Advent
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Embodied Light : Advent Reflections On The Incarnation
$11.99Add to cartEmbodied Light invites readers to ponder our Creator’s daring adventure of taking on human flesh and coming to earth to live among us. Melissa Tidwell’s penetrating reflections for Advent reveal how to follow this fully human, fully divine Jesus with our full selves – mind, spirit, and body. Readers will embark on a 4-week journey filled with scripture readings, illiminating stories, penetrating commentary, and prayers that guide them to open their eyes to the mystery of the Incarnation – God with us.
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Greatest Gift : Unwrapping The Full Love Story Of Christmas
$19.99Add to cartThousands of readers have already fallen in love with Ann Voskamp’s One Thousand Gifts, and this Christmas, Ann will help readers celebrate the lineage and the majesty of God’s greatest gift-Jesus Christ. In what is sure to become an instant holiday classic, Voskamp reaches back into the pages of the Old Testament to explore the lineage of Jesus via the advent tradition of “The Jesse Tree.”
Beginning with Jesse, the father of David, The Greatest Gift retraces the epic pageantry of mankind, from Adam to the Messiah, with each day’s reading pointing to the coming promise of Christ.
Sure to become a holiday staple in every Christian home, The Greatest Gift is the perfect gift for the holidays and a timeless reminder of the true meaning of Christmas.
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Women Of Christmas
$16.00Add to cartThis giftable and appealing Advent-oriented book explores the stories of Elizabeth, Mary, and Anna from the book of Luke, unpacking each verse to introduce readers anew to the women who played key roles related to the birth of Jesus.
When it comes to Christmas, the stories of shepherds, wise men, and other male figures often dominate our thinking. But right from the start, women played vital roles in God’s beautiful plan to redeem His world through Jesus. In this Christ-centered, Christmas-themed Bible study-perfect for holiday gift giving, for personal use, and for group studies-best-selling author Liz Curtis Higgs helps modern women connect personally to powerful truths revealed in the lives of Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist; Mary, the mother of Jesus; and Anna, the faithful prophetess.
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Haphazard By Starlight
$15.99Add to cartUnlike Lent, Advent is celebrated when the year is becoming darker and colder, moving into the death and dormancy of winter. Before we can greet the coming of the light, we need to engage with some themes that are challenging and occasionally fearful. Like the magi who travelled a long distance to search out and adore the infant Jesus, and who took some wrong turnings on the way, we too have a journey to undertake.
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Christmas Ill Never Forget
$9.95Add to cartYoung Luke desperately wants a horse to call his very own. But as his brother ‘s health steadily grows worse with an unknown illness, what their lives really need is a miracle. Having to do all the chores around the ranch, Luke feels that life is being a little unfair. To add to this, he is being asked to work for a local stable to provide the income needed to enjoy the Christmas holiday. As he works by the sweat of his brow, he soon forms a close bond with one of the horses. Will Luke finally receive the gift he so desperately wants, or will this be his brother ‘s last Christmas? As all these things culminate on Christmas day, Luke will learn a valuable lesson of God’s ultimate plan for their lives.
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Silence And Other Surprising Invitations Of Advent
$13.99Add to cartOkoro invites readers to pause during Advent and take a heartfelt look at the story of Elizabeth and Zechariah. This faithful couple received astonishing news in their old age.
As Zechariah goes about his priestly duties, an angel appears and tells him, “Your prayers have been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will give birth to a son. You must name him John”
The angel assures Zechariah that what he has told him will come true. Then he says, “Because you didn’t believe, you won’t be able to speak until the child is born.” Thus begins a long period of silence during which Zechariah surely learns many lessons.
In Okoro’s daily meditations for Advent, readers spend time with Zechariah and Elizabeth. As they look deep inside this faithful couple’s longings and doubts, they will increase their own capacity for patience and wonder and be reminded of God’s promises to make all things new.
