Howard Thurman was an influential American author, philosopher, theologian, educator, and civil rights leader. Strongly influenced by his grandmother, a former slave, who raised him and a Quaker mystic under whom he studied, Thurman adopted a philosophy of activism rooted in faith, guided by spirit, and maintained in peace. Editor Donna Schaper selects forty inspiring passages from the works of this spiritual advisor to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to accompany readers on their own spiritual journeys. Ideal for traveling through the seasons of Advent and Lent.

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 Church

Pastor 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 employs its buildings--is connected to the Church's past identities and future hopes. Remove the Pews offers concrete suggestions on how congregations can open their church spaces to revive their spirits.

From welcoming local dance troupes to serving undocumented persons, Schaper demonstrates how the imagination is the only limit to what church buildings mean and can do. Her meditations on community use of sacred spaces serve as a springboard for a broader examination of how the church might be renewed for the modern age. The pews are only the beginning!

Sabbath Keeping is a collection of ten meditations, each exploring a different aspect of keeping the sabbath and ending with a prayer.

Walking labyrinths is a twenty-first century method of approaching the sacred-and a spiritual practice more ancient than Stonehenge or the ruins of Troy. A practical and inspiring guide to help you explore.

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 how honest prayer doesn't require belief or trust nor does it need constant satisfaction. This book introduces new ways of prayer and thinking about what prayer is--to offer the reader a new experience because sometimes our heart has a wisdom that our head does not. Whether you are someone who believes, hopes to believe, almost believes or simply trusts that offering a prayer means something, this book is for you.

In Lenten Lent: A Way to Refresh & Renew Your Spirit, Donna Schaper, author of more than 30 books, engages the sometimes gritty, often chaotic and challenging realities of our lives. With great honesty and humanity, openness and hope, she offers readers a way through Lent inspired by the ecological metaphors of renewable and sustainable energy - a truly healing ecology for the spirit.

Each of the 41 daily devotions - including one for Easter - feature a scripture reference, meditation, prayer, and action step. Lenten Lent also includes guidelines for study groups, making this a perfect resource for both individual and group use.

Walking labyrinths is a twenty-first century method of approaching the sacred-and a spiritual practice more ancient than Stonehenge or the ruins of Troy. A practical and inspiring guide to help you explore.

Can we really enjoy the world while trying to save it? Many of us want to do both, but find a balance difficult to achieve. Part how-to and part memoir, Schaper's book shows us a socially responsible way of having it all.

The short, humorous chapters are about simplifying: food, children, money, romance. From the Slow Food Movement to the lighting of simple fires, Schaper provides basic strategies and spiritual solutions for living well and doing good, drawing from her own experience of working for social change while attempting to live fully.

In this thoughtful and practical book, pastor Donna Schaper guides the reader through the process of grieving the death of a parent.

The complete guide to spirit-filled speech and speaking with spirit

This book is a spiritual guide to using the holy gift of speech. It is a ... how-to ... grounded in a humble way of being, expressing an attitude of gratitude toward the tongue, in the knowledge that speech is a gift from God and we have a choice to use our mouths virtuously, in the most humble and searching sense of that word.
--from the Introduction

So much of our time is spent in conversation, yet little time is devoted to thinking about the words we choose to use, or the manner in which we speak. Taking the time to make our words count--to make our speech sacred--can lead to positive changes in our lives, and improve our relationships with others.

Sacred Speech is a personal, warm-hearted approach to a complex matter--how we can use speech in holy ways. Drawing support from literary and spiritual sources, Rev. Donna Schaper offers compelling advice from her own experience as a clergyperson, teacher, partner, and parent, empowering us to:

• Acknowledge the Divine in the words we use
• Use speech to maximize the possibility of love and care
• Use speech to minimize fear
• Link, connect, and contact with others through words

A clear invitation to improve our communications with others, Sacred Speech is ideal for spiritual and religious leaders, professionals who work in multifaith settings, the politically correct and the not-so politically correct, and anyone who wants to do more than simply watch what they say.

As membership in traditional religious institutions plummets, the meaning of marriage is changing rapidly. Numbers of those identifying as spiritual but not religious are on the rise, and Donna Schaper provides a roadmap to help readers understand this transition of marriage after culture and religion are no longer of one voice about its meaning.

