The Lutheran Ladies Circle

Kay McCabe would love to get rid of the Harvest Gold toilet in her front yard. It belongs to the two old Lutheran ladies who moved in with her after a tornado blew their house apart. They brought the toilet, along with a truckload of junk, a lifetime of opinions, and an introduction to a romantic, dark-eyed, Mediterranean man. When Kay's job falls off an economic cliff, she desperately tries to save her house from the bank. The old women help-with thinly-veiled advice about her new job at a bar and her mysterious romance. Perhaps she should listen to them, especially when Kay finds herself avoiding family and handcuffed by the police. Fortunately, the feisty old church women are there to manipulate her, fight with her, and prop her up. And best of all, like true Lutheran ladies, they'll even plant flowers in a Harvest Gold toilet while helping her through life's knotholes.

If you're looking for a sweet book about dealing with change-this isn't it. The Lutheran Ladies are sassy, have strong-spined opinions, and have stepped out of your office, your kid's soccer club, or your church to live on these pages. They deal with change-sometimes poorly-but with humor and heartache, they're knocking the rough edges from the journey. In Book One: Plucking One String, Vera Henley has pulled the strings of the Lutheran Ladies Circle for years; now everything has unraveled. A new, young pastor is altering traditions, and the independent Circle women are cheering the changes-all except Vera, who is finding transformation is hard to fix. When her high-maintenance, crazy aunt introduces even more rebellion and chaos, Vera must choose which thread of change to pluck-and which to let go.

Where does an old lady sneak off to when she ditches her church group? If she's stubborn and peppery like Aunt Ula, she rides a train back to her secrets. Ula's looking for pieces of her past, and the trail began on a southern railway over sixty years ago. This time, a guilt-laden, leopard-haired gal has decided to be her friend and seatmate. The twenty-five-year-old is also running away, her remorse trailing all the way back to Texas. The two discover they have stories in common and secrets to share. But Ula can't explain the force driving her to collect the pieces of her past-particularly a memento hidden by a man most people think is a figment of her imagination. With the strange Texas gal's help, she may be able to find it... After all, both women already know the first rule of change: You have to leave to start the journey.

Every woman in the pew has a story of God's faithfulness, and women love nothing better than to revel in one another's experiences and celebrate the sisterhood of believers. Pew Sisters helps get that celebration started. Devotional in both tone and form, this twelve-session study tells what God is doing in the lives of real women today. From depression to grief to cancer, women from all over the Church share their stories here for the consolation and encouragement of their sisters in faith. We are all one in the Body of Christ, so these beautiful women are your pew sisters. Their joys are your joys, and their sorrows are your sorrows. They share the same faith as you, eat at the same table as you, and inherit the same paradise as you. Join them in the pages of this study and in your own small group. Book jacket.

A man arrives at the gates of heaven holding a faith that’s not his own; another clutches a suitcase he’s unwilling to give up. One woman demands to be sent back, while another asks for a new name. Hands empty or full, hearts joyful or disappointed or appalled, these people and others approach the twelve open gates of heaven, only to discover the truth about their loves…

When we mistake spiritual disciplines for to-dos, time slots on our schedule, or Instagram-able moments, we miss the benefits of Christ's continual and constant work for us. In Ragged, Gretchen Ronnevik aims to reclaim spiritual disciplines as good gifts given by our good Father instead of heavy burdens of performance carried by the Christian. Only when we recognize our failures to maintain God's commands do we also realize the benefit of our dependence on his promises. Gretchen uses this distinction on law and gospel, presented throughout Scripture, to guide readers through spiritual disciplines including prayer, meditation, Scripture reading, and discipleship among others. Despite our best efforts, the good news is that spiritual disciplines have less to do with what we bring before God and more about who Christ is for us, not only as the author but also as the perfector of our faith.

Chrismons contains condensed interpretations of all the ornaments on the tree at the Ascension Lutheran Church in Danville, Virginia. Drawings and photographs illustrate the explanations for the theological symbols that inspired the first Chrismons made by Mrs. Francis Kipps Spencer in 1957. A uniquely beautiful explanation of the life and ministry of Christ using images and scripture to remind the reader of ancient symbols, flowers and abbreviations Christians have used to tell Christ's story for centuries.