video on the Father's love

For a year or two we've used this video called Lump by a non-profit Christian group called NOOMA. Their mission is to create short films that communicate the Christian message in new ways. Their production quality is excellent. Overall they have 22 short videos in the series. Some of their videos are superb, others have a little bent to them and are "ehhh." Lump is amazing though.

Below is the preview to Lump. It doesn't do justice to the full DVD, even though the whole thing is only about 11 minutes long. If you do ministry or want a new tool for evangelization, I highly recommend buying the DVD.

Here's the description of Lump:

A lot of us have done things in our lives that we’re ashamed of. Some are small things, and some of us have really big and devastating things. Some of us even have things that people close to us don’t know about. Personal junk that we keep to ourselves so we don’t have to deal with it. Because we don’t know how to deal with it, do we? We’re afraid that if we try it’s just going to make everything worse. But no matter how big our junk is, no matter how much what we’ve done has impacted the way other people feel about us or how we feel about ourselves, it hasn’t changed how God feels about us. God loves us, he always has and always will, and there’s nothing we can do to change that.

Call to prayer for our Nation & Video

Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have mercy on him. (Isaiah 55:6,7 see also vs.8-11)

We are, I believe, at a pivotal time in the history of the US and the world. Here in the states we are approaching a very significant presidential election, we are faced with very troubling economic issues and, with the nations of the world, face multiple serious threats to humanity.

The Christian people have the responsibility and the power of prayer to effect change. To cry out for mercy not judgment to come upon our country and the nations. We desperately need God's intervention. We need an explosion of forgiveness and grace bringing about what only He can do- change us from the inside out. Heartfelt change. Beginning with His own body, the Church, who are called to give a counter cultural witness of what it means to be fully human, fully alive, at- one-ment with our Creator and Redeemer. Not conformed to the patterns of thinking of the world systems that are opposed to the Lordship of Christ and, which tell us right about now is the time to live in fear and anxiety. Rather St. Paul tells us at times like this we are called to live in the peace of God which transcends all human understanding and to pray! See Phillipians 4:4-7

I urge you to commit to pray on behalf of our country at this time. Pray for mercy and not judgment to come upon us. Join with others to earnestly seek the Lord.

Pray for the election.

AND exercise your responsibility to vote!

Take a look at this inspiring video from CatholicVote.com Pass it on to all of your friends!

ChristLife on YouTube

Okay, so we are finally on YouTube. Apparently its the thing these days. We decided to put up a 5 minute trailer of our Sharing Christ series. This seven session series via DVD or CD is all about training Catholics and other Christians in how to share the message of Jesus and His impact on our lives - with those around us. Its simple and very powerful. Check out the intro:

Finally, we here at ChristLife aren't the richest people. So, how did we get this video production done? Our Father. Pretty much. We met a wonderful Baptist man who happened to 1) love Catholics, 2) be all about evangelism, and 3) be an award-winning producer. All of that equals a miracle. And the amazing thing is - stuff like this happens (like in the plural) at ChristLife. Thank you Father!

Praise & Worship Holy Hour

The parish we did Discovering Christ with in the Spring, Our Lady of Perpetual Help (OLPH) in Ellicott City, MD is hosting a Eucharistic Holy Hour / live concert with Jim & Michele Cowan.  I’m sure it will be powerful!   Here’s the details:

Wednesday evening, October 08, at 7 p.m. Our Lady of Perpetual Help parish, 4795 Ilchester Road, Ellicott City, 410 747-4334. Check out their music at jimcowan.com A free will offering will be taken.

What then shall I compare the people of this generation?

What then did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft clothing? Behold, those who are gorgeously appareled and live in luxury are in kings' courts. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written, `Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee.' ... (When they heard this all the people and the tax collectors justified God, having been baptized with the baptism of John; but the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the purpose of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him.)

"To what then shall I compare the men of this generation, and what are they like? They are like children sitting in the market place and calling to one another, `We piped to you, and you did not dance;we wailed, and you did not weep.'For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine; and you say, `He has a demon.' The Son of man has come eating and drinking; and you say, `Behold, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' Yet wisdom is justified by all her children."Luke 7:25-35

God is not distant and removed from creation and his creatures. He is with us! He is not static but active, creative, redeeming-moving in his all powerful Holy Spirit in our 'today.' The Lord Jesus points out the purposes of God coming in two very different persons. John the prophet forerunner preparing the way, and Jesus the Messiah. The Pharisees and lawyers rejected the purposes of God for themselves in what He was doing in their day. They missed his activity, his will for them in the persons of John and Jesus. They couldn't see God working among them.

