations and essential practices of worship. This book is ideal for anyone wanting a deeper more biblical understanding of what worship truly is, including: Worship leaders Pastors Youth pastors Worship team members College or seminary students training for ministry Each chapter takes you on a journey of discovery through different important facets of worship. Each chapter features: River Story: Episodes in each chapter take you on a white-water rafting adventure and draw connections to the role of a worship leader Biblical Application: Provides concrete application of biblical principles to worship based on the most recent episode of the River Story Essential Wisdom: Addresses important issues facing worship leaders on a week-to-week basis Scripture Focused: Every chapter features an abundance of relevant Scripture passages to help you understand what the Bible really says about worship Engaging, wise, and thoroughly steeped in Scripture, The Way of Worship is the go-to guide for Christians who desire to live and lead authentic worship.

Designed to empower preachers as they lead their congregations to connect their lives to Scripture, Connections features a broad set of interpretive tools that provide commentary and worship aids on the Revised Common Lectionary. For each worship day within the three-year lectionary cycle, the commentaries in Connections link the individual lection reading with Scripture as a whole as well as to the larger world. In addition, Connections places each Psalm reading in conversation with the other lections for the day to highlight the themes of the liturgical season. Finally, sidebars offer additional connections to Scripture for each Sunday or worship day. This nine-volume series is a practical, constructive, and valuable resource for preachers who seek to help congregations connect more closely with Scripture. This volume covers Year A for Lent through Pentecost.

Providing a personal, informed and cultural perspective on rites of passage for general readers, this text illustrates the power of rites to help us navigate life's troublesome transitions.

In search of a way to worship that is relevant today and into the twenty-first century, Moeller proposes an approach based on the "great commandment" to love God and one's neighbor as oneself. With special attention to the time, space, sounds, sights, touches, and symbols that form the context of every worship service, she argues for a collaborative approach to the worship service in which the participants are involved from preparation to celebration. Illustrating this highly evocative, thoroughly feminist theology of worship is a sample service that pays particular attention to how the process and design of worship impact the experience of the worshipers.

A necessary task of missionaries in recent decades has been to help local Christians "inculturate" or "contextualize" their faith, although the criteria for doing so often came from outside the context in which new believers developed their understanding of Christianity. Highlighting the voices of non-Western scholars, this work recognizes the importance of ritual and ceremony in the life of communities that seek to worship God in ways that reflect culturally appropriate responses to Scripture. The contributors -- some of missiology's leading lights -- discuss rituals, beliefs, and practices of diverse peoples, supporting the conclusion that orthodox Christianity is hybrid Christianity.