Advent
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Voices Of Advent
$17.99Experience Advent with the Scriptures that inspire Christmas.
In Voices of Advent, Matthew L. Skinner leads readers through biblical texts and explores how they shape our lives and Christmas celebrations. We listen as Jesus promises to return to us in the future, to John the Baptist as he prepares the way for the Messiah, to the faithful people and poets who anticipate the magnificence of Jesus’s birth, and to the angels and visionaries who praise God when Christmas dawns. Listen carefully to the Bible’s various perspectives that shape our preparations for Christmas; you’ll hear hope in all of them. Voices of Advent helps readers experience Advent not only as the start of the Christian Church Year, but also as the powerful overture that sets the tone for the incredible story of Jesus
In addition to the book, other study components include a Leader Guide and video available on DVD.
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Come Thou Long Expected Jesus
$17.99Open your heart to the good news of Christmas
The Christian year is fundamentally a roadmap for pilgrims, as biblical witnesses lead spiritually hungry people on a journey to receive the full riches of God’s grace. During Advent, we take the first steps.
In Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus, Andy Langford and Ann Langford Duncan invite you on an Advent-to-Christmas pilgrimage to draw closer to Jesus and invite others to join you on this journey. Traditional Scripture readings and acts of worship reveal anew the treasures of God’s grace for all people. Let this book guide you to open your heart to the priceless gifts of the good news. Start your pilgrimage today and experience the full riches of God’s love.
During Advent and Christmas, explore:
*An Early Prophet: Isaiah
*Two Later Prophets: John the Baptist and John the Theologian
*The Mother of God and First Disciple: Mary
*The First Witnesses: Angels, Shepherds, Simeon, and Anna
*Grace Born in BethlehemIn addition to the book, other study components include a Leader Guide and video available on DVD.
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Calling All Angels
$17.00Step into Advent with this captivating study and devotional, where angelic encounters come to life, echoing the timeless message of overcoming fear.
What would you do if you were not afraid?
Life can be daunting, filled with uncertainty and fears. It wasn’t any different two thousand years ago when Jesus was born. An aged priest is told he is about to become a father for the first time. A young woman is told she is going to give birth – outside the protection of marriage. A simple carpenter is asked to believe the impossible. A group of shepherds’ night on a hill is interrupted by a bright host of angels in the sky.
Yet, each of these encounters begins with the same refrain: do not be afraid.
Those words, though, are not just words of comfort; they are an invitation and a calling from God. In this captivating Advent study and devotional, pastor Erin Wathen challenges us to take this timeless message and apply it to our lives today. Calling All Angels asks us to contemplate what would change in our relationships, vocations, congregations, and communities if we have the courage to overcome our fears like Mary, Joseph, Zechariah, and the Shepherds in the story.
Included in this book are:
Weekly studies perfect for individuals or groupsQuestions for reflection and discussionDaily reflectionsWorship resources including liturgies, prayers, and children’s momentsAn uplifting music playlist to accompany you through the Advent season
In addition to the wealth of resources for group study and worship found within the book, to further enhance your seasonal journey, digital resources, including images for displaying during worship services or group study sessions, a Spotify playlist, and chapter introduction videos from the author are available at www.wjkbooks.com/CallingAllAngels.
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Prepare The Way For The Lord
$18.99Prepare to receive Christ this Advent with the message of John the Baptist and best-selling author and pastor Adam Hamilton in Prepare the Way for the Lord.
For centuries, Christians have turned to the story and message of John the Baptist in the weeks leading up to Christmas. In Prepare the Way for the Lord: Advent and the Message of John the Baptist, best-selling author and pastor Adam Hamilton explores the Advent themes of John’s life and ministry, and how John calls all followers of Jesus to prepare our hearts for his coming.
In each of the Gospels, the story of Jesus is intertwined with that of his cousin John, the one whom the prophets foretold would come to “prepare the way of the Lord.” When we hear the message of John the Baptist, it makes us and our world ready to receive Christ.
Chapter topics include:
1. A People Prepared for the Lord
2. God Is Gracious
3. The Fruit of Repentance
4. Witnesses Testifying to the LightTo use Prepare the Way for the Lord as a four-week Advent study, additional components include a comprehensive Leader Guide and DVD/Video sessions featuring Adam Hamilton.
