This comprehensive guide to performing wedding ceremonies is provided by the Universal Life Church to it's worldwide family of ministers. This guide includes information on getting ordained, detailed descriptions of common ceremony elements, a variety of sample scripts, and information about the legal responsibilities of wedding officiants.

By the Power vested in me..is a Guide on how to celebrate/officiate a wedding ceremony. It includes information, forms, agreements, bridal party logistics, and step by step instructions, from the first meeting with the couple to the filing of the official documents with the court. Wedding etiquette, traditions, and personal experiences of the author are included. If you are officiating your first wedding, or you have been officiating weddings for many years, you will find this a helpful Guide.

Readers are given all the information they need to write and officiate a personalized and meaningful wedding ceremony, including: The meanings behind each traditional element of a wedding ceremony; A large collection of spiritual and non-spiritual wording examples; Several sample wedding and renewal ceremonies; A worksheet to help you easily compose your ceremony; Ideas for including extra personal touches; Clear information on who can legally perform your ceremony; Instructions for obtaining your marriage license; Steps to becoming ordained; Advice on selecting the right Officiant; Information on filing the paperwork to make your wedding legal.

“Worth a read for anyone who cares about making change happen.”—Barack Obama A powerful new blueprint for how governments and nonprofits can harness the power of digital technology to help solve the most serious problems of the twenty-first century As the speed and complexity of the world increases, governments and nonprofit organizations need new ways to effectively tackle the critical challenges of our time—from pandemics and global warming to social media warfare. In Power to the Public, Tara Dawson McGuinness and Hana Schank describe a revolutionary new approach—public interest technology—that has the potential to transform the way governments and nonprofits around the world solve problems. Through inspiring stories about successful projects ranging from a texting service for teenagers in crisis to a streamlined foster care system, the authors show how public interest technology can make the delivery of services to the public more effective and efficient. At its heart, public interest technology means putting users at the center of the policymaking process, using data and metrics in a smart way, and running small experiments and pilot programs before scaling up. And while this approach may well involve the innovative use of digital technology, technology alone is no panacea—and some of the best solutions may even be decidedly low-tech. Clear-eyed yet profoundly optimistic, Power to the Public presents a powerful blueprint for how government and nonprofits can help solve society’s most serious problems.

The solution to the growing problem of stress and burnout in rabbis! Written by a practicing clinical psychologist who spent 10 years as a congregational rabbi, The Rabbi As Symbolic Exemplar: By the Power Vested in Me presents positive solutions to the inevitable negative effects of symbolic exemplarhood, coaching rabbis through dilemmas of the inner soul. Being a rabbi means serving as a Symbolic Exemplar of the best that is in humankind, being experienced and treated and expected to act as a stand-in for God, and a walking, talking symbol of all that Jewish tradition represents. The burden of being a symbolic exemplar of God is extraordinary, and the struggle to live up to its requirements can be one of loneliness, frustration, and despair, alienating rabbis who tire of living in a glass house. The Rabbi As Symbolic Exemplar examines how the symbolic role that serves as the source of the rabbi’s authority and power can lead to disillusionment and disenchantment. Author Jack H Bloom draws on his own experience as a rabbi who watched the successful career he enjoyed turn into one he desperately wanted to forsake and how he was inspired to become an athletic coach for rabbis. This unique book details how symbolic exemplarhood is created, what its downside is, what power it offers, how it can be used effectively, how rabbis can deal with their inner lives, and what can be done to help rabbis stay human while maintaining their leadership. The Rabbi As Symbolic Exemplar is equally effective as a complete text or as a source of stand-alone chapters on specific topics, including: special tensions of being a rabbi effects of symbolic exemplarhood on the rabbi’s family educating rabbis on their power training suggestions curing and healing and The Ten Commandments for rabbis The Rabbi As Symbolic Exemplar is essential reading for rabbis, rabbinical students, congregants, Christian clergy, seminarians and anyone interested in what it is to be a clergy person and how they can support the work clergy do. The book educates both clergy and laity on the humanity of clergy. Visit the author’s website at http://jackhbloom.com

Like other major Protestant denominations in the United States, the 2.6-million-member Luther Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS), founded in 1847, has struggled with issues of relevance and identity in society at large. In this book Mary Todd chronicles the history of this struggle for identity in the LCMS, critically examining the central--often contentious--issue of authority in relation to Scripture, ministry, and the role of women in the church. In recounting the history of the denomination, Todd uses the ministry of women as a case study to show how the LCMS has continually redefined its concept of authority in order to maintain its own historic identity. Based on oral histories and solid archival research, Authority Vested not only explores the internal life of a significant denomination but also offers critical insights for other churches seeking to maintain their Christian distinctives in religiously pluralistic America.

A revolutionary and wide-ranging examination of transvestism ranging from Shakespeare and Mark Twain to Oscar Wilde and Peter Pan, from transsexual surgery and transvestite sororities to Madonna and Flip Wilson. The author examines the nature and importance of cross-dressing and society's recurring fascination with it. 40 pages of inserts, 8 in color.