Are you tired of the materialistic craziness of Christmas celebrations? Instead of relishing the wonder and joy of the holy holiday, we stumble through in a commercial haze, feeling exhausted and ready for it all to be mercifully finished.

Is there an alternative to this commercial dilemma? Happily there is What we need is not only permission to reclaim our sacred season, but also creative ideas for peace-filled, stress-free, and meaningful celebrations.

A plethora of delightful and diverse ideas can help your family not only to anticipate the season but also to grow closer through Advent and enjoy the holy season in a more meaningful, other-centered way.

Christian joy is the constant awareness of the loving presence of Jesus, the Son of God, in our hearts. Advent is a time when we open our minds and hearts to search for the light of love, compassion, and peace in the Word of God. It is a time set aside for more intentional reading of the Word of God-reading that leads to personal reflection, prayer, contemplation, and humble service to others. Advent challenges us to remove the barriers of arrogance, sadness, selfishness, and greed that hinder us from welcoming Christ with joy and living in communion with him and our brothers and sisters.

--From the introduction

The true meaning of Advent and Christmas finds its voice in Joyful Meditations for Every Day of Advent and the 12 Days of Christmas. From the First Sunday of Advent through Christmas and Epiphany for each liturgical year (A, B, and C), this book will help prepare for and deepen our experience this holy season.

Opening each daily reflection is a Scripture quote from the day's readings. The reflection then reaches out to us in our busy lives to consider what God's Word has to offer us during the holidays. Next, a thought to ponder brings home the message for you-to really apply the reading and reflection to your life. Now say a Prayer, an offering and petition to the Lord in our anticipation of his arrival; finally a practice, a chance to change your daily routine in simple ways to bring God's love to your life this joyous season.

The meditative prayer practices known as Hesychasm and the Jesus Prayer have played an important role in the history of Eastern Orthodox Christianity. This book explores how these prayer practices have spread from a primarily monastic setting within Orthodox Christianity, into general Orthodox Christian usage, and finally into wider contemporary Western culture. As a result of this gradual geographic shift from a local to a global setting, caused mainly by immigration and dissemination of related texts, there has been a parallel shift of interpretation causing disagreement. By analyzing ongoing conversations on the practices, this book shows how such disagreements are due to differences in the way groups understand the ideas of authority and tradition. These fundamental ideas lie beneath much of the current discussion on particular aspects of the practices and also contribute to the wider academic debate over the globalization and appropriation of religious traditions.

The contributions to Discovering the Riches of the Word. Religious Reading in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe offer an innovative approach to the study of religious reading from a long term and geographically broad perspective, covering the period from the thirteenth to the seventeenth century and with a specific focus on the fifteenth and the sixteenth centuries. Challenging traditional research paradigms, the contributions argue that religious reading in this "long fifteenth century" should be described in terms of continuity. They make clear that in spite of confessional divides, numerous reading practices continued to exist among medieval and early modern readers, as well as among Catholics and Protestants, and that the two groups in certain cases even shared the same religious texts. Contributors include: Elise Boillet, Sabrina Corbellini, Suzan Folkerts, Eleonore Fournie, Wim Francois, Margriet Hoogvliet, Ian Johnson, Hubert Meeus, Matti Peikola, Bart Ramakers, Elisabeth Salter, Lucy Wooding, and Federico Zuliani.

Improve your mental health by discovering God's promise of comfort for the most common sources of daily anxiety, including loneliness, anger, fear, relationships, and finances. God never meant for us to feel so alone in facing our emotions. Though they often steal our peace and cause us restless nights, too often we just try to press through. In forty days of readings from the world's most popular Christian meditation app, Abide, you can journey through their most popular content on attaining the timeless peace found throughout Scripture, and renew your heart with God's abiding love. Through simply practicing slowing down to reflect on God's Word and release one care each day, you'll find rest for your soul and a deeper appreciation of Jesus's parting gift to his followers: peace of mind and heart (John 14:27) in even the most trying circumstances of life. Begin a new daily habit of self-care and experience a renewed outlook through: Reflections on biblical passages Engaging journal prompts Explorations of common sources of anxiety And suggested prayers You don't have to shoulder the burden of life's worries alone. Cast your cares on God one day at a time and discover the reassurance available to all believers at any time.

The Church Ritual Handbook provides pastors with a meaningful tool for the services they perform as shepherds of the flock of God. Covering a wide array of services, from less common rituals to the more known practices, this updated and expanded edition gives pastors immediate practical helps to service prepartion. This helpful resource includes: Includes instructions, an order of service, suggest hymns, Scripture readings and recitations for: The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper The Reception of Church Members The Sacrament of Baptism Marriage Installations Includes Calls to Worship, Offertories Ideas and Prayers and lesser known rituals: John Wesley's Covenant Service A Service of healing Service of Reconciliation Seasonal services including Advent, Easter, and Christmas