The book includes a link to free downloadable teaching resources for children and youth.
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Heavens Light Breaking
$19.96Prepare your heart for Christmas with Heaven’s Light Breaking a beautiful, giftable 25-day Advent devotional from beloved pastor and bestselling author Greg Laurie.
This Christmas, take time each day to slow down and focus on the joy of the season. In Heaven’s Light Breaking: A 25 Day Advent Devotional, best-selling author and pastor Greg Laurie shares wisdom, Scripture, and prayers designed to help you connect with God and find hope and peace amid the holiday rush.
From the miracle of the virgin birth to the visit from the magi, Heaven’s Light Breaking offers a fresh perspective on the most treasured days of the year. Each of Laurie’s warm and engaging readings will uplift your spirit, inspire your thinking, and encourage you to savor the special nature of the Christmas season.
Whether you read each day’s devotional entry alone or with your loved ones, let the warmth and love of God’s presence fill your heart and soul as you mindfully celebrate Christ’s wondrous birth this advent.
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Jesus Storybook Bible Advent Activity Book
$16.99This is your guide to a complete and creative celebration of the holiday season, filled with crafts, games, recipes, songs, and activities for every day of Advent. The Jesus Storybook Bible Advent Activity Book highlights the significance of the Nativity and meaning of God’s most precious gift.
The Jesus Storybook Bible Advent Activity Book is a journey through the Bible stories in both the Old and New Testaments that lead to Christmas. It includes:
*24 days of crafts along with songs, recipes, and activities to celebrate Advent, with easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions and color photos
*Variations on the activities to make them appropriate and accessible for all ages and families
*A perforated insert with punch-out Jesse Tree ornaments that correspond with the stories of Advent
*A heartfelt letter and reflection from New York Times bestselling author Sally Lloyd-Jones
*All supplies needed are commonly found around the house or easy to obtain.
This Christmas, start new holiday traditions with your family with The Jesus Storybook Bible Advent Activity Book, based on the bestselling The Jesus Storybook Bible, with over 6 million copies sold.
Other titles by Sally Lloyd-Jones include: The Jesus Storybook Bible, The Jesus Storybook Bible Christmas Collection, and Song of the Stars.
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Heaven And Earth Leader Guide (Teacher’s Guide)
$16.99Watch out. God is on the way.
It’s not within our own power to make a fresh start. If we’re to have a future different from the past, it must come as a gift, something not of our devising. What we need is a God who refuses to be trapped in eternity, a God who not only cares about us but is willing to show up among us and do something with us, here, now.
In Heaven and Earth: Advent and the Incarnation, Will Willimon introduces you to the God who does just that, bringing heaven to earth and changing everything. In Advent we celebrate and anticipate the earth-shaking, life-transforming good news that God is coming to us. Watch out. Get ready. God is on the way.
The Leader Guide contains everything needed to guide a group through the four-week study, including session plans, activities, discussion questions, and multiple format options.
Additional components for the four-week small group study include the book and DVD/Video Sessions featuring Will Willimon.
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Stay Awhile : Advent Lessons In Divine Hospitality
$17.00While the world tries to rush us into Christmas, decorating the day after Halloween and packing it all up once the gifts are opened on December 25, Advent is a season of preparation that-like our holiday gatherings themselves-takes time and care. Think of the anticipation that comes with hosting loved ones for Christmas dinner: We begin by extending an invitation. We make plans, and as the event draws closer, we begin our preparations. Ultimately, we open the door and welcome our guests, and that is when, finally, we celebrate.
?Advent should feel the same way, a time to make ready for the long-awaited event of Christ’s birth. In Stay Awhile, pastor Kara Eidson presents a banquet table of inspiration for Advent, including weekly reflections for personal and small group use, brief daily devotions, and ideas to involve the whole congregation. Congregational resources include liturgies, sermon starters, children’s moments, and even a no-rehearsals-needed Christmas pageant.