There are many Christians as well as unbelievers that have no understanding of this truth. They don't know the good news of Emmanuel, God with us today! Here and now. Jesus said, I am with you always. In Christ God the Father has given us the Holy Spirit to lead us and guide us as Church but also personally in our daily lives (have you read the Acts of the Apostles recently?).

This reality effects everything. Who we are and what we do. How we pray personally and when we gather together. Anticipation and openess to the Holy Spirit's guidance. Attentiveness to His providence in our lives and in interacting with others, and with circumstances we are in daily. Our faith in His faithfulness in all details of our lives. Our confidence in his mercy coming through times of joy (we danced for you) and in times of sorrow (we sang a dirge for you). His grace in presenting his life to us in the church by different kinds of churches as well as different types of people that we can identify and respond to. John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus were very different as the Lord himself pointed out.

In this time, in our generation, the Lord continues to fulfill his purposes. Let's pray for our eyes to be opened to see what he is doing and our ears to hear what He saying and to obey Him! (See John 5:19,20 to learn from the Master). He wants us to know with confidence that He is with us and wants us to join Him in fulfilling his purposes in our day!

Catholicism Project

So, there's a pretty neat project underway by Fr. Robert Barron, a priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago, called the Catholicism Project. According to his Web site, Word on Fire, "this epic series will be one of the most innovative productions ever to promote the Catholic faith to the world. Our plan is to go from Jerusalem to Rome to Mexico City and beyond - and use art, architecture, literature, music and all the riches of the Catholic tradition to tell an inspiring story and draw people into the faith." Here's the trailer:

Catholicism Trailer from Nancy Ross on Vimeo

Looks like a pretty awesome production! The main presenter, Fr. Bob, as he likes to be referred to, is a great guy. I've featured him on several podcasts in the past, and we've used some of his video material in our evangelization work. Let's ask the Father in Heaven to pour out his grace and abundant blessing on Fr. Bob's work and his efforts to bring the light of faith to this world! Amen!

The value of relationships in Jesus our Lord!

Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity! - Psalm 133

This summer I had the opportunity to go on vacation at the ocean with two close friends in Christ, John and Martin. All of us are single men at this stage in our lives.


By the way, here in the Baltimore area, the way to say you are going to the ocean is, “I’m goin danny oshun!”

I wanted to share this blog to encourage and cause you to consider the value of community for your life as a Christian. I want to simply share some of the dynamics that occurred naturally for us because of our commitment to one another in Christ.

The week was really a remarkable time of renewal and retreat for all three of us. It was all rather spontaneous and lightly scheduled but because of our unity and friendship it allowed for a very meaningful time together as brothers in Christ. We were able to spend some early morning quite time off by ourselves, followed by a time to begin more personal prayer by gathering together to enter his presence with praise. Singing contemporary worship songs and offering verbal praises spontaneously.

Then, later in the morning we would head for the beach! Our times there were spent resting, reading, swimming, bronzing, walking and generally having a blast.

Over excellent dinners that Martin prepared, we shared our lives and afterwards had fun entertaining ourselves, playing guitar or watching movies or the Olympics. John has an enormous repertoire of tunes stored up in is brain and fingers, so one evening Martin and I got to hear a concert of Paul Simon tunes. Again it all would happen quite spontaneously.

The degree of loving support and honesty we share with one another is a wonderful and rarely encountered relationship dynamic. I am extremely grateful to God for giving me brothers likes this!

The three of us are part of a larger small group of men and women that meets a couple of times a month. We affectionately call our group, The Cracked Pots! You can’t join the group unless you walk with a limp in life - sorta like Jacob on his return trip to meet up with his brother Esau after God had helped bring about some needed life experience and personal change! We have been meeting together for a number of years praying and sharing our lives together. It is a very important value in my life to be part of a group like this that shares the same Christian world view and convictions. Beyond this group the three of us have met as a men’s group for quite a while now. There are a number of circumstances in each of our lives that have led us to recognize the importance of meeting regularly together as men. The level of our honesty and openness with one another has really helped to grow in the Holy Spirit. When one of us is struggling with certain circumstances or specific temptations we know we can call one another for support and to be reminded of the truth. We also pray regularly for one another and at times pray over one another seeking the Lord for his direction and words for that person. All of this was foundational to why this vacation together was so excellent.

Being part of some small group of brothers and or sisters in Christ is a wonderful blessing that is part of the provision the Lord Jesus gives us as his church, for the journey. If you are not part of a group, pray and consider becoming part of or starting one!