These poetic and poignant meditations will echo long after Christmas has passed. Their tough and tender wisdom acknowledges both wounds and blessedness – the griefs and joys of life. Reflection questions and a prayer challenge accompany each week’s meditations. This book is perfect for individuals or groups.
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They All Were Looking For A King Cycle C
$12.95Add to cartIn this volume of sermons prepared by Wayne Brouwer, the reader will find illustrations that help to explain God’s message in new and interesting ways. Finding stories and word pictures that more easily tie into the Lectionary readings for each Sunday will help the person in the pulpit make his sermon more compelling to the people in the pews.
In They All Were Looking for a King, the author brings the reader new insights to the age-old message surrounding the birth of Christ. As Christians eagerly anticipate the arrival of the babe of Bethlehem, Brouwer explores the gospel from new perspectives that the reader will find to be invaluable. These messages will be helpful in a variety of ways:
Illuminating illustrations and sermon starters
Group Bible study
Personal devotions
Sermon titles included in this collection are:
A Cry in the Dark
A Dance in the Desert
Creating Community the Hard Way
Many others for the seasons of Advent, Christmas and Epiphany
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Prayers For Advent And Christmas
$14.99Add to cartThis collection is ideal for the Sundays of Advent, as well as Christmas Eve services. It includes:
Invocations
Opening Prayers
Prayers of Confession
Pastoral PrayersDrawn from a variety of traditions, the prayers in this collection will aid any congregation as it worships throughout the journey of Advent.
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Behold : Cultivating Attentiveness In The Season Of Advent
$13.99Add to cartBehold! is an old-fashioned word missing from most modern translations of the Bible. Yet Pamela Hawkins says this word softens the edges of her heart. She writes, “I cannot say this word without moving, without extending and lifting a hand, palm open, toward the object of my attention.”
In Behold! Hawkins invites readers to enter Advent with an attitude of curious expectancy and trustful anticipation. For each of the four weeks of Advent, she focuses on a single Advent word from the scripture readings for that week and offers a form of prayer for readers to try.
Readers can follow all the spiritual practices the author suggests or choose the ones that most catch their attention. The practices include reflections, silence, prayer, reading scripture, reading or singing of hymn texts, and Christian service and action. Readers will enjoy the simplicity and beauty of this Advent book, which features expressive prayers and hymn texts. Leader’s Guide included
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Christmas : The Good The Bad And The Ugly An Advent Study For Adults
$13.99Add to cartFocuses on many characters from the story of Christ’s birth
Four sessions, one for each Sunday of Advent
Each session features a Scripture reference, a personal reading, questions for personal reflection or group study, a closing prayer, and a focus for the coming week.
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Advent Jesse Tree
$17.99Add to cartThe Advent Jesse Tree
DEVOTIONSThis book offers 25 devotions for each day from December 1st to December 25th, Christmas Day… the day Christians celebrate that God’s purpose wass finally revealed in the coming of the savior, Jesus Christ.
Each devotion traces the heritage of Jesus through the stories and prophecies of the Old Testament.
The Advent Jesse Tree enables individuals and families to engage in a more meaningful celebration of the Christmas season.
These daily Advent devotions are written in two versions (one for children and one version for adults) including a scripture, a story & commentary, questions to ask, a prayer, and a song.
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Advent Christmas And Epiphany Services
$14.99Add to cartJesus: God’s Unlikely Revelation
Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany Services includes biblically-based sermons, suggested scriptures, children’s time, hymn and prayers, as well as litanies for lighting the Advent wreath. Also included are suggestions for seasonal funerals. These services offer a completing message of hope during this important church season, when people often visit a church for the first time.
