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    Simple Harmony: Thoughts on Holistic Christian Life
    Simple Harmony: Thoughts on Holistic Christian Life
    Simple Harmony: Thoughts on Holistic Christian Life
    Ebook105 pages59 minutes

    Simple Harmony: Thoughts on Holistic Christian Life

    By Larry Duggins and Elaine A. Heath

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    About this ebook

    Many have experienced Christianity as a confusing list of restrictive rules designed to wring all of the joy out of life. Others seek to live as Christians without a clear understanding of what the focus of a Christian life should be, leaving them to wonder if Jesus had more in mind than regular Sunday morning worship attendance. What does a healthy Christian life look like?
    Larry Duggins has molded three anchor scriptures into a simple model of balanced Christian life using the Celtic cross as an illustration. Duggins believes that the Greatest Commandment, the Hymn of Kenosis, and the Prayer of Unity combine to guide a life of worship, sharing, service, and community that leads to a closer relationship with God. This simple, engaging book includes questions for reflection and discussion, and is appropriate for both the curious and the committed.
    This second edition includes a new introduction and two new chapters addressing the question of balance and the nature of the "other."
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCascade Books
    Release dateApr 3, 2018
    ISBN9781532610943
    Simple Harmony: Thoughts on Holistic Christian Life
    Author

    Larry Duggins

    Larry Duggins is Executive Pastor of Emerging Worship at White's Chapel United Methodist Church in Southlake, Texas, and is the Executive Director of the Missional Wisdom Foundation. He is the author of Simple Harmony (2012).

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      Book preview

      Simple Harmony - Larry Duggins

      9781532610936.kindle.jpg

      Simple Harmony

      Thoughts on Holistic Christian Life

      Larry Duggins

      Foreword by Elaine A. Heath

      Second Edition
      7508.png

      SIMPLE HARMONY

      Thoughts on Holistic Christian Life

      Second Edition

      Missional Wisdom Library 3

      Copyright © 2018 Larry Duggins. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3, Eugene, OR 97401.

      Cascade Books

      An Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers

      199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3

      Eugene, OR 97401

      www.wipfandstock.com

      paperback isbn: 978-1-5326-1093-6

      hardcover isbn: 978-1-5326-1095-0

      ebook isbn: 978-1-5326-1094-3

      Cataloguing-in-Publication data:

      Names: Duggins, Larry, author. | Heath, Elaine A., foreword.

      Title: Simple harmony : thoughts on holistic Christian life / Larry Duggins ; foreword by Elaine A. Heath.

      Description: Eugene, OR : Cascade Books, 2018 | Series: Missional Wisdom Library 3.

      Identifiers: isbn 978-1-5326-1093-6 (paperback) | isbn 978-1-5326-1095-0 (hardcover) | isbn 978-1-5326-1094-3 (ebook)

      Subjects: LCSH: Christian life.

      Classification: BV4501.3 .D84 2018 (print) | BV4501.3 .D84 (ebook)

      Manufactured in the U.S.A. April 10, 2018

      First Edition copyright © 2012 by Larry Duggins

      All rights reserved.

      Scripture quotations are from New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

      Table of Contents

      Title Page

      Acknowledgments

      Foreword

      Preface to the Second Edition

      A Note on the Illustrations

      1: I Am Confused

      2: The Greatest Commandment

      3: The Hymn of Kenosis

      4: The Unity Prayer

      5: The Simple Harmony Model

      6: Worship

      7: Sharing

      8: Serving

      9: Humility in Community

      10: Sharing the Model in a Church

      11: The Wobble Board and the Compass

      12: Who Is My Neighbor?

      13: A Concluding Thought

      7404.png
      Missional Wisdom Library

      Resources for Christian Community

      The Missional Wisdom Foundation experiments with and teaches about alternative forms of Christian community. The definition of what constitutes a Christian community is shifting as many seek spiritual growth outside of the traditional confines of church. Christians are experimenting with forming communities around gardens, recreational activities, coworking spaces, and hundreds of other focal points, connecting with their neighbors while being aware of the presence of God in their midst. The Missional Wisdom Library series includes resources that address these kinds of communities and their cultural, theological, and organizational implications.

      Series Editor: Larry Duggins

      vol.

      1

      : Missional. Monastic. Mainline.: A Guide to Starting Missional Micro-Communities in Historically Mainline Traditions by Elaine A. Heath and Larry Duggins

      vol.

      3

      : Together: Community as a Means of Grace by Larry Duggins

      vol.

      4

      : What Kind of God? Reading the Bible with a Missional Church by Bret Wells

      vol.

      5

      : Credulous: A Journey through Life, Faith, and the Bulletin by Andrea Lingle

      forthcoming titles:

      The Julian Way: Towards a Theology of Fulness for All of God’s People, by Justin Hancock

      Virtuous Friendship: The New Testament, Grego-Roman Friendship Language, and Contemporary Community, by Douglas A. Hume

      Acknowledgments

      I am grateful to many people who have helped me think through the Simple Harmony model and everything that sits behind it:

      the pastors and staff of White’s Chapel UMC;

      my friend and mentor Dr. Elaine Heath;

      my seminary friends who have been and continue to be my community—Blair, Vance, Shellie, Amy, Mary Beth, Brittany, Autumn, and many, many others;

      the 2011–12 class of the Academy for Missional Wisdom, who worked through an early draft of this book and made many wise observations;

      and especially my family—Jay, Katie, Travis, Chris, and now Alex.

      I am blessed by you all!

      Larry Duggins

      Southlake, Texas

      2012

      Foreword

      We were sitting in the airport in Dallas, waiting to board the plane for our inaugural Perkins School of Theology international immersion class in Celtic Christian spiritual traditions. The group buzzed with excitement as we chatted about going to the ancient monastic sites of Iona, Lindisfarne, and the new monastic Northumbria Community. The trip would be a pilgrimage, I reminded them. Journaling, a daily office, and other formational experiences would be at the center of our journey together. Upon our return to the U.S. they would write academic papers in which they would reflect upon some aspect of Celtic spirituality that could enliven contemporary practices of worship or evangelism in their own churches.

      Looking around at the dozen or so students, I recognized all but one—a fifty-something, white-haired man whose theological education, I surmised, was probably not in readiness for his first career. I introduced myself, asking what he hoped to do upon graduation. Larry said he wanted to develop young adult ministries in nontraditional spaces, especially to provide community, mission, and worship opportunities for people who don’t fit well in established churches.

      Having just written two books on emerging and new monastic forms of ministry,¹ and having begun two experimental new

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