< p>This is a book of inspiring prayers and meditations for the Advent and Christmas season. Daily prayers for morning and evening devotion are followed by a space in which the reader in encouraged to write his or her own prayers, meditations, reflections, and insights.
A Stubborn Sweetness and Other Stories for the Christmas Season is a collection of modern- day short stories by Katherine Paterson, award-winning author of Bridge to Terabithia and The Great Gilly Hopkins- both loved by children and adults for over twenty years. This compilation includes stories of real-life people such as a shopping mall's night watchman, a lonely widower, a pregnant teenage runaway, a political prisoner in China, a grieving mother, and a privileged American, who...
The 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 ques...
During the holidays, so many of us can suffer for all kinds of reasons. The magnitude of our weary world weighs on our hearts and minds. We wrestle with chronic pain, broken relationships, shattered dreams, fragile faith, and unexpected losses. Our grief and sorrow feel particularly acute when compared to the festivity and joy everyone else seems to be feeling. More and more churches are acknowledging this fact with “Blue Christmas” services (also called “Longest Night” services) and offering re...
Advent 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.
Advent 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...
Advent 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 Christma...
"Walking into Advent can be like walking through the wardrobe." With its enchanting themes of snow and cold, light and darkness, meals and gifts, temptation and sin, forgiveness and hope—and even an appearance by Father Christmas—C. S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe fits naturally into the Advent season. As the reader seeks a storied king and anticipates the glorious coming of Christmas, these twenty-eight devotions alternate between Scripture and passages from the novel to prompt...
At Christmas, God came into our ordinary world in the form of a child, and still today, God is at work through the ordinary stuff of life, if we train our eyes to see.
In this daily devotional for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany, Jill J. Duffield draws readers’ attention to ten ordinary objects that appear in the biblical narratives of messianic prophesy and incarnation—objects we encounter in our own lives. Through objects such as gates, trees, cloth, light, and water, readers will find new me...
Preeminent hymn writer and liturgist Brian Wren offers this new collection of worship resources suitable for use in a variety of worship traditions. These theologically sound and creative worship resources include orders of worship (liturgies) and worship elements such as litanies, calls to worship, thanksgivings, and affirmations of faith, all crafted to encourage rhythmic public responses during worship.This book is Scripture based and Scripture oriented. All the worship materials...
Buy our Bible Stories and Parables Picture Book Bundle today and save! With this bundle, you save 40% on the retail price of each book, which means that you save an additional 5% versus purchasing each book separately on this site.
This book bundle features resources that explore various Bible stories and parables, including:
Who Counts? 100 Sheep, 10 Coins, and 2 Sons by Amy-Jill Levine and Sandy Eisenberg Sasso and illustrator Margaux Meganck
The Marvelous Mustard Seed by Amy-Jill Levine and ...
Step 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...
To "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...
Buy our Character and Acceptance Picture Book Bundle today and save! With this bundle, you save 40% on the retail price of each book, which means that you save an additional 5% versus purchasing each book separately on this site.
This book bundle features five picture books that can help inspire positive character development, including: No One Else like You by Siska Goeminne and illustrator Merel Eyckerman The Story of AND: The Little Word That Changed the World by Sandy Eisenberg Sasso and ill...
How might a house look for Christmas based on what each Gospel says about it? In Christmas in the Four Gospel Homes, beautiful illustrations from architect Kevin Burns reimagine each of the four Gospels as a “house,” which the church visits at Christmas. In each section, Cynthia M. Campbell reflects on the distinctive perspective of the birth of Jesus or the incarnation offered by each Gospel. Suitable for individual or group study, Christmas in the Four Gospel Homes creatively reimagines the se...
Buy our Christmas Picture Book Bundle today and save! With this bundle, you save 40% on the retail price of each book, which means that you save an additional 5% versus purchasing each book separately on this site.
This book bundle features three picture books that are perfect for the Christmas season, including:
Home by Another Way: A Christmas Story by Barbara Brown Taylor and illustrator Melanie Cataldo
The Night of His Birth by Katherine Paterson and illustrator Lisa Aisato
The Worst Christ...
This collection of carefully selected lectionary readings, poems, carols, prayers, and litanies will enrich the Christmas worship experience--in the church and at home. The three main segments of this anthology follow the traditional sequence of the Christian liturgical year: Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany. With this resource, the hearths of homes can become altars, and the blessed season may be honored in holy tribute to the birth of Christ.
This new volume in the Feasting on the Word series provides an alternative to strict lectionary use for Advent, with six thematically-designed services for the four Sunday in Advent, as well as, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Four midweek services provide a supplemental study of John the Baptist to enhance the congregation's Advent experience. The resources in this companion are a combination of material from existing Feasting on the Word volumes as well as newly written material...
Buy our Growing Up and Emotions Picture Book Bundle today and save! With this bundle, you save 40% on the retail price of each book, which means that you save an additional 5% versus purchasing each book separately on this site.
This book bundle features five picture books that cover important topics like anger management, moving, bullying, and accepting others. Featured picture books include:
Simon and the Big, Bad, Angry Beasts: A Book about Anger by Ian De Haes
What in the World Is Wrong wit...
Where’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 thro...
“In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, "Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage."
—Matthew 2:1–2
This enchanting Christmas story by beloved author and preacher Barbara Brown Taylor follows the three wise men on their world-changing journey to Bethlehem. In this beautiful retelling of their adventure, Taylor captures the power of...
In 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.
In this book, James G. Kirk provides meditations to help Christians celebrate Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany. After a synopsis of the recommended Bible passage, there is a reflection, written in understandable language with real-life examples, which provide insight and direction for making the day more meaningful. A closing prayer follows. Based on Scripture readings from the lectionary, these meditations can be read by individuals or used with a group.Part of the Advent Devotio...
In 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 royal designation 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 autho...
Valuable not only for their sublime musical expression, the African American spirituals give us profound insights into the human condition and the Christian life. Many focus on an essential scene of the Christian drama: the coming of God as the child in Bethlehem and as the hope of the world and the liberator of God's oppressed people. In these devotions for the season of Advent, Luke Powery leads the reader through the spirituals as they confront the mystery of incarnation and red...