Each service focuses on and celebrates a different aspect of the theme: Jesus: God’s Unlikely Revelation
1. First Sunday of Advent-
Jesus: The Unlikely Image of God (Genesis 1:26-27; Colossians 1:15-17)
2. Second Sunday in Advent
Jesus: The Unlikely Gift from God (Isaiah 55:1-9)
3. Third Sunday of Advent
Jesus: The Unlikely Story of God with Us (Matthew 1:18-25)
4. Fourth Sunday of Advent
Jesus: The Unlikely Messiah (John 7:25-31)
5. Christmas Eve
Jesus: An Unlikely Peacemaker (Luke 2:8-20)
6. Christmas Day
An Unlikely Christmas Card (Matthew 2:13-23)
7. Epiphany
John the Baptizer: Jesus’ Unlikely Herald (John 1:1-14)Seasonal Funerals
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Story Of Christmas
$19.99Add to cartThe Story of Christmas is an innovative Advent Calendar, storybook set, and tree-trimming keepsake. Wonderfully illustrated and brimming wih holiday spirit, the calendar features 24 jewel-like miniature board books nestled in a three-paneled, stand-alone backer that can be used season after season.
The books are numbered 1-24, and like the peek-a-boo windows in an Advent calendar, are meant to be opened one per day from December 1 through Christmas Eve. Read in sequence, the books capture the magic of the first Christmas, from Gabriel’s visit to Mary (Book 4) to the three Wise Men (Book 9) to Jesus’ birth (Book 24). Each book is one of four different trim sizes and features a gold thread loop so that after it’s read, it can be hung on a Christmas tree.
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Advent Christmas And Epiphany
$36.00Add to cartPreeminent hymn writer and liturgist Brian Wren offers this new collection of worship resources suitable for a variety of worship traditions during Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany. These theologically sound and creative worship resources include prayers, litanies, calls to worship, and complete liturgies crafted to encourage rhythmic public responses during worship. All material is drawn from the readings from all three years of the Revised Common Lectionary. This collection also contains Scripture selections from the nativity narratives in Matthew and Luke and the messianic sections of Isaiah and the Psalms, making it just as useful to churches that do not follow the Revised Common Lectionary. Additional features of this volume include a Scripture index that points users to materials drawn from passages, a topical index listing items that can be used on other occasions during the church year, and a searchable CD Rom.
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From Holidays To Holy Days
$20.95Add to cartRather than criticizing trappings of the holiday season, this book looks at them from the viewpoint of Christian contemplation, once aptly described as “a long, loving look at the real.” The author, a Benedictine monk who lives in the center of downtown Newark, New Jersey, invites the reader to join him on his daily walks as he points out dozens of often-unnoticed connections between our holidays and the spiritual meaning of Advent and Christmas. In a string of colored lights, a crowd of shoppers, or the window of a toy store, he uncovers such traditional Advent themes as watchful waiting, repentance, and selfless love. On the bustling sidewalks, he introduces us to Isaiah, John the Baptist, and Jesus himself, all speaking their ancient Advent and Christmas messages of peace and hope and good will.
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Light To The Darkness
$21.95Add to cartLight to the Darkness is a fresh interpretation of the well-loved Advent traditionof Lessons and Carols. Replacing the usual scriptural readings from the Old and New Testaments are first-person dramatic monologues based on these and other passages of scripture. Special emphasis is given to the role of the prophets, pointing the way to the Messiah and offering guidance to the Hebrew people, while providing very contemporary guidance for the 21st-century.
With a reading for each day of Advent, churches can choose pieces for their services of Lessons and Carols, while individuals can use the book for private devotions. Suggested music for these services is also included, encompassing a broad range of selections to accommodate parishes? needs and abilities. -
In The Bleak Midwinter
$11.99Add to cartOnce again, well-known and beloved author Herbert Brokering offers spiritual nourishment, this time based on Christina Georgina Rossetti’s Christmas carol, “In the Bleak Midwinter.” This set of forty meditations and prayers can be opened at leisure or followed as a guide to daily devotions. Either way, it is a rich and imaginative reflection on the incarnation as God’s continual gift to us. The overall tone of the book shows the depth and beauty, paradoxes and perplexities of the nativity.
