Pastor Zip's Christian Web Links

Pastor Zip's Christian Web Links

Prayer for the Persecuted Church: Today, in many lands around the world, Christians are being persecuted even to death for confessing Jesus Christ as Lord. Read here to learn about the martyrs of the 20th and 21st Centuries. Learn also what you can do.

The Holy Bible

The Christian Faith begins with Jesus Christ, and the Holy Bible is the cradle which brings him to us.

: The Holy Bible

The Revised Standard Version, at the Digital Library Production Service of the University of Michigan. The RSV (not to be confused with the newer, but not improved New Revised Standard Version) remains, in Pastor Zip's opinion, the best translation of the whole Bible available in American English. This site includes the entire Old and New Testaments, including the "Apocrypha," that is the Deuterocanonical Books which were included in the Septuagint -- the Jewish Holy Scriptures that were translated into Greek before the time of Jesus and the Bible of the first Christians. Most -- but not all -- "Protestant" Christians exclude these books from their Bibles, choosing to follow instead the Jewish Scriptures as determined by Jewish authorities early in Christian Era.

The Bible Gateway: The Holy Scriptures (or portions of them) in 22 different English-language versions and at least one version in each of 53 other languages.
Virtual Christianity: Bibles: A comprehensive list of on-line English and other-language Bibles with short descriptions. From the Virtual Christianity collection of resources devoted to Christianity andd study of the Bible.
American Bible Society: Sponsors of Today's English Version and the Contemporary English Version, their mission is to get the Bible into your hands in a language that you understand.
Crossways International: The best Bible Study program available for Christian congregations Pastor Zip has used. Crossways' courses include complete Bible surveys, which go from 3 hours (!) to to 2 academic years, and several seasonal or topical short courses of 3-10 sessions.

The Three Chief Creeds of the Christian Faith

The ecumenical creeds (from the Latin word credo -- "I believe") express the most basic Christian belief about God -- the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is the God into whose Name Christians are baptized.

The Apostles' Creed: Actually dating from the 8th Century, it is a revision of the Old Roman Creed of the 3rd Century Western Church, a development of creeds from the Apostolic era. Lutherans (and other Christians) especially associate this Creed with the Sacrament of Holy Baptism.
The Nicene Creed: Dating from the Council of Nicea in AD 325, with minor changes at the Council of Constantinople (381), this Creed is used in both Eastern and Western Churches. It is especially associated in Christian liturgies (worship services) with the Sacrament of Holy Communion.
The Athanasian Creed: A Western Creed from the 5th-6th Centuries, it includes a thorough description of what Christians believe about the Holy Trinity.

Basics of the Christian Faith

"Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again." The basic teachings of the Christian Faith go from there. This section is based on Martin Luther's little book on those basic teachings, popularly known as The Small Catechism. (Thanks to Concordia Publishing House.)

The Ten Commandments: First given by God to the Israelites at Mount Sinai (Exodus 20), the Ten Commandments are "a summary of divine teaching on what we are to do to make our whole life pleasing to God. They are the true fountain from which all good works must spring, the true channel through which all good works must flow. (Luther's Large Catechism)
The Creed: What do Christians believe about God? The Apostles' Creed "teaches us to know him perfectly." (Luther's Large Catechism)
The Lord's Prayer: This prayer is also known as "the Our Father." "That we may know what and how to pray, our Lord Christ himself has taught us both the way and the words." (Luther's Large Catechism) The Lord's Prayer has been translated into at least 1662 languages and dialects.
Holy Baptism: Baptism is water used according to God's command and connected to his word. Through baptism "we are first received into the Christian community." (Luther's Large Catechism)
Confession and Absolution: Or as Luther called it, The Office of the Keys. "For this is the essence of a genuinely Christian life, to acknowledge that we are sinners and to pray for grace." (Luther's Large Catechism)
Holy Communion: Also known as "the Lord's Supper," "the Sacrament of the Altar," "the Eucharist," or "the Mass." "It is the true body and blood of the Lord Christ in and under the bread and wine which we Christians are commanded by Christ's word to eat and drink." (Luther's Large Catechism)
Daily Prayer: A simple way to begin and end your day in prayer.
Daily Life: Usually translated in English as the "Table of Duties," this is basic Biblical advice on how to live the Christian life based on your station in life.
Preparing to Receive Holy Communion: Questions and answers Christians should review in preparation to receive the Body and Blood of Christ.

Good Christian Reading and Conversation

Interesting web sites for your viewing and reading pleasure. Pastor Zip especially recommends subscribing to the thoughtful, Christian publications first listed below. Check any of these sites for a real Christian faith lift!

