Money, like sex or politics, is one of our last taboos. We earn it, spend it, worry about it-but rarely talk about it honestly. Meditations on Money invites readers to break the silence and explore the deeper meanings behind what we earn and how we live.Written with the warmth and wisdom of a trusted friend, this book offers gentle, thought-provoking reflections on our relationship with money-how it shapes our choices, our relationships, and our sense of self. It's not a ho...

“When I saw the title, I wanted to shout from the rooftop: It’s time! Donna Schaper makes a compelling case for clearing space, both architecturally and in our ministry journeys. This little book is a gift to a tired and caged-in church!”—Paul Nixon, author of Multi and I Refuse to Lead a Dying ChurchPastor Donna Schaper takes the long view of religious institutions in an age of rapid change. The question of who the Church is today—and how it empl...

As membership in traditional churches or religious institutions plummets, the meaning of marriage is changing rapidly. Interfaith marriages are on the rise, creating new challenges from wedding planning to childraising. People of faith are marrying nonreligious people. Many question the institution of marriage itself. At a time when those identifying as spiritual but not religious is on the rise, Pastor Donna Schaper provides a roadmap to help readers to understand this continuing transiti...

Most of us struggle with the “time famine”—the pervasive feeling of never having enough time. Whether we work three jobs or none, have many children or none, or live in a huge city or a small town, most of us have the feeling there is always more to do than we’re able, more time required than we can give. In Never Enough Time,Rev. Donna Schaper helps us think through the practical and spiritual elements of the time famine and helps us instead aim for a feast. Schaper’s advice centers aroun...

In her more than forty years as a minister, Rev. Donna Schaper has been approached hundreds of times by people wanting to know how to prepare for the end of life in both practical and spiritual matters. Countless others have turned to her for guidance on how to handle the death of a loved one. From making a will and planning a memorial service to finding peace in the toughest circumstances, Approaching the End of Life offers practical and spiritual guidance to anyone wrestling with the end...

While there are no easy answers to loss and death, Mature Grief offers a compass to anyone navigating the unknown and uncharted waters of grief.Each life comes from God. It begins with God and has no end. Our parents came from God, out from the circle of eternity, bestowed with goodness, and in dying they return to God. Their circle is complete. And in between, their spirits splashed-down here briefly in a quiet eddy at the edge of the flowing river of time. Our lives began as a rip...

The third in Cowley's Cloister Book series, Sabbath Keeping is a collection of ten meditations, each exploring a different aspect of keeping the sabbath and ending with a prayer. Since it is a difficult art in a society that does not value rest, Schaper encourages small acts of sabbath keeping that initially focus on physical and mental renewal but soon broaden to questions of justice and power.She begins with a chapter called “What is Sabbath?” and goes to the Bible for definition...

Everyone is paying attention to Pope Francis, and that includes the most unlikely of admirers: a female Baptist pastor. Veteran minister and social justice advocate Donna Schaper has become a fan of the pope, covering him for Religion Dispatches, traveling to see him speak, and taking up many of his issues. Schaper says that Francis is a pope for all of us, and she has written him a series of letters—love letters, of a sort. She agrees with him on the environment, climate change, love of a...

“When I saw the title, I wanted to shout from the rooftop: It’s time! Donna Schaper makes a compelling case for clearing space, both architecturally and in our ministry journeys. This little book is a gift to a tired and caged-in church!”—Paul Nixon, author of Multi and I Refuse to Lead a Dying ChurchPastor Donna Schaper takes the long view of religious institutions in an age of rapid change. The question of who the Church is today—and how it empl...

Grace at Table advocates prayer at table as a way to solve everything. By everything we mean the dismay, dis-ease, and fear of the future that permeates way too many human souls. Addiction is one response to the moment, fear another, and despair a third. Widespread immobility and lack of focus come to mind as indications of over-stimulation by the negatives and under-stimulation by the positives. Prayer at table stimulates the positives. It is a pause that refreshes the spirit, reorienting...

One of the volumes of the popular Protestant Pulpit Exchange series, this volume focuses on the ways in which preachers can make use of Biblical passages to help listeners deal with hard times in their lives. This universal issue is addressed in compassionate and helpful ways in this collection of sermons.

Almost everyone prays: believers, unbelievers, wanna-be believers and might-have-been believers. It assures us all in our many parts and many moods that everything is going to be okay, despite any evidence to the contrary. When people say “I don’t know how to pray,” what they often mean is “I don’t believe.” Or perhaps they are struggling with disappointment or anger with God and have taken a break from their prayer life. This book is written to remove these obstacles to prayer and to show...