Advent
Showing 201–232 of 232 resultsSorted by latest
-
Dont Forget The Child
$13.95Alex 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!
Add to cartin stock within 3-5 days of online purchase
-
Advent Worship Service
$7.95Begin 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.
Add to cartin stock within 3-5 days of online purchase
-
Holy E Mail Cycle A
$12.95Many 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.
Add to cartin stock within 3-5 days of online purchase
-
Long Time Coming Cycle A
$12.95It 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)Add to cartin stock within 3-5 days of online purchase
-
Everlasting Light : A Resource For Advent Worship
$12.99Everlasting Light is a collection of worship resources that will bring new joy to your Advent worship. Based on the three years of lectionary readings for Advent, including the Sunday after Christmas, services include litanies of light, meditations, candlelighting services, unison prayers, offering prayers, communion prayers, children’s sermon starters, and benedictions. Also included area hanging of the greens service and a candlelighting service for use during the children’s sermon.
Add to cartin stock within 3-5 days of online purchase
-
Uncluttered Heart : Making Room For God During Advent And Christmas
$12.99God is waiting for you to remember.
Advent is a time to prepare our lives – hearts, minds and spirits – for the coming of the Christ child. We sweep out the corners of our hearts, cleaning up the clutter, to make space for God’s hope, peace, joy, love and presence.
Great plan, poor execution.
“Advent is often the busiest time of the year,” writes Richardson. “And yet, we are called to make time and space to prepare our lives for the coming of the Christ child. What a challenge. …No matter how busy we may become, God is waiting to break through our endless tasks and distractions to remind us that we are not alone.”
The Uncluttered Heart offers four weeks of guided reflection through the weeks of Advent on through Epiphany. Each day provides a
*quotation
*scripture passage
*reflection
*prayer
Stop and connect with God this Christmas. Remember God as much as you can. Even unplanned pauses such as watching a child laugh at Santa’s post in the mall remind you of God’s presence and help you maintain a true center in this holy time. This practice is a skill developed over time and learned over a lifetime. And the gifts are bountiful.This book includes a study guide for groups.
Add to cartin stock within 3-5 days of online purchase
-
Presence In The Promise Cycle C
$15.95If we want to know how God will treat the Christian Church, we must look at how God treated the ancient people of Israel. That’s the premise of Harry Huxhold’s 17 messages based on First Lesson texts from the Revised Common Lectionary, which demonstrate that the word and sacrament of Christian worship are as fresh as the promises of hope, providence, salvation, grace, and steadfast love that God first shared with humanity millennia ago.
Titles include:
Days Of Promise — Jeremiah 33:14-16
The Child Of Promise — Isaiah 9:2-7
The Promise Of Baptism — Isaiah 43:1-7
The Fruit Of Forgiveness — Genesis 45:3-11, 15
Keeping The Glow On — Exodus 34:29-35
… and more!Add to cartin stock within 3-5 days of online purchase
-
Stations Of The Nativity
$17.95This devotional guide to the 40 days from Advent to Christmas builds on the popularity of the ancient Christian tradition of walking the Stations of the Cross. Each station includes an opening sentence and a response, a Bible reading, a reflection, prayers, a longer meditation, and a short closing prayer.
Add to cartin stock within 3-5 days of online purchase
-
Defining Moments Cycle B
$14.95The Old Testament readings in the lectionary are often neglected during the Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany seasons in favor of the more direct and easier-to-preach New Testament passages. William Self brings his creative imagination to these scriptural passages and gives them new life for the preacher.
The sermons of this veteran preacher are written with the pew in mind. They are for people who hurt, for people who wait, for people who face defining moments, and for churches that struggle to proclaim the Gospel. Amply illustrated from life and literature, these sermons can be read for inspiration by lay persons and clergy alike.
Add to cartin stock within 3-5 days of online purchase
-
Teach Us To Number Our Days
$21.95This practical handbook for homes and church communities helps to enrich the Christian celebration of Advent through the creation and use of an Advent calendar. Non-sewers can make a calendar using magazines and junk-mail, or one of felt, while more advanced stitchers can make a permanent calendar out of fabric. Barbara Dee Baumgarten also gives a brief history of the development of Advent in the Christian calendar, as well as detailed explanations of the various Christian (Old and New Testament) symbols that can be used during the season, the Sundays of Advent, and the Great ‘O’ Antiphons from December 17-23. This 8 1/2″ x 11″ softcover book also features black and white, hand-drawn illistrations.