Touchstone: A Journal of Mere Christianity: A wonderful magazine published by The Fellowship of St. James that calls Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant Christian believers "to a common custody of those traditional truths to which all Christians, until very recently, gave ready and serene adherence." Also worth reading is Mere Comments, the Touchstone blog.
First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life founded by the late Fr. Richard John Neuhaus. An inter-religious, non-partisan voice that advances a religiously informed public philosophy for the ordering of society.
Mars Hill Audio: produces an excellent bi-monthly audio magazine with 90 minutes of interviews that "assist Christians who desire to move from thoughtless consumption of modern culture to a vantage point of thoughtful engagement."
Christian Classics Ethereal Library: Classic Christian books in electronic format, including the Early Church Fathers, a Hymn Tune Archive, hymns and hymnals, and a World Wide Study Bible. "There is enough good reading material here to last you a lifetime, if you give each work the time it deserves!"
Christus Rex: A comprehensive site documents and of works of art in churches, cathedrals, and monasteries around the world. Included is a section with the Lord's Prayer in 1662 languages and dialects.
Fides Quaerens Internetum (The Christian Theology Page): A "hub for locating serious Christian theological activity on the Internet."
ICLnet: The Internet Christian Library: Self-described as the "original 'Christian' internet site," ICLnet contains one of the largest and most complete archiving of "classical" Christian materials available on the Internet. And that's only part of it.

Other Recommended Sites

More interesting web sites for your edification.

The Center for Catholic and Evangelical Theology: Originally formed by the Lutheran theologians Carl Braaten and Robert Jenson, CCET "seeks to give expression to the one apostolic faith and its classic traditions, working for and manifesting the church's unity." In addition to excellent annual conferences geared to pastors and theologically-minded laity (which are then published), they publish the quarterly journal Pro Ecclesia ("for the Church").
Loome Theological Booksellers: Specialists in secondhand and out-of-print scholarly books in philosophy, theology, religion, and related areas -- based in Stillwater, Minnesota.
The Taizé Community: An ecumenical, monastic community in France, best known in the US for their meditative liturgical music.

Church Web Sites

The Evangelical Lutheran Church does not claim to be the "one true" Christian church, so we relate to other Christians and seek to overcome our divisions. Here are links to churches with whom we hold much in common and to the major ecumenical organizations.

Pastor Zip's Lutheran Web Links: The most comprehensive place for English-language web sites of Lutheran church bodies around the world, along with lots more about what Lutherans believe and teach. Lutherans are the original evangelicals, those churches that responded to abuses of the 16th century Western Church by using the Unaltered Augsburg Confession as their confession of faith.
Pastor Zip's Catholic Web Links Page: The Catholic Church is those churches that are in communion with the Bishop of Rome, who is also the Patriarch of Rome, and who is known as the Pope.
Pastor Zip's Anglican Web Links Page: Links to the Church of England and her daughter churches.
Pastor Zip's Reformed Web Links Page: Links to churches whose teaching are strongly influenced by the protestant reformer John Calvin.
The Moravian Church: Officially known as the Unitas Fratrum (Unity of Brethren), this church began when the Bohemian reformer John Hus was martyred in 1415, more than a century before Luther. They nearly disappeared in the 18th Century, due to persecution in the Austrian Empire, but found a protector in Count Nicolaus von Zinzendorf, a Pietist of Lutheran heritage who enabled them to emigrate from Europe. Under his leadership, the Moravians accepted Luther's Small Catechism and came to the New World.
Following Our Shepherd to Full Communion: Lutheran leaders in colonial North America were very suspicious of "the Zinzendorfers." By the 20th Century, however, Moravians in some nations were being accepted into the Lutheran World Federation. With the adoption of this document by the Moravian Church in 1998 and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in 1999, the two church entered into full communion.
World Council of Churches: Constituted in 1948, the WCC is a fellowship of 349 churches in more than 110 countries that seek "to deepen the fellowship of Christian churches and communities so they may see in one another authentic expressions of the 'one holy, catholic and apostolic church.'" Overshadowed in recent years by "political" matters, the Commission on Faith and Order, which actually predates the WCC by nearly 30 years, has brought theologians together to discuss "church-dividing issues and church-uniting possibilities." Perhaps best known for the groundbreaking Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry, Faith and Order does serious ecumenical theology well.
National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA: "America's Protestant, Anglican and Orthodox faith groups joining hands and voices to expres their unity in Christ." Founded in 1950 as a force for ecumenical co-operation, it might better today be described as the dying gasps of what was once "mainline American Protestantism."
Churches Uniting in Christ: Ten Protestant churches in the USA have "pledged to live more closely together in expressing their unity in Christ and to combat racism together." (Guess which of these two gets emphasized most?) Full communion between these church bodies, the original impulse of this idea in 1962 with the Consultation on Church Union (usually called "COCU"), remains far, far away. While the ELCA has not actually joined this effort, it is a "partner in mission and dialogue" with the CUIC.
Graduate Theological Union: A consortium of nine seminaries -- 3 Roman Catholic, 6 "Protestant" -- and other ecumenical and inter-faith centers based in Berkeley, California. The seminary Pastor Zip attended, Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, is one of the GTU's founding "Protestant" seminaries. He worked for the Franciscan School of Theology and took classes at 7 of the GTU's 9 schools.

The Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church Page

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Pr. Steven Paul Tibbetts, STS
Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church
1534 S. Easton Avenue
Peoria, IL 61605-3407
(309) 637-9150

URL: www.pastorzip.org/xianlinx.html