Sometimes a pause is good for the soul. It gives us the chance to regroup, reflect, and refocus on God. In Pauses for Lent, Trevor Hudson offers a beautifully minimalist book in which he focuses on one word for each day of Lent. You are invited to pause, focus on the word, read a scripture and a brief meditation related to the word, and then offer a prayer. Pausing in this way will help you carve out time for God and refresh your spirit even in the midst of a busy life. You may find yourself sensing God's presence in a new way and discovering that God wants to meet you in the midst of your life as it is, muddles and all.
How do you prepare for Pentecost? As followers of Christ, we are invited to become Easter people filled with the Holy Spirit. The Resurrection is the center of the Christian faith. Without it there would be no Christian story, Christian church, or Christian way of life. Did you know that the Christian calendar sets aside a season of 50 days between Easter and Pentecost? The Easter season, sometimes called Eastertide, includes our Lord's ascension and leads to the Day of Pentecost, when Christians remember the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Jesus' first followers. Have you ever taken 50 days to deliberately walk the path from Easter to Pentecost? Trevor Hudson writes, "If we are willing to take the time to pause, the season of Eastertide can become a time punctuated with precious moments of encounter with our risen Lord." Pauses for Pentecost offers 50 brief meditations that guide you to reflect on a biblical word and scripture passage, then do a simple daily practice. The daily practices do not take much time, and they are designed to let the new life of the Resurrection and the power of Pentecost flow into your life. Discover how to open your heart and mind more fully to the joy of Christ, the presence of God, and the power of the Holy Spirit.
Taking time to pause for a few minutes each day can help us maintain balance in our lives, especially during the Advent and Christmas seasons. In this simple yet not simplistic book, Trevor Hudson focuses on one biblical word of wonder for each day of Advent. His insightful reflections on the word for each day invite individuals and groups to a deeper understanding of Advent. Hudson also briefly explores the lives and thoughts of 4 significant characters in the Christmas story, encouraging us to immerse ourselves in the dramatic story. He offers a simple daily practice that helps us become involved in the Advent drama. Hudson's minimalist approach and conversational writing lead us to discover how we can open our hearts and lives more generously to God.
A New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice • Rex Stout meets Agatha Christie with a fresh twist in the new Pentecost and Parker Mystery, a delightfully hardboiled high-wire act starring two daring women sleuths dead set on justice as they set out to solve a murder at a traveling circus “A delight.... It’s a pleasure to watch [Pentecost and Parker] sifting through red herrings and peeling secrets back like layers of an onion.” The New York Times Book Review Someone’s put a blade in the back of the Amazing Tattooed Woman, and Willowjean “Will” Parker’s former knife-throwing mentor has been stitched up for the crime. To uncover the truth, Will and her boss, world-famous detective Lillian Pentecost, travel to the circus, where they find a snake pit of old grudges, small-town crime, and secrets worth killing for. Will called Hart & Halloway’s Traveling Circus and Sideshow home for five years, and Ruby Donner, the circus’s tattooed ingenue, was her friend. To make matters worse, the prime suspect is Valentin Kalishenko, the man who taught Will everything she knows about putting a knife where it needs to go. To uncover the real killer and keep Kalishenko from a date with the electric chair, Will and Ms. Pentecost join the circus in sleepy Stoppard, Virginia, where the locals like their cocktails mild, the past buried, and big-city detectives not at all. The two swiftly find themselves lost in a funhouse of lies as Will begins to realize that her former circus compatriots aren’t playing it straight, and that her murdered friend might have been hiding a lot of secrets beneath all that ink.
We can be quick to pray for people around the world in times of trauma, but has prayer become a way to avoid taking real action? Are we reluctant to be fully aware of the suffering around us? Trevor Hudson challenges us to see, hear, and respond to the needs of others, recognizing the living Christ in all things. Hudson designed an 8-day program—a pilgrimage—to help all Christians cultivate the depth of compassion Jesus demonstrated. Through this program, pilgrims learn to be present wherever they are and with whomever they meet. "We seldom become more compassionate without working at it," writes Hudson. "One practical way to cultivate compassion involves building the pilgrimage experience into our lives. …The risen Christ meets us in the lives of those who suffer." Join Trevor Hudson in this exploration of how to love your neighbor as yourself and choose compassion as part of your daily life.