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Womb Of Advent
$17.95Add to cartThis talented and imaginative writer offers a unique perspective on the season of Advent. Along with scripture readings and prayers, he offers four weeks of meditations that focus on the growth of Jesus in the womb of Mary as he approaches the day of his birth, learns his mother’s voice, responds to the presence of light and dark, and begins to position himself for birth.
What does this teach us about our own spiritual journey through Advent? That waiting and preparation is essential to the Christian life. By reflecting on our own birth experiences and Jesus’s own progress through the womb, Christians learn how to remain intimate with God, how to approach the light, and how to get ready for new birth in Christ.
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Come Thou Long Expected Jesus
$17.95Add to cartAdvent and Christmas meditations based on the seasonal hymns of Charles Wesley. Each daily meditation, keyed to the scripture reading for the day and portions of Wesley’s texts, concludes with a brief prayer based on the day’s theme. Reflective material place Wesley within his rich Anglican heritage. Daily readings are between 500-600 words in length.
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Watching And Waiting
$21.00Add to cartAwareness of the liturgical seasons of the year has increased greatly in recent years, as the popularity of the Common Worship Times and Seasons volume has illustrated. Churches are constantly looking for ways to enrich their seasonal celebrations, and the first point of better celebration is better understanding. Of all the seasons, Advent is the least understood, the least studied. An entirely Western phenomenon without much of a preaching or liturgical tradition, it is characterised as much by its folk customs – the advent wreath and the Feast of St Nicholas – as by its biblical themes. Here is a book that helps to create a fuller theology of Advent. Kenneth Stevenson characteristically draws on biblical, historical and liturgical evidence to show how the churches have understood and kept Advent down the centuries, and finds that the season has much to say to contemporary concerns in today’s church and world, from how we do mission to Richard Dawkins’ brand of atheism and a surprising number of issues in between.
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Simply Wait : Cultivating Stillness In The Season Of Advent
$13.99Add to cartHow many times have you tried to reduce the stress and hurry of Christmas by making Advent a more spiritual time? And how often do you find that your efforts to be more spiritual only intensify your stress by becoming one more complicated thing on your already long list of things to do? What if this year you found a devotional practice that offered more rest, more quiet, more room in your heart for the Christ child to be born?
Simply Wait: Cultivating Stillness in the Season of Advent is a resource that individuals and small groups can use to help them focus, rest, and renew spiritually. For the four weeks of Advent, participants will focus on a single word and a single, simple prayer practice that does not require extensive preparation or previous experience. Readings for each week offer creative reflections rooted in scripture, and engaging questions that stimulate our anticipation for a meaningful Christmas season.
This year, instead of doing more, moving faster, trying harder to cram it all in, do less scurrying, and more reflecting; less worrying and more connecting, with the graceful and grace-filled wisdom of Simply Wait.
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Advent Services
$14.99Add to cart1. 1st Sunday Of Advent – Emmanuel
2. 2nd Sunday Of Advent – Son Of Man
3. 3rd Sunday Of Advent – Example
4. 4th Sunday Of Advent – Lord
5. Christmas Eve – Son Of God
6. Christmas Day – Word Of GodAdditional Info
Includes biblically based sermons, suggested Scriptures, hymns, and prayers as well as litanies for lighting the Advent wreath. These services offer a compelling message of hope during this important church season, when people often visit a church for the first time. Each service focuses on a different aspect of the theme “The Ways We Know Jesus” -
More Services For The Advent Wreath Cycle C
$17.95Add to cartThe Advent wreath is a powerful symbol that draws our attention to the coming of Christ — past, present, and future. But while it’s a traditional element of Advent worship, the Advent wreath is often vaguely linked to the rest of the service, especially for those who follow the lectionary. Building on his successful volume Services For The Advent Wreath, Robert Jarboe offers a wide selection of adaptable resources that firmly place the Advent candles in the context of the day’s scripture readings. There are complete orders of service based on each Cycle C lectionary text for every Sunday in Advent, as well as Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Each service is conveniently formatted, with reproducible sheets that can be given to participants as well as bulletin inserts with congregational readings. It’s everything you need to make this important symbol a centerpiece of the worship celebration — all in one place!