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All Creation Waits Gift Edition
$24.00A special gift edition of the bestselling book for Advent that reveals the wisdom and wonder of animals in the natural world
In twenty-five portraits depicting how wild animals of the northern hemisphere ingeniously adapt when darkness and cold descend, we see and hear as if for the first time the ancient wisdom of Advent: The dark is not an end but the way a new beginning comes. Short, daily reflections capture in vivid detail the intricate and astonishing ways that familiar animals, from the honeybee to the porcupine, prepare for winter. Each day’s reading is paired with a charming original woodcut illustration. Anyone who feels tired of the consumer hype of “the holiday season” will be refreshed and awakened to the eternal truth the natural world reveals.
This special gift edition:
*Includes a new introduction, with suggestions for how the book can be used during Advent
*Features inspirational thoughts from men and women through the ages – scientists, poets, and philosophers – who have found God through the beauty of creation
*Includes an Afterword, bringing readers up to date on what has happened since All Creation
*Waits was first published
*Invites quiet reflection during an often-chaotic holiday season
*Prompts meaningful conversations between children and adults, church groups, book clubs, creation care classes, and much more
Written with quiet passion and backed by extensive research, All Creation Waits has captured the minds and hearts of thousands of readers of all ages, from children to adults. Gayle Boss invites us to realize that God can be known in all creatures, and that paying attention to these creatures makes us more fully human, more fully ourselves.
“The practice of Advent has always been about helping us to grasp the mystery of a new beginning out of what looks like death. Other-than-human creatures–sprung, like us, from the Source of Life–manifest this mystery without question or doubt. The more I’m with animals and the more I learn about them, the more I know they can be more than our companions on this planet. They can be our guides. They can be to us ‘a book about God…a word of God, ‘ the God who comes, even in the darkest season, to bring us a new beginning.” –from All Creation Waits
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Comfort And Joy
$16.99Comfort and Joy speaks to the heart of those who long for hope and to those who find joy in the sacred celebration of Christ at Christmas.
Advent is the period in the Christian calendar that culminates in the celebration of the birth of
Christ. During this holy season of waiting, we reflect, meditate, and prepare our hearts for the coming into the world of the promised Messiah.
Advent reminds us of our longing for light, comfort, love, and joy, the eternal qualities of God.
Advent is a time to look within and listen for the voice of God. Advent responds to our deep
yearning for a closer, more intimate relationship with God through Christ.In this book of devotions, you will find:
*a daily thought
*a prayer suggestion
*a study scripture
*a question for consideration about how God is alive in Christ in your life and in the world.As you read the devotional for each day, may you feel the presence of God in Christ in the love that holds you close at Christmas and always.
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Holy Disruption : Discovering Advent In The Gospel Of Mar
$15.00Where’s the baby? The Gospel of Mark doesn’t have a nativity story–so where’s the Advent message? It’s in every aspect of Jesus’ life, to his death and beyond.
The Incarnation–God come to earth in human form to be baptized, teach, heal, eat, and die–is what we celebrate at Christmas, and Mark shows us just how radical and celebration-worthy it is!
Holy Disruption presents a fresh understanding of the holiness of Christmas grounded, not in a conventional cozy Christmas message, but through Mark’s disquieting gospel which invites its readers to experience God’s disruptive but transformative love for us and our world.
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Surprising God : Advent Devotions For An Uncertain Time
$17.00The world is slowly emerging from the worst global emergency in a century, and the myriad struggles of the contemporary moment-division, isolation, illness, and uncertainty-make living our faith a challenge. For Christians, a number of questions have gained new urgency: Where do we find hope when it seems in such short supply? Where are the signs of God’s peace in this divided world? Where do we find a deeper sense of joy?
Thomas G. Long and Donyelle C. McCray remind us that these are the questions of Advent in their new daily devotional, A Surprising God. Mindful of the stresses of life today in a world torn apart by conflict, marked by political division, and in the midst of a global health crisis, these devotions for Advent and Christmas invite readers to honest reflection on the challenges of being people of faith in this moment. Long and McCray explore what it means to wait for our salvation, to be open to the surprising thing that God is about to do, and to find hope in God’s choice of the small and the insignificant.
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Good Tidings Of Great Joy
$14.99Engage with the story of Jesus’ birth in a unique way that’s sure to become a treasured holiday tradition.
