Rites of Passage (Nov/Dec/Jan 2011-12)

From birth to death, life is marked by significant moments, transitions, and crises that the church can help celebrate and guide us through. This issue looks at those rites of passage from both a worship and pastoral care perspective, exploring baptisms and weddings as well as times of adjustment, like entering the work world, having children, and growing older.

In This Issue

articles Rites of Passage
- By Marcia McFee
- Posted on October 13th, 2011
A sixteen-year-old kneels, driver’s license in the palms of her hands, as words and gestures of blessing and prayer are extended to her. A veteran who is an amputee…
articles The Mystery of Baptism
- By Steven Bruns
- Posted on October 13th, 2011
Baptism is the rite to celebrate the beginning of life, whether it is a brand new life in the world through birth, or a brand new life in Christ through conversion. Baptism is one …
articles Teen Rites of Passage
- By Kay Palmer Marsh
- Posted on October 25th, 2011
An Interview with Kay Palmer Marsh, Senior Pastor of Westminster United Methodist Church in Westminster, Colo., a diverse congregation in an aging first-ring suburb of Denver. Not …
articles Post-College Blues: Reflections on Young Adult Transitions
- By Mighty Rasing
- Posted on November 7th, 2011
Kuh, a friend and classmate from college, set down her half-empty coffee cup on the table between us. I looked at her and said, “If I had only known what I know now when I…
articles What Pastors Need to Know about Premarital Education
- By Kyungsig Samuel Lee
- Posted on October 24th, 2011
“What did Jesus say about marriage?” a Sunday school teacher asked her students. Cindy, a third grader, raised her hand high and said, “Forgive them for they…
articles Baby-Proofing Marriages with Pre-Parental Ministries
- By Leslie Stanley-Stevens
- Posted on October 25th, 2011
Marriage is good. Married people consistently report being healthier and happier than single people. “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their…
articles The Vacant Lot: Crisis and Story
- By Quincy Brown
- Posted on November 3rd, 2011
It all began with walking aimlessly around a vacant lot. Each day, I would shuffle through dirt, kick an occasional aluminum can, and side step mud puddles that transformed the…
articles Midlife Crisis: Growing to Maturity
- By David Ashburner
- Posted on October 27th, 2011
When the term midlife crisis comes up, it is often the punch line to a joke or a tired cliché, often with the speaker rolling his or her eyes: “Oh, he’s just…
articles Transitions of Older Adulthood
- By Missy Buchanan
- Posted on October 26th, 2011
An eighty-four year-old woman watched her children put price tags on her belongings. Her eyes filled with tears as she silently reminisced about the things piled high on makeshift …
articles Picking Time: On Being Close to Death
- By Marcia Krause Bilyk
- Posted on October 22nd, 2011
In mid-June when the deer move their fawns out of hiding, the wild black raspberries in rural New Jersey ripen to a purple so deep they’re called “blackcaps” by…