Each service includes:
* litanies
* scripture readings
* prayers
* an original musical introit -
6 Advent Plays For Children
$13.95Add to cartSo you’ve just been asked to put together your church’s Christmas pageant — are you feeling overwhelmed yet? Don’t worry… Six Advent Plays For Children provides you with all the tools you need to make this ministry an enjoyable and fulfilling experience for everyone. In addition to six delightful programs designed for children of preschool age through sixth grade (including a synopsis and stage directions), this book provides comprehensive, easy-to-follow guidelines that walk you through the entire process of planning, rehearsing, and presenting your holiday production. There’s even a step-by-step worksheet to keep you organized and on top of all the details. The material is suitable for congregations of any size: props, sets, and costumes are kept simple for maximum flexibility, and most of the programs require no more than a dozen participants. With all these practical resources, your children’s Christmas program this year is bound to be successful — Six Advent Plays For Children has all the help you need in one convenient volume. Copying privileges are included.
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Child Of The Light
$11.99Add to cartIf the Christmas season has become more of a chaotic consumer ritual rather than a nurturing spiritual one, you need this brilliant “Advent Survival Guide!”
If you set aside just 10 minutes per day, Child of the Light will help you find your quiet center amid the stressful flurry of the November/December busyness. As you read the book’s brief readings inspired by the season’s carols and hymns, your spirit will be lifted, and your thoughts will be redirected to the purpose of the season: preparing for the coming.
“Take time for God: that’s exactly the challenge God gives us during this season of preparation,” writes Richardson. “Personally and culturally this time of year already seems to race out of control toward a Christmas finish line. In Advent, we are invited to take time out…. [In] doing so, we nurture our spiritual self, that sometimes fragile part of us who longs for a connection with God.”
The reflections extend past Christmas to Epiphany, January 6, encouraging you to live into the joy of Christmas beyond traditional seasonal celebrations.
A small-group guide is included among the daily meditations, recommended spiritual disciplines for the week, reflection questions, and leader helps. The use of hymns and carols will engage even the most non-musical among us to fully appreciate the lyrical richness of the season.
Long for a more sacred and measured observance this year? Be joyfully carried through the pre- and post-Christmas pandemonium as a child of the light!
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Waiting For The Wonder
$17.95Add to cartImagine the hushed excitement and the vivid anticipation of a child on Christmas Eve. How much more intense that anticipation must have been for those who waited for the wonder of the very first Christmas. From the ancient prophets to the three kings, from the angel Gabriel to the stalwart Joseph, Katarina Katsarka Whitley imagines their astonishment and joy at the events unfolding around them.
In her inimitable style, Whitley places herself in the hearts and minds of the biblical characters-both real and imagined-who played a part in the Christmas narrative. She weaves stories, solidly based in Scripture, at once compelling and thought-provoking. The voices of her characters lead us closer to the Christ Child and deepen the meaning of the season of Advent for twenty-first century readers.
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Run Shepherds Run
$16.95Add to cartThe Advent season is filled with rich themes that have fascinated poets. In Run, Shepherds, Run, Bill Countryman presents a poem a day for devotional reading during Advent and theTwelve Days of Christmas. Readers will find classic poets they know and love, including George Herbert, John Donne, Christina Rossetti, Emily Dickinson, and Alfred, Lord Tennyson, as well as contemporary poets, known and unknown.
Run, Shepherds, Run includes helpful hints for reading poetry, for those who have less experience reading it than others, as well as useful annotations to help readers with older language that may not have easily apparent meanings for today’s readers.