His coming went unnoticed by most people, but it was foretold from ages past.
His birth wasn’t announced by royal proclamation, but it was lauded by the angels of heaven.
There were no servants to attend Him, but shepherds left their flocks and wise men left their homes to catch a glimpse of His glory.
At Christmastime, we gather to celebrate the birth of Jesus, an event that forever changed our world–and the hearts of billions. And there’s no better way to get in the true Christmas spirit than to immerse yourself in the story of His coming. Good Tidings of Great Joy is the story of the first Christmas as told by the Bible. Every word comes from the New King James Version of the Scriptures, but elements have been arranged to create one unbroken narrative, ideal for reading.
Thoughtfully designed, this book is the perfect addition to your holiday traditions. Read it together as a family or cozy up near the fireplace by yourself to reflect on the day that the Son of God left His heavenly throne to be placed in a humble manger.
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Incarnation Leader Guide (Teacher’s Guide)
$16.99Learn the meaning behind the names of Christ and the difference He makes in our lives this Christmas.
His parents gave him the name Jesus. But the prophets, the shepherds, the wise men, and angels addressed him by other names. They called him Lord, Messiah, Savior, Emmanuel, Light of the World, and Word Made Flesh.
In Incarnation, best-selling author Adam Hamilton explores the meaning of these titles and what they tell us about the child whose birth we celebrate at Christmas. Join him and reflect upon the significance of the Christ-child for our lives and world today!
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Making Room Leader Guide
$16.99Learn how to make room in your heart for God and neighbor this Christmas.
Often our Advent preparations have an inward focus as we prepare for the significance of God breaking into our world through the birth of the Christ child. But in a closer examination of the Advent story, we quickly learn that the focus of the coming of the newborn king is outward.
In this book and Advent study, Dr. Ed Robb explores the warmth of welcome at Christmas following interactions with Mary and Joseph, the shepherds, and the magi. Just as Jesus made room in God’s kingdom for a host of people that society wanted to leave on the margins, beginning with the appearance of the shepherds, we too should be asking ourselves who we can make room for this Christmas.
Perhaps it is to the people in your community, or the newly immigrated family in town that doesn’t speak your language. Or maybe it’s the next-door neighbor who just settled in from yet another corporate move? The story of Christ’s birth encourages us to widen our borders and increase our sense of community-and make room for others.
The Leader Guide contains everything needed to guide a group through the four-week study including session plans, activities, and discussion questions, as well as multiple format options.
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Were On The Move Now Cycle B
$17.43“Acknowledge your gift. Use your gift for the benefit of others and to the glory of God who has ‘gifted’ you. People may not long remember your name. They may never know your name. But your gift to them will last forever.”
Throughout his collection of Advent centered sermons, Ronald Love reminds us to consider all of the gifts that God has given us and to use that which makes us unique to spread the word of God. Although it might be an intimidating task to preach about Jesus to those who may believe differently, Love calls to mind the talents that God has granted us in order to do just that. He reveals that the idea of preaching to others is not an invitation from the Lord but is instead a commandment from God: “What we have is a mandate to preach the gospel to all individuals.”
Even if you do not believe that you are qualified enough to spread the word, God knows that he chose the right person for the job when he created you and me. Instead of doubting ourselves, love encourages us to be like Paul in his letters to the Corinthians: “Paul’s attitude was that nothing will stop him from proclaiming the good news! Paul’s attitude was that no obstacle would stop him from offering the message of salvation! Paul’s attitude was that he would remain steadfast in his call to be an apostle–an ambassador–for the Lord!”
Sermon titles include:
*Be Near, Ye Faithful (1 Thessalonians 5:16-24)
*The Abounding Grace of God (Ephesians 1:3-14)
*A Child of God (1 Corinthians 8:1-13)This Advent season, remember your talents, and share what you have been given with others in order to spread God’s word, just as Love uses his gifts to help us grow closer to Jesus at the time of his birth.
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2000 Year Old Preacher Cycle B
$19.93“I am old and ready to die. To be truthful, I have been ready to die for years, but right now, I feel ready as I have never been before.”