Instead of always looking for answers in the Bible, Trevor Hudson suggests that we start thinking more carefully about the questions that God asks. God desires a conversational relationship with us, and He shows this desire by asking questions. God also gives greater dignity to us by allowing us to wrestle with the questions rather than if we are simply given answers. Questions God Asks Us presents ten questions – five from the Old and five from the New Testament – which God had asked and is still asking us as well. They include: Where Are You? Where Is Your Brother? What Are You Doing Here? Who Do You Say I Am? Do You Want to Get Well? Why Are You Crying? There is a much greater power to transform us in a question than there is in a straightforward answer – each chapter includes a section with practical suggestions to answer God’s question and discover this for yourself. It also includes discussion questions for study groups.Questions God Asks Us is bound in a handy gift format with beautiful full-colour images printed on gloss art paper.
Do you long for something more in your relationship with God? Are you struggling to feel the presence of the Holy Spirit? Are you ready to embark on a Spirit-propelled adventure of restoration, renewal and transformation? When we do not experience God’s life within us, our Christianity can deteriorate into a lifeless system of rules and empty rituals. If this describes you at the moment, know that you are not alone. Many spiritual seekers are tired of a superficial faith and yearn to know the fi re of God’s presence burning in their hearts. In Holy Spirit Here and Now Trevor Hudson shares his personal journey and offers practical guidance to help you experience the Holy Spirit moving in your ordinary life. Some of the common hurdles he addresses are: Feeling that the Holy Spirit is only available to religious professionals, but not to you Being put off by negative past experiences with people attempting to push you into an experience of the Holy Spirit Having a sense that something is lacking in your relationship with God Feeling that experiences of God’s Spirit are far removed from our everyday lives Believing that experiencing the Holy Spirit is a once-off event rather than a lifetime journey. Trevor Hudson encourages you to allow every part of your life – your emotions, body, soul, relationships, career – to become an arena where the Holy Spirit can work. This is what it means to be truly fi lled with God’s Spirit.
Are you soul-weary? Do you struggle to make time for God in the midst of a packed schedule? Or do you sometimes stay so busy doing things for God that you can't relax and just "be"? Jesus faced amazing pressure and overwhelming demands throughout his ministry, but he did not experience the burnout so common today among Christian ministers and laypersons. You can learn the rhythm of living that Jesus demonstrates — the Cycle of Grace — throughout the Gospels. Use this workbook and accompanying video about the Cycle of Grace either individually or in a small group. The Cycle of Grace examines 4 components of a grace-filled life: Acceptance Sustenance Significance Fruitfulness Trevor Hudson, a dynamic pastor, author, and speaker, introduces each part of the Cycle of Grace in a short video segment (available on YouTube). The video segments are titled as follows: Cycle of Grace 1: Acceptance Cycle of Grace 2: Sustenance Cycle of Grace 3: Significance Cycle of Grace 4: Fruitfulness Cycle of Grace 5: A Grace-filled Way to Live In the workbook Jerry Haas provides practical exercises for individuals and groups, complete with suggestions for journaling and preparing for group sessions. This 6-week study will help you know that God loves you nurture your spiritual life understand who you are called to be in the world learn how to restore balance to your life The workbook includes a Leader's Guide and several useful appendixes. A must-have resource for clergy and lay leaders, The Cycle of Grace is also an excellent text for seminary and college classes preparing students for ministry.
With over 25,000 copies sold of the hardcover version, this paperback edition of Macrina Wiederkehr's bestselling book,Seven Sacred Pauses: Living Mindfully Through the Hours of the Day, invites readers to learn how to pray the hours through the practice of consciously pausing at the seven sacred moments of each day, making their daily passage through time a more sacred pilgrimage. Using scripture, poetry, reflections, personal stories, and quotes from a rich array of spiritual teachers for many religions, Wiederkehr helps readers become more attuned to living in the present moment and develop a kindred spirit with the rich tradition of the sacred hours. Seven Sacred Pauses is a wonderful gift to those who seek to find balance in their busy days and to bring the practice of the Divine Hours home to their own hearts.