Add to cartin stock within 3-5 days of online purchase
-
Our December Hearts
$16.95This collection of meditations for the season of Advent examines – in sometimes serious and sometimes humerous fashion – the various emotions that the Advent and Christmas stories stir in us: hope, trust, compassion, as well as fear, doubt, and grief. In language drenched in poetry, Anne McConney explores what it means to gaze into the mystery that is the Incarnation.
Add to cartin stock within 3-5 days of online purchase
-
Advent Worship And Activities For Families
$6.99Offers brief family worship services for each Sunday in Advent and Christmas Day. Each service centers around the use of the Advent wreath. Additional activites help families focus on the meaning of the season.
Add to cartin stock within 3-5 days of online purchase
-
These Are The Candles
$7.95Here is a resource that will dramatize the lighting of the Advent candles during your worship service. The lighting of each candle is proceeded by a statement, which the author suggests may be read from offstage.
The series of statements reveal the significance of the traditional Advent characters: the angel, the shepherds, the wisemen, Mary and the Christ child.
This simple but dramatic resource provides an explanation of the deeper meaning of the events preceding Jesus’ birth, as they spell out the relationship of these individuals to Christ, the Light of the World.
Add to cartin stock within 3-5 days of online purchase
-
Advent Christmas Resources For Young And Old
$12.95These resources were carefully selected from almost 100 manuscripts submitted. They were chosen for their creativity and content, but also for their adaptability to churches of any size. None of them require complicated props or settings, nor do any require lengthy rehearsals.
This collection of resources will enliven the worship of any church, involving members young and old in the presentation.
-A Christmas Play: Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room
-A Christmas Eve Candlelight Communion Service
-A Christmas Program For Children (Or Entire Congregation)
-An Old Fashioned Christmas Pageant
-Two Worship Services For The Christmas Season
-A Worship Service And Choral Reading For Christmas
-A Christmas Play: Mary After The AngelAdd to cartin stock within 3-5 days of online purchase
-
Deep Joy For A Shallow World Cycle C
$15.95For those of you who have come here feeling lost, I have good news for you. For those of you who have come here willing to get lost, I have even better news. The good news is “fear not.” The God we worship specializes in finding lost people. (from Chapter 2)
I would like to invite you to do the most difficult thing that can he asked of our culture, and that is to do nothing. I invite you to approach this night with open hands and hearts and do nothing. (from Chapter 5, Christmas Eve)
I bring you good news of deep joy in a shallow world. No matter how many fears and failures you bring to this place … no matter how difficult it has been to get through an average day … no matter what … God is leading us to deep joy that is eternal in a world that is focused on entertainment. (from Chapter 10)
Dr. Richard Wing captures the listener’s attention from the opening line in each of his sermons. But it doesn’t end there. His gripping messages continue to lift and inspire as he brings new depth of understanding to old texts.
Sermon titles include:
Made New By Interior Design — Luke 21:25-36, Advent 1
Made New By Getting Lost — Luke 3:1-6, Advent 2
Made New By Taking A Different Road Home — Luke 1:39-45, Advent 4
Yours For The Asking — Luke 2:1-20, Christmas Eve/Day
Living By The Calendar Instead Of The Clock — Luke 2:41-52, Christmas 1
Is It Better To Catch Or Be Caught? — Luke 5:1-11, Epiphany 5
… and more!Add to cartin stock within 3-5 days of online purchase
-
Letters From Bethlehem
$7.95Five monologues, in the form of short letters, take you into the thoughts and reflections of the traditional Advent figures as they share their experiences with those close to them. The vignettes may be memorized or may be presented in a modified reader’s theater format — the reader actually reading the letter aloud as it is being written.
The letters are from:
The angel to a friend
The shepherd to his family
The wise man to his court
Mary to her mother
Jesus to the childrenEach letter is followed by a hymn suggestion.