This quote was taken from one of David Leininger’s sermons titled “Simeon: A Monologue,” in which he takes at one of the most well-known stories in the Bible, Jesus’ Visit to the Temple, and looks at it from a new perspective. Throughout The 2000 Year Old Preacher, he invites his audience to do the same, observing this holiday season from a new angle.
Consider the story of Mary, the mother of Jesus, and her status as the favored one of God. In his sermon, “Mary’s Complaint,” Leininger references how the favored mother of Jesus does not complain during her complications as she carries the Son of God, but continues to praise His name and remain grateful for the privilege that she had been given.
Leininger uses a variety of topics to ask his congregation to view their lives from a new perspective, using sermons such as:
*Advent 3: Hark the Herald…What? (John 1:6-8, 19-28)
*Nativity of Our Lord: God Bless Santa! (Luke 2:1-20)
*Epiphany 5: Heroines of the Faith (Mark 1:29-39)So take a step back from viewing the forest and look at the trees, have a seat at the feet of God, and experience new worlds that Leininger paints with his words of wisdom throughout The 2000 Year Old Preacher.
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Road To Hallelujah
$17.95Does the activity and busy calendar of the Christmas season wear you out? Are you always looking for a way to slow down when everyone around you seems to be speeding up? Do you long for the “old days” when faith and family seemed more important than finding that perfect “something” for people you barely know?
The writing team of The Immediate Word has come together to offer a respite from the frenzy of a busy season; to invite you to take some time to ponder the Gift of God to the people of the earth. This daily devotional for the seasons of Advent and Christmas will help to deepen your faith during a period that has become filled with frenetic activity and distractions in our contemporary world. Explore scripture during the season of Advent with the TIW team. Take time each day during this busy holiday season to slow down – becoming closer to God and his son, the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ.
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Advent For Everyone Matthew
$18.00Advent for Everyone: Matthew provides readers with an inspirational guide through the Advent season, from the First Sunday of Advent through the Saturday after the Fourth Sunday of Advent. Popular biblical scholar and author N. T. Wright provides his own Scripture translation and brief reflection to guide readers through the season toward the wonder and joy of Christmas. This book is suitable for both individual and group study and reflection.
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Advent For Everyone Luke
$18.00Advent for Everyone: Luke provides readers with an inspirational guide through the Advent season, from the first Sunday in Advent through the Saturday after the Fourth Sunday in Advent. Popular biblical scholar and author N. T. Wright provides his own Scripture translation and brief reflection, exploring the Gospel themes of faith, repentance, justice, and celebration.
Wright’s engaging reflections take you on a journey of spiritual enlightenment, guiding you toward the wonder and joy of Christmas. This book is suitable for both individual and group study and reflection.
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Focus On Jesus Cycle C
$21.18Every time Rev. Derl G. Keefer preaches a Christmas sermon, he asks himself the same question. Why did Jesus come to earth?
It’s the question that Jesus’ earthly parents, Mary and Joseph, must have asked themselves over and over. They struggled to understand why, when he was 12 years old, he would leave their care to join the scholars of the temple.
His answer served to refocus his own parents on who he really was.”Did you not know,” he asked them, “that I must be about my Father’s business?”
The 15 sermons contained in Focus on Jesus will provide four answers to the question of why he came by revealing the nature of the Father’s business as described in the Gospel of Luke:
*Jesus came to be the fulfillment of prophecy.
*Jesus came to be our Messiah.
*Jesus came to be our Savior.
*Jesus came to be the human face of God.This Advent season, utilize Keefer’s clear, simple teaching style in Focus on Jesus to help those seeking Jesus understand who he is, and to reignite the passion that first brought members of your congregation into his arms.
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Advent For Everyone
$18.00Advent for Everyone: A Journey with the Apostles provides readers with an inspirational guide through the Advent season, from the first Sunday in Advent through the Saturday after the Fourth Sunday in Advent. Popular biblical scholar and author N. T. Wright provides his own Scripture translation and brief reflection, helping readers understand Advent in the wider context of God’s love.
Wright’s engaging and accessible writing and imagery help us see Advent both in relation to the Bible’s message and in our own lives today. Each week discusses key themes for the season: thanksgiving, patience, humility, and joy. This book is suitable for both individual and group study and reflection.