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Living Between The Advents
$12.95Add to cartAs we prepare each year to celebrate the Incarnation, the Advent season reminds us that we live in an interim period between the First and Second Comings of Jesus Christ. In this book of twelve riveting sermons on a variety of Advent themes (all based on texts from Cycle B of the Revised Common Lectionary), Michael Ruffin explores the challenges of Christian living in this time between the First and Second Advents — particularly the tension between the modes of patience and action. Though we await Jesus’ return with hopeful anticipation, Advent waiting is active waiting. Ruffin’s messages invite readers to share in the richly rewarding life of faith, while providing abundant comfort and inspiration for those who endeavor to live as disciples of Jesus in the modern world.
Preachers looking for an imaginative illustration or observation to stimulate their sermons will find ample material in this book. But this is much more than just a reference for ministers preparing to preach during Advent — it’s also an excellent resource for spiritual reflections reminding us that the good news in these days between the Advents is that Jesus Christ is Immanuel, God with us.
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Gabriels Horn : Readers Theater For Advent
$7.95Add to cartLooking for something fresh and creative for the Advent season? Here’s a charming set of five lighthearted plays that’s sure to engage audiences and set the holiday spirit while remaining focused on the scriptural message. Written in whimsical rhyming verse, the scenes detail the prophecies of the Messiah and the story of the Incarnation through the interaction of three angels (Gabriel, Wonderful, and, Marvelous) with several biblical characters.
Congregations of any size will find these sketches easy to use — only a small cast is needed, and the readers’ theater format means no extensive costuming or staging is required.
Scenes include:
* Gabriel’s Horn (Last Sunday of Pentecost)
* The Honeymooners (Advent 1)
* The Cleanup Crew (Advent 2)
* The Reading Club (Advent 3)
* Step Up To The Plate (Advent 4)Two of the angel characters reappear after a 33-year “vacation” in “M.I.H. — Missing In Heaven,” an Easter verse drama (also written by Frank Ramirez) included in the CSS anthology Roll Back The Stone.
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More Services For The Advent Wreath Cycle B
$14.95Add to cartThe Advent wreath is a powerful symbol that draws the attention of worshipers to the coming of Christ — past, present, and future. But it can be a challenge to link this traditional element of Advent worship to the rest of the service, especially for those who follow the lectionary. Building on his successful volume Services For The Advent Wreath, Robert Jarboe offers a wide selection of adaptable resources for any size congregation that firmly place the Advent candles in the context of the day’s scripture readings. There are complete orders of service based on each Cycle B lectionary text for every Sunday in Advent, as well as Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Each service is conveniently formatted, with reproducible sheets that can be given to participants as well as bulletin inserts with congregational readings. It’s everything you need to make this important symbol a centerpiece of the worship celebration — all in one place!
Each service includes:
* litanies
* scripture readings
* prayers
* an original musical introit -
Faces At The Manger
$19.00Add to cartIn this Christmas classic Barrie Shepherd describes the thoughts, feelings, questions, and dreams of those who gathered around that manger of long ago, as well as the faces that have been there in the centuries since. Through poems, stories and prayers, Shepherd leads the reader to be one of the many who have knelt in worship beside the manger of the Savior, Jesus Christ.
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Living With Hope
$23.00Add to cartAdvent is a time for deepening encounter with reality, including the ultimate reality made manifest in human form at Christmas and Epiphany. This thought-provoking book illuminates biblical thinking with striking new insights from the author’s twin disciplines of theology and science at the cutting edge of physics.
Though daily readings for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany Polkinghorne explores such themes as the end of the world, individual destiny, unseen realities, heaven, hell, and suffering; this is not a book that hides behind platitudes or easy solutions, yet the author offers profound insight into his deep reflections on the nature, meaning, and purpose of creation.
Suitable for individual study, as a guide to prayer during Advent and beyond, or as the basis of small group discussion, Living With Hope offers a unique and inspiring pathway into the coming of Christ in history, in our lives, and in what we shall be.
