A beautifully written, theologically astute Advent study that focuses on the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth.

'This is a wonderful companion for Lent by Bishop David Walker. It is short but deep, and engages the reader in both prayer and reflection. A perfect way to explore what it means for all of us to belong to Christ in a challenging world.' Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury Every day during Lent Bishop David Walker invites us to look afresh at a Biblical character or saint. We gain new insights into their lives. He helps us journey through Lent with a deeper knowledge of how much God loves and treasures us. God reminds us 'You are mine.' David draws on his experience as an ordinary member of a family and a friend, a theologian and a Bishop. God's desire is for us to belong to Jesus and to each other. The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu 'Again and again, as I have sought to look into both the scriptures and my own life, I have heard in the silence the one who assures me, ever more strongly, 'You are mine'. My hope and prayer is that you who read it will hear something of the same.' At this time of Lent, David Walker explores different aspects of human belonging through the medium of scripture and story in order to help us recognise the different ways in which we are God's beloved. And as we recognise ourselves and our own lives in the narrative of God's engagement with humanity and his creation, he gently challenges us to engage for God's sake with God's world.

Since the 1950s, millions of American Christians have traveled to the Holy Land to visit places in Israel and the Palestinian territories associated with Jesus's life and death. Why do these pilgrims choose to journey halfway around the world? How do they react to what they encounter, and how do they understand the trip upon return? This book places the answers to these questions into the context of broad historical trends, analyzing how the growth of mass-market evangelical and Catholic pilgrimage relates to changes in American Christian theology and culture over the last sixty years, including shifts in Jewish-Christian relations, the growth of small group spirituality, and the development of a Christian leisure industry. Drawing on five years of research with pilgrims before, during and after their trips, Walking Where Jesus Walked offers a lived religion approach that explores the trip's hybrid nature for pilgrims themselves: both ordinary--tied to their everyday role as the family's ritual specialists, and extraordinary--since they leave home in a dramatic way, often for the first time. Their experiences illuminate key tensions in contemporary US Christianity between material evidence and transcendent divinity, commoditization and