Small enough to carry in your pocket or mail to every member of the congregation, this booklet of daily devotions will enrich your experience of Lent and help you and the members of your church grow closer to God. Every devotion includes a suggested scripture reading and a closing prayer. A reading is provided for every day and Sunday in Lent and for Easter Sunday.
Available August 2010 "Advent, A Calendar of Devotions "is a booklet of daily devotions for the season of Advent (the four weeks before Christmas) that helps you step back from the bustle and stress of the season and prepare your heart and mind to rejoice in God's loving gift, Jesus Christ. Each daily devotion includes a recommended Scripture reading, a Bible verse, an inspiring message, and an uplifting prayer. "Advent, A Calendar of Devotions "is ideal for churches to purchase in large quantities to distribute to every adult member of the congregation and those beyond the congregation who need a message of hope, comfort, and joy. The booklet fits easily into an envelope for mailing. When ordering for your congregation, remember to secure copies for nursing home residents, prisons, and other groups with whom you are in ministry. Also available in large print (14-point type) for those with sight impairments. Other resources for your family: Lighting the candles in an Advent wreath at the family meal or other prayer time each Sunday and on Christmas day is a meaningful way to add to your preparation during this holy season. A variety of family Advent wreaths are available from Cokesbury.
Devotions for each day in Lent, printed in easy-to-read 14-point type; each reading includes a suggested Scripture, a short devotion, and a closing prayer.
We live in a multifaith society: an ever-growing, diverse cultural climate, where no religion is viewed as having a monopoly on truth. It is important when that Christ-followers not only share the Word of God but also listen and learn how to interact meaningfully with those of diverse perspectives as we engage in life’s most important conversations. Connecting Christ encourages believers to be not only better communicators and witnesses but also listeners to people of other worldviews and traditions—skills that are crucial in defending against today’s negative connotations and ineffective approaches associated with Christian evangelism. With extensive commentary from leaders of various walks of faith and life — from Judaism to Islam and Buddhism to atheism —theologian and author Dr. Paul Louis Metzger offers a spiritual compass to help navigate the intimidating yet critical dialogue of conveying our faith in Christ. Filled with practical guidance and insight into controversial topics, such as hell, fascism, and homosexuality, Connecting Christ reveals that there is a way of evangelizing that is neither disengaging monologue nor silent, lifestyle ministry but is, instead, an approach for evangelism and dialogue to go hand-in-hand. We must remove ourselves as the stumbling block to salvation for others and embrace a way to proclaim the uncommon, compassionate God revealed in Jesus Christ—the Savior this world is dying to know.
Celebrating the Lectionary is the catechist's go-to resource for faith formation on the Lectionary and the liturgical year. This supplementary resource helps you to bring the richness of the Lectionary and the liturgical year into your traditional faith formation or Catholic school program with easy-to-lead, 20-minute, no-prep sessions that can be adapted on the spot to meet the unique needs of your group. This resource includes materials for every Sunday and holy day of obligation from August 7, 2011, through June 24, 2012.
An annual favourite, the CANTERBURY PREACHER'S COMPANION provides a total of 150 complete sermons for the coming year, with hymn suggestions. For each Sunday of the year there are two sermons based on the Principal and Second Service lectionaries, plus a section of sermons for special occasions - Mothering Sunday, Harvest, baptism, marriage, funerals - and for all major saints' days. In addition, it offers at-a-glance summaries of the Bible readings, seasonal introductions, a full colour liturgical calendar and hymns suggestions throughout the year. The sermons are complete and ready to use, or can be used as a base for local adaptation. A boon for hard-pressed clergy and preachers everywhere.
"Within the struggle, joy, pain, and delight that attend our life, there is an invisible circle of grace that enfolds and encompasses us in every moment. Blessings help us to perceive this circle of grace, to find our place of belonging within it, and to receive the strength the circle holds for us." -from the Introduction Beginning in Advent and moving through the sacred seasons of the Christian year, Circle of Grace offers Jan's distinctive and poetic blessings that illuminate the treasures each season offers to us.
"We tend to use words like miracle and mystery in the context of serendipity. In this frank and eloquent account of life transformed by cancer, Deanna Thompson explores these articles of faith as they are also wont to appear--on the hard edges of hope and the dark side of joy." --Krista Tippett, from the Foreword Hoping for More is a story of a young religion professor with a stage IV cancer diagnosis and a lousy prognosis for the future. Amid the grief and the grace of her fractured life, this theologian--who is also a wife, mother, daughter, sister, and friend--searches for words adequate to express her faltering faith. More Anne Lamott meets Harold Kushner than the teller of a pious, God-saved-me-from-cancer tale, Thompson unpacks the messy realities that arise when faith and suffering collide. Told in shimmering prose, Hoping for More takes readers on an unsentimental journey through the valley of the shadow of cancer--beyond the predictable parameters of prayer, the church, even belief in life after death. What emerges is a novel approach to talking faith and accepting grace when hope is all you've got.