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Coloring Advent
$12.99Following up to our bestselling Coloring Lent adult coloring book, Coloring Advent offers four weeks of original illustrations and scripture reflections to draw you deeper into the familiar Advent story. From the prophesies of the coming Messiah to the humble birth of Jesus and the arrival of the Wise Men, Coloring Advent offers a colorful and meditative journey through Advent like no other.
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Celebrating Abundance : Devotions For Advent
$16.00To “prepare for Christmas” in our society is to be sucked into a vortex of indulgence, from decor to gifts to calorie-rich foods. Layer upon layer of tinsel, lights, chocolate drizzle, and wrapping paper create the illusion of abundance, disguising the feeling of emptiness in our souls. The arrival of the Messiah, by contrast, is true abundance disguised by the impression of scarcity. Training our eyes to see through the rough stable, the adolescent mother, and the anxious escape to Egypt, we can see in that poverty and powerlessness the wonder of God’s abundant life and grace coming down to dwell among us.
This powerful devotional by best- selling author Walter Brueggemann includes daily reflections on the Scriptures and stories of Advent in order to invite us to see beyond the world’s faux extravagance and realize the true feast laid out before us. Twelve prayers are also included for the twelve days of Christmas.
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All Creation Waits
$18.99Open a window each day of Advent onto the natural world. Here are twenty-five fresh images of the foundational truth that lies beneath and within the Christ story. In twenty-five portraits depicting how wild animals of the northern hemisphere ingeniously adapt when darkness and cold descend, we see and hear as if for the first time the ancient wisdom of Advent: The dark is not an end but the way a new beginning comes.
Short, daily reflections that paint vivid, poetic images of familiar animals, paired with charming original wood-cuts, will engage both children and adults. Anyone who does not want to be caught, again, in the consumer hype of “the holiday season” but rather to be taken up into the eternal truth the natural world reveals will welcome this book.
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Names For The Messiah
$16.00In Isaiah 9:6, a divine utterance is given to us using four royal titles–Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace. Names for the Messiah ponders each title and how the people understood it then, how Jesus did or did not fulfill the title, and how Christians interpret Jesus as representative of that title.
Christians have claimed from the beginning that Jesus was the Messiah foretold in the Old Testament. In this study, best-selling author Walter Brueggemann tackles the questions: “What were these expectations?” and “Did Jesus fulfill them?”
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Advent Presence : Kissed By The Past Beckoned By The Future
$19.95Advent devotion for individuals or small groups, with an Advent poster-calendar sold separately
* Photographs and stories from daily life, for daily Christian living
* Study guide includedAdvent is a time of preparation, of patience, of remembering what grounds and sustains us. Advent reminds us who God is and who we are meant to be. This book offers a new look at Advent by seeing the four weeks through the lens of morning, mid-day, late afternoon and evening, and night. Photographs, stories, and perspectives enrich our travel and invite us to other dimensions of experiencing Advent, as a season and as a resource in our daily living. The book can serve as a devotional for individual or small group study for the Advent season, with a particular focus on the Year C gospel readings from Luke.
For individuals, small groups, Education for Ministry groups
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Feasting On The Word Advent Companion
$34.00This new volume in the Feasting on the Word series provides an all-in-one pastor’s companion for Advent, including worship materials as well as sermon preparation tools. A complete order of service is provided for each of the four Sundays in Advent, plus Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Hymn suggestions, sermon illustrations, and children’s sermon suggestions make this an invaluable resource for the Advent season.
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Gods New Possibility Cycle A
$18.68God’s New Possibility reflects upon the seasons of Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany, unpacking the truths of a divine hope ushered into the world through the infant Christ. In seventeen sermons, James L. Killen Jr. reminds us that we serve a living and breathing God, one who became visible through Jesus and remains tangible through His Church. This is the evidence of a heavenly kingdom manifested through God’s all-consuming presence and redemptive call — a kingdom that offers a “new possibility here for us in each present moment of our lives.”
The rich narratives of holy love found within the pages of Killen’s sermons remain emphatic: God’s love is not waiting for us at the borders of heaven; rather, He has already unleashed his redeeming love upon His world, and it is a love that calls all who proclaim His son as Lord and Savior to take an active role in spreading the good news of salvation.