These five dramatic monologues for Advent will enrich your worship services.
Add to cartin stock within 3-5 days of online purchase
-
Prepare The Way Of The Lord
$12.95Those looking for a resource that will deepen and enrich their spiritual life during the Advent/Christmas season will find that resource here. These reflections will strengthen the reader’s mental preparation and will serve as a starling point for prayer and meditation.
Pastors will be helped with themes and illustrations for Advent/Christmas preaching
Teachers will use this material in their classes to help renew the right spirit of Christmas among their students
Those who are seeking a deeper spiritual life will be uplifted and inspired by these daily meditationsAdd to cartin stock within 3-5 days of online purchase
-
Reflections Of Light Ponderings Of Mary The Mother
$7.95Here are five brief dramatic monologues that tell the Christmas story through the eyes of Mary. A suggested order of worship includes hymns, scripture and a candlelighting ceremony, but the monologues could be used throughout Advent during the lighting of the Advent candles, in Sunday school or even weekday programs.
Add to cartin stock within 3-5 days of online purchase
-
Days Are Surely Coming Cycle C
$12.95In Bethlehem the rules are different. We get by giving. We win by losing. We live by dying. These are principles set forth by a God who comes to us, not under Herod’s golden crown, but Jesus’ thorny crown, not with legions of soldiers, but legions of angels, not in great Jerusalem, but in tiny Bethlehem. Let us begin our journey there. From the Advent 3 sermon
Robert A. Hausman writes that once again in Advent, we tell Israel’s story of hope against hope. We believe the promise of a shoot coming forth from a dead stump, of a king who executes justice.
“In faith we are ready to be called by the name, ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’ We remember not only the promise, but also the fulfillment,” says the author.
The 17 sermons in this book are based on the First Lesson texts primarily from Isaiah and Jeremiah. The sermons follow the Revised Common Lectionary.
Add to cartin stock within 3-5 days of online purchase
-
Good Tidings Of Great Joy
$7.95CASPAR: I had a strange dream last night, and I woke convinced that we should go in a different way.
MELCHIOR: Odd that you should say that — I had a dream, too! I am convinced that Herod has no desire to worship the child — he sees him as a threat to his throne. (From “The Wise Men” drama)
Here is a collection of short Advent dramas. The series can be presented with few rehearsals and limited props and costumes. Each drama easily fits within a worship setting. For a longer service, the dramas could be combined and offered as scenes for one complete service.
This series includes:
Mary and Elizabeth — Advent 1
The villagers of Nazareth — Advent 2
Ziph the Shepherd and his Wife Jerah — Advent 3
Gabriel — Advent 4
The Innkeeper’s Wife — Christmas Eve
The Wise Men — EpiphanyAdd to cartin stock within 3-5 days of online purchase
-
Kneeling In Bethlehem (Large Type)
$19.00In a style that is contemporary, reverent, and faith-filled, Ann Weems reflects on the mystery of the Christmas season. Included in this collection are twenty-six poems created specifically for this title as well as popular selections from her earlier workds, especially Reaching for Rainbows and Family Faith Stories. Capturing the spirit of joyful celebration, the poems can be used in worship services, read aloud at family gatherings, or used by individuals for quiet reflection.
Add to cartin stock within 3-5 days of online purchase
-
Come To Christmas (Revised)
$7.99From Advent wreaths to Christmas Trees, from Mistletoe to Lumiminarias, from, Hanging of the Greens to Epiphany,Come To Christmas provides families and Christian educators with a treasury of information and worship ideas for the season. Learn about the season of Advent, Advent Wreaths, Hanging of the Greens, Chrismon Trees, The Jesse Tree, the origins of popular traditions such as Santa Claus, mistletoe, and poinsettias, and much, much, more. Also includes a brief set of Advent services for lighting the Advent candles and the songs “The Holly and the Ivy,” and “The Friendly Beasts.”
Add to cartin stock within 3-5 days of online purchase
-
Somethings Coming Something Great Cycle A
$13.95The 17 sermons in this book are based on First Lesson texts, primarily from Isaiah. They follow the Revised Common Lectionary.
