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Why Did Jesus Call Her a Dog?

Whenever I select choral anthems whose texts don’t quite make sense on the surface, I try to explain the text to the choir, and then to the congregation via a note in the bulletin.  Take that strange story of Jesus basically calling a Canaanite woman a dog when she asks him to heal her daughter. …

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Image description: book cover of The Devil's Music: How Christians Inspired, Condemned, and Embraced Rock 'N' Roll by Randall J. Stephens. Cover image is black and white photo of men with 1970s longer hair, holds their hands and some Bibles up.

The Devil’s Music, an Interview with Author Randall J. Stephens

How did American Christians go from hating rock ‘n’ roll to embracing contemporary worship music? One reason is Pentecostalism’s influence. On Music and the Church, we’ve explored how important Pentecostalism was in making the change, and how influential it continues to be on contemporary worship. (Check out this episode if you’re curious.) But Pentecostalism also …

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Image is photograph of Pastor Lisa Heffernan. Shows face and sholders of a white woman with brown hair wearing glasses. For the podcast Music and the Church at sarah-bereza.com

Welcoming People with Disabilities in Church Music Ministry, with Pastor Lisa Heffernan, on Music and the Church Ep. 35

We believe that people all people are made in the image of God. Full stop. So, when we are talking about how to make our churches more inclusive, we aren’t talking about welcoming people even though they have disabilities (or even though they are children, as we talked about in last month’s episode). The goal …

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