Advocate | Fall 2014
Fear Not
In the Shadow of the Shepherd
By: Carol Howard Merritt I saw Divergent recently, a book and movie in which a strong female teenager lives in a dystopian, highly controlled world, where she doesn’t fit into the strict confines of society. The movie is violent, so I’m not saying that it would be...
Biblical Reflection: Fear Not?
By: Brian K. Blount Fear not! Yeah, right. Good advice. Unrealistic expectation. There is simply too much of which we are and, really, should be afraid. Even with God around. It is easy to check, you know. One needs neither Greek nor Hebrew. A quick search of a good...
Gospel Music: Its Roots and Relevance
By: William N. Heard Opera tenor Luciano Pavarotti, Rocker Eric Clapton, and jazz keyboardist Greg Phillinganes collaborate on a world stage, raising funds for an international community cause. The song “Holy Mother Hear My Cry” is backed up by a choir of singers...
Transformed Through Art
By: Debbie Hough My journey with faith and art began in my childhood. Our home always had art supplies at the ready–pencils, craft papers, crayons, colored pencils, paint, and scissors. It seemed natural to use them to express the faith that was also integral to our...
Overcoming Fear in Baltimore
By: Elizabeth Lovell Milford Throughout history, Baltimore, Maryland, has been the host to many stories of overcoming fear: In September 1814, as bombs burst along the shoreline of Baltimore’s Fort McHenry, a British invasion seemed imminent. But as the smoke cleared,...
Jump Start
By: Keith Sundberg “Jump Start” is a crash course on Christian Education (CE) for new educators, pastors, and elders. The five-to-seven-hour event begins with a creative devotion, reflections on the participants’ philosophy of education, a list of observations about...
Spirituality Centers—All Ages Invited
By: Elisabeth Williams At the heart of designing an intergenerational spirituality center is the concept of spirituality—a word that we are not always comfortable with as Christians in the Reformed tradition. To some of us, spirituality may seem mysterious or even...
Educator of the Year: Kathy Dawson
By: Holly Inglis An educator who began as a volunteer and is now a professor, Kathy Dawson is an example of everything APCE stands for in excellence in Christian education. Kathy grew up in California and attended California State University at Long Beach. It was...
Resources: Fear Not
By: Mary E. Speedy Invasion of the Dead: Preaching Resurrection Brian K. Blount. WJK, 2014 Our world and our churches are neither sinful nor lost; they are dead. This dead world is the one that God engages and into which Jesus invaded with a radically different vision...