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While We Wait
$12.99Add to cartThis book offers new ways of connection study participants with their own faith questions. Group members have the chance to look at some biblical figures on whom we don’t always focus during Advent. Somewhat surprisingly, Tamar, Ruth, Mary, Zechariah, Elizabeth, and the Magi ask questions that resonate with contemporary Christians during this season. Designed as a complete Advent study, this book offers readers unique perspectives on the events of Christmas, a fifth session for the week of Epiphany, an introduction to the spiritual discipline of breath prayer, and much more.
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7 Advent Programs For Children
$17.95Add to cartIn addition to seven delightful programs designed for children of preschool age through sixth grade, this book provides comprehensive, easy-to-follw guidelines that walk you through the entire process of planning, rehearsing, and presenting a holiday production. There’s even a step-by-step worksheet to help you keep organized and stay on top of all the details. Each complete script comes with a synopsis and stage directions, as well as an attractive cover that can be reproduced for your program. You’ll find material suitable for congregations of any size; most require no more than a dozen participants. And props, sets, and costumes are kept simple for maximum flexibility. With these practical resources, your children’s Christmas program this year is bound to be successful.
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Angel At McDonalds
$7.95Add to cartAngel At McDonald’s is a provocative drama that is a striking parable about belief in something that seems impossible and the courage to do what God commands. Two young women who are decorating a community center in an underprivileged neighborhood encounter three angry toughs who resent the girls’ “kindness.” With the gentle insistence of an angel who gives them an unusual assignment, the girls confront their fear and tell the skeptical ghetto kids about Jesus. And despite initial wariness, the message finds a home in some of their hearts.
This play can be presented as part of a worship service or as the entertainment at a church dinner or other gathering. It can be staged as elaborately or as simply as you wish, and lends itself to a readers’ theater format. Angel At McDonald’s is an excellent discussion starter that is sure to generate many viewpoints about our preconceived ideas of what constitutes “missions.” And it connects the occasion of Christ’s birth to the birth of new spiritual life. With realistic dialogue and situations, it’s perfect for use with teenagers.
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Advent Conversations
$7.95Add to cartIf you’re looking for a fresh way to make lighting the Advent wreath a meaningful and relevant part of the worship service, this is just what you need. Richard Hull has written brief conversational dialogues that relate the wisdom of the prophets found in the Advent lectionary readings to modern life. In each “conversation” two people reflect on the assigned reading and talk about life and faith, leading to the lighting of the candles. The presentations are accompanied by an informative essay explaining the background and history of the Advent wreath. Covering all three lectionary cycles, this is an excellent resource for any size congregation — and they’re also great for devotional use by families in the home. Best of all, the informal tone of the writing will make worshipers feel like participants instead of observers. Use these dialogues to discover ancient truth in a contemporary setting.
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Services For The Advent Wreath
$17.95Add to cartHow does a pastor who follows the lectionary make the Advent wreath relevant to the rest of the service? Here is a very easy-to-use resource which includes every Sunday in Advent, as well as Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. It provides bulletin inserts, litanies, prayers, scripture readings, and flexible and easy-to-use original choral introits, which can be sung by a choir, ensemble duet, or as a solo.
This resource covers all three years of the lectionary cycle. It is adaptable for any size congregation, large or small.
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Lite Worship Services For Advent And Christmas
$8.95Add to cartPopular CSS author Cynthia Cowen returns with three more imaginative programs that will spice up the Advent/Christmas season for any size congregation. Prepare Your Heart For Christmas is a service of carols and reflections that’s perfect for a midweek Advent program. Designed as a youth program, Advent Bells includes a brief skit with bell ringers and unique chorus songs. We Welcome The Light Of Christmas is a memorable family service for Christmas Eve with a humorous sketch about the Good News and a lost Frisbee which has turned into the Christmas star.
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Through The Eyes Of A Child
$12.95Add to cartThe dialogues in this resource are designed for use between a youth and an adult (pastor, parent, or youth leader). Six bulletin formats are included with dialogue scripts.