“I am grateful … for this opportunity to rediscover the excitement and anticipation of the Old Testament writers as they stood on tiptoe, waiting for God to act on the state of human history,” writes Robert A. Beringer. “Although each of these chapters is based on an Old Testament text, I have tried to make these messages Christ-centered in every way.”
Add to cartin stock within 3-5 days of online purchase
-
Times Up Cycle A
$12.95Loving people and caring for them isn’t enough to change the way the world works overnight…. Our caring isn’t enough to change all “bad” into “good.” But it is all we are asked to do. And it is enough. (from the sermon “Enough”)
The 17 sermons in this book are based on Gospel texts from Matthew. Sermons follow the Revised Common, Lutheran, and Roman Catholic lectionaries.
“The church is the place of greatest hope in our society,” writes John Jamison. “What happens when God’s people gather together and hear God’s word can happen no place else! Lives are changed. They are made whole, unbroken and hopeful. That is, and must be our task.”
Add to cartin stock within 3-5 days of online purchase
-
Lights Of Love
$7.95Faith, Hope, Love, Joy, and The Light Of The World are themes in this candle lighting service for the four Sundays of Advent and Christmas Eve. Each service includes a scripture, message and prayer with optional listing of hymns and calls to worship.
Lights Of Love provides a banner instruction section, a Christmas Eve candle lighting suggested order of service, and a brief explanation of the meaning of Advent.
In addition to public worship, the services can easily be used in a family worship or Sunday school setting.
Add to cartin stock within 3-5 days of online purchase
-
Christ Is Come
$7.95This flexible worship planner can be used as a supplement to your regularly scheduled services or as an independent celebration. Thoughtful reflections on the meaning of Advent and the birth of the Christ child are punctuated by an Advent wreath, familiar hymns and scriptures, insightful prayers, and a colorful banner.
Add to cartin stock within 3-5 days of online purchase
-
Of Love And Miracles
$7.95Present the Christmas story to your congregation this year with story, song, verse, and warmth of candlelight. This beautiful service includes an optional service of Holy Communion, suggested hymns and prayers, and a complete order of worship.
The service can be presented by the pastor alone or with the help of as many lay participants as desired. The order of worship may also be adapted for use during the Sundays of Advent.
Add to cartin stock within 3-5 days of online purchase
-
From Anticipation To Transfiguration Cycle A
$14.95The Advent season is one of expenctancy and anticipation. But it is not fulfilled completely in the Nativity. For it is not until the Transfiguration that God’s people can even begin to really understand what the fulfillment of God’s promise might mean.
Joe E. Pennel Jr. takes his reader on that journey “From Anticipation to Transfiguration” with the sensitive insight that Christmas is not the end but the beginning of God’s promise to his people.
Messages include:
– Shaped by the Future
– Away with the Stable
– The Called Ones
– Fog-Cleared Moments
and thirteen more!
For use with Common, Lutheran, and Roman Catholic Lectionaries.Add to cartin stock within 3-5 days of online purchase
-
Meditations For Advent And Christmas
$25.00For each day, from the beginning of Advent until Epiphany, the author briefly explains an appropriate biblical passage. He follows this with reflections on the meaning of the scripture for today and with a prayer.
Add to cartin stock within 3-5 days of online purchase
-
Kneeling In Bethlehem
$19.00In a style that is reverent and faith-filled, Anne Weems reflects on the mystery of the Christmas season. Included in this collection are twenty-six new poems as well as popular selections from her earlier works, especially Reaching for Rainbows and Family Faith Stories. Capturing the spirit of joyful celebration, they can be used in worship services, read aloud at family gatherings, or used by individuals for quiet reflection.
Add to cartin stock within 3-5 days of online purchase
-
Cradle The Cross And The Crown Series A
$13.95Designed for use by pastors who preach on lectionary texts, this set of model sermons focuses primarily on lections from the gospel of Matthew, the gospel appointed for use during Cycle A. Texts on which Dr. Bass’ messages are based include: The preaching of John the Baptist; the Matthew cycle of stories describing Jesus’ birth, including the flight into Egypt and the coming of the wise men; the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry; several texts from the Sermon on the Mount; and the Transfiguration story.
Add to cartin stock within 3-5 days of online purchase