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Come Thou Long Expected Jesus
$17.95Advent 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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Advent With Evelyn Underhill
$16.95For generations, readers have found in the writings of Evelyn Underhill the guidance to help them deepen their own interior lives in the Christian mystical tradition.
In this lovely volulme, Anglican author and editor Christopher Webber has carefully selected inspirational passages from Underhill’s most significant works, providing readings for every day of Advent and Christmas – and sharing the timeless treasure of Underhill’s spiritual vision.
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More Services For The Advent Wreath Cycle C
$22.43The 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 introitAdd to cartin stock within 3-5 days of online purchase
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6 Advent Plays For Children
$17.43So 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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Waiting For The Wonder
$17.95Imagine 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
$16.95The 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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Gabriels Horn : Readers Theater For Advent
$9.93Looking 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
$18.68The 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 introitAdd to cartin stock within 3-5 days of online purchase
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Faces At The Manger
$19.00In 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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Thespian Theology Cycle C
$17.43Stimulate audiences to see the scriptural message in a new and refreshing light with these inspiring sketches based on Cycle C lectionary readings for the Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany seasons. Originally developed for presentation by a high school-age youth group, the enjoyable scenes in this latest installment of John TenBrook’s popular Thespian Theology series are an excellent tool for sharing the Gospel with unchurched people and getting them excited about Jesus Christ. Each simple, easy-to-perform skit comes with brief “Thespian Theological Thoughts” that explore the connection between the drama and the scripture text. These versatile pieces can be used in place of the Sunday sermon or for youth programs and other fellowship settings — they’re sure to amuse and enlighten audiences of all ages.
Some of the intriguing titles include:
* Watch For The Signs! … Yo, What Signs? (Advent 1)
* Whose Gift Is It, Anyway? (Epiphany 2)
* So, You Wanta To Be A Prophet, Huh? (Epiphany 4)
* The Church Of The Twinkling Of An Eye (Epiphany 8)Add to cartin stock within 3-5 days of online purchase
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Christmastide : Prayers For Advent Through Epiphany From The Divine Hours
$18.00“A welcome remedy for the increasing number of lay Christians who have rediscovered the daily offices. Tickle puts each day’s prayers, psalms, readings, and refrains-everything you need-in one place. The rhythm that Tickle’s book establishes gives one a stronger sense of participating in an ancient, worldwide but very personal liturgy.”
-Nora Gallagher, beliefnet.com, and author of Things Seen and Unseen: A Year Lived in FaithThe third and final volume in a trilogy of prayer manuals compiled by Publishers Weekly religion editor Phyllis Tickle as a contemporary Book of Hours to guide Christians gently yet authoritatively through the daily offices.
The Divine Hours is the first major literary and liturgical reworking of the sixth-century Benedictine Rule of fixed-hour prayer. This beautifully conceived and thoroughly modern three-volume guide will appeal to the theological novice as well as to the ecclesiastical sophisticate. Making primary use of the Book of Common Prayer and the writings of the Church Fathers, The Divine Hours is also a companion to the New Jerusalem Bible, from which it draws its Scripture readings. The trilogy blends prayer and praise in a way that, while extraordinarily fresh, respects and builds upon the ancient wisdom of Christianity.
The third and final book in the set, Prayers for Springtime, provides prayers, psalms, and readings for this season associated with rebirth. Compact, with deluxe endpapers, it is perfect for those seeking greater spiritual depth. As a contemporary Book of Hours, The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime heralds a renewal of the tradition of disciplined daily prayer, and gives those already using the first two volumes the completion they are seeking. With this volume, the series culminates with three prayer manuals encompassing the liturgical and calendar year with the offices for every day.
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Living With Hope
$23.00Advent 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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Virtual Incarnation
$16.18In a time when spiritual hype is rampant and modern Pharisees sometimes seen to drown out all other voices, the quiet, reflective messages of William Kincaid offer a refreshing journey for the soul. His relaxed, conversational style will engage readers, and the insights of this master preacher into both scripture and modern life will leave them thirsting for more. Virtual Incarnation? is a superlative collection of sermons-it is don’t-miss reading not only for ministers and teachers, but also for personal worship and devotions.