Worship themes are:
Advent Past, Present, and Future
Jesus Came To Earth
Jesus Will Come Again
Lord Jesus, Quickly Come
Through The Eyes Of A Child (Christmas dialogue)
Through The Eyes Of A Child (Epiphany dialogue) -
Dont Forget The Child
$13.95Add to cartAlex Gondola says that in our modern culture we sometimes “experience Christmas at its worst: overcommercialized, expensive, exhausting, nearly devoid of spiritual significance.” In this collection of twenty cogent and inspiring sermons for Advent and Christmas, he reminds us of the key to putting the season in its proper perspective — “Don’t forget the child!” For it is only when we are drawn nearer to the child of Bethlehem, celebrating the simple beauties of the stable, that we can escape from the rush of the season into the divine light of saving grace heralded by the birth of God’s Son. This volume is an exceptional source of inspiration for sermon preparation, but it’s also excellent for personal devotions exploring the meaning of Advent and Christmas. It’s a great Christmas gift!
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Advent Worship Service
$7.95Add to cartBegin your celebration of the Advent season with this meaningful program that weaves together informative readings, scripture, and familiar hymns with the lighting of the Advent wreath and the “hanging of the greens.” It’s a wonderfully creative way to have members of the congregation participate in decorating the sanctuary while at the same time learning about the symbols of the season. A particularly special touch is the interpretive movement provided for “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.” The service requires four readers as well as individuals or groups to place the various items.
While it is most appropriate for use in its entirety early in the season, An Advent Worship Service may also be excerpted for use throughout Advent building up to the Christmas Eve service. Worship leaders will find this special program to be a valuable resource in planning services to celebrate the coming of our Savior.
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Holy E Mail Cycle A
$12.95Add to cartMany modern Christians yearn for a deeper spiritual life, a relevant relationship with a God who still matters and who thinks we still matter. However, Dallas Brauninger tells us, we are not good at listening and talking with God. What we are good at is hurling questions at the Almighty — and Brauninger says that questions are what we are all about if we are to continue to grow spiritually. And so is confession. We doubt. We fear. We stretch to the limits of our patience. We wonder if tenacity will prevail or if we will sink. We have moments of bliss and ponder anew the mystery of God. We wonder and grieve about the world.
Brauninger believes that question and confession are two forms of our prayer — and for many of us, these conversations with God are as brief and instant as an e-mail. In Holy E-Mail, she inventively casts fourteen sermons based on Cycle A lectionary epistle texts in the form of extended e-mail messages to God. It’s as if congregations and pastors were privy to someone’s private ponderings that reflect our own spiritual roaming.
This volume is not only a creative resource for preachers; it’s also directed to the everyday person in the pew. Crafted to help hearers connect with God and each other, these sermons address universal queries of the human soul. By uniting sermon with prayer, they’re excellent for use as readings for personal meditation.
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Long Time Coming Cycle A
$12.95Add to cartIt is not God’s plan to take us by surprise. Throughout scripture there is the rolling thunder of the Deity’s voice resounds: “I’m going to do it! Get ready! Pay close attention! Here comes what I promised!” We call such predictions “prophecy,” history written before it happens. And about nothing is God more prophetic, more predictive, than Jesus Christ. (from the Foreword)
In Long Time Coming! Stephen Crotts proclaims the richness of Jesus’ birth. Noting that the Lord always tells us ahead of time what he is about to do, his 14 sermons based on Old Testament lectionary texts examine how God foretold in Isaiah’s prophetic ministry that he would save and redeem mankind.
Sermon titles include:
* Still Small Voice — Isaiah 11:1-10
* When A Halo Slips — Jeremiah 31:7-14
* What Does Your God Say About People Like Me? — Isaiah 42:1-9
* Let Sleeping Dogmas Awake! — Isaiah 58:1-9a (9b-12)