From making a will and planning a memorial service to finding peace in aging and illness, Approaching the End of Life offers practical and spiritual guidance to anyone wrestling with the end of a life. With sensitivity and humor Donna Schaper shares information on topics ranging from coping with illness to finding a spiritual home.

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 around our mind-set--understanding both the structural and personal reasons we feel so pressed, clarifying what's important to us or not, and setting realistic expectations, while enriching the time we have. The book goes beyond the idea of Sabbath keeping to offer suggestions for all parts of life--particularly the busy moments. Schaper draws on her years ministering to people across all walks of life to show that the time famine cuts across race, class, and gender lines to touch almost everyone. She offers practical and spiritual suggestions that won't magically give us more time, but can help us live better with the time we have.

Donna Schaper has written a thought-provoking book to assist readers in developing a way to move forward, a way to become persons of faith, and a way of becoming Christians by calmly plotting the resurrection. Schaper provides a daily exercise for the seven weeks of the Lenten season, including a passage of Scripture, a brief reflection, and concluding questions for further consideration or group discussion. The themes for each week of reflections are: Week 1--Where Are We Going? Week 2--Are We There Yet? Week 3--Are We Lost? Week 4--Parabolic Thinking: The Land Beyond Lost, Next To Doubt Week 5--What Is Enough Resurrection? Week 6--Rising Week 7--Risen Schaper provides a daily guide for our journey through the Lenten season, filled with personal illustrations, inspirational stories, and words for reflection. Perfect for individual study and for adult groups, Calmly Plotting the Resurrection is a helpful resource for anyone seeking a meaningful journey toward Easter.

Lack of time is the chronic complaint of our culture - and the reality of most of our lives. Sabbath as a day of rest has been lost in our to - do lists and organizers, but the sense of Sabbath, as spiritual leisure, is very much needed in our time-starved world. Sabbath Sense offers a refreshing perspective on making the spiritual choice to take back our time, one moment at a time.

This volume examines commitment in the context of the individual and institutional response to God's call to be God's people. The call from God is a call to the altar, to the holy, in a simple do-able way, explains the author. Right now we are a little like an aborted African chant in the mainline church; there is a call, but no response. Donna Schaper outlines various reasons for this disconnect between call and response, and she offers ten concrete ways of responding to the gospel through specific actions that will help persons reconnect with their commitment to be the people of God.

A wealth of prayers & litanies for the Lent/Easter season.
Pastors and worship leaders are faced each year with the prospect of finding a new way to communicate the message of the Holy Season. This book of prayers and litanies will help them do just that. The author uses the metaphor of gleaning to take the reader through Lent, Easter, and Pentecost. Written with thoughtful, lyrical language, Donna Schaper offers an insightful look at the value of the often overlooked.

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 us to a sense of gratitude and grace for whatever we may face. Prayer doesn't have to be hands folded or knees bent--although there is nothing wrong with folding hands or dropping to our knees. Instead, prayer here is understood as pause to give thanks, to look around, to interrupt constant action with reflection, allowing the table and our food to be our nudge. Changing the general atmosphere of despair and decay to thanks and appreciation is a big change, made in a small way. Like a wheelbarrow, prayer carries the heavy load, lightly, giving us the lift we need to manage what we fear we cannot. Prayer at table resolves the appreciation deficit disorder, which goes on to make us strong for climate change, recession, and a mounting sense of debt. It replaces shame and blame with gratitude and grace.

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 us to a sense of gratitude and grace for whatever we may face. Prayer doesn't have to be hands folded or knees bent--although there is nothing wrong with folding hands or dropping to our knees. Instead, prayer here is understood as pause to give thanks, to look around, to interrupt constant action with reflection, allowing the table and our food to be our nudge. Changing the general atmosphere of despair and decay to thanks and appreciation is a big change, made in a small way. Like a wheelbarrow, prayer carries the heavy load, lightly, giving us the lift we need to manage what we fear we cannot. Prayer at table resolves the appreciation deficit disorder, which goes on to make us strong for climate change, recession, and a mounting sense of debt. It replaces shame and blame with gratitude and grace.