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7 Advent Programs For Children
$22.43In 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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Something Is About To Happen
$12.43Previously published under the title Shepherds and Bathrobes, this series of model sermons for Advent/Christmas includes such topics as John the Baptist’s preaching in the wilderness, the Word made flesh, and a sound and light show on the mountaintop.
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Through The Eyes Of A Child
$16.18The 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)Add to cartin stock within 3-5 days of online purchase
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Dont Forget The Child
$17.43Alex 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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Holy E Mail Cycle A
$16.18Many 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
$16.18It 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
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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.
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Defining Moments Cycle B
$18.68The 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.
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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.
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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.
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These Are The Candles
$9.93Here 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.
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Advent Christmas Resources For Young And Old
$16.18These 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
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Letters From Bethlehem
$9.93Five 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.
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Prepare The Way Of The Lord
$16.18Those 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
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God In Flesh Made Manifest Cycle A
$16.18The old saw, that the preacher’s task is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable, proclaims a profound theological truth. For when we are afflicted, that is when God comforts us. If we are comfortable, God must first penetrate our false security. Only then can the news of the Messiah’s coming strike our ears as a word of comfort. From sermon for the second Sunday in Advent.
Mark Radecke has the ability to do both — comfort and afflict — through his provocative treatment of the lectionary texts for Advent, Christmas, Epiphany and the Transfiguration. His illustrations are often electrifying in their capturing of the Gospel kerygma.
Sermon titles include:
Come, Lord Jesus, Quickly Come!
Would We Rather Be Comfortable Or Comforted
Holy Love And Herod’s Love
Light In Darkness, Speech From Silence
Jesus’ Counter-cultural Sermon
Don’t Sweat The Numbers
Main Features And Coming AttractionsAdd to cartin stock within 3-5 days of online purchase
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Hope Beneath The Surface Cycle A
$16.18On these pages one encounters the moving image of the holy God with Isaiah in the temple, the powerful call to justice through the thundering voice of Amos, the depth of despair in the heart of Jeremiah and the struggle for faithfulness in the prophetic work of Hosca, Elijah and others.
Underlying every page is the presence of Jesus of Nazareth, who is constantly uppermost as each sermon unfolds. Robinson’s writing. Like his preaching, reveals a person who is in close touch with the common ventures of life, More significantly he is in touch with the common people of the working, playing and suffering worlds. And he is in touch with the verities of the Christian faith.
Reverend Vernon Bigler
Buffalo, New YorkThe gripping illustrations in this book are worth the price alone.
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Lift Up Your Heads
$16.18As the year 2000 draws closer the second coming of Christ will get more and more attention by Christians and non-Christians alike. If the past is any indication, speculative notions will be widespread, many of which will contribute to feelings of fear and anxiety at the prospect of an end to our world.
This book aims to help Christians evaluate the many conflicting ideas about the second coming by examining what the Bible actually says about it.
Important reading any time of year, these four chapters especially lend themselves to an Advent bible study for adult classes. Study questions for each chapter are provided at the back of the book.
Pastors will also find it a helpful sermon resource for Advent preaching.
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Reflections Of Light Ponderings Of Mary The Mother
$9.93Here 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.
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Jesus Reflects
$16.18O Lord, thank you. Thank you, for delivering the baby safely. I was afraid we would not make it to a place of shelter. I am so grateful that Mary can now find a few moments of rest. These last days have been so difficult for her.
— from “Joseph Ponders” (Advent 3)Jesus Reflects is a book of eight dramatic monologues on the Advent/Christmas theme, coupled with a children’s sermon with each monologue. The series begins with Thanksgiving and concludes with Epiphany Sunday.
Edward G. Hunter writes that the monologues enable the worship to “be there” at the event. Some of the monologues grew out of Sunday morning or evening services where an attempt was made to present a different approach to the Christmas season.
Sample chapter titles include:
* A Shepherd Returns
* The First christmas Tree
* Mary Remembers
* Simeon Recalls
* A Brand New PageAdd to cartin stock within 3-5 days of online purchase
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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.
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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.”
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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.
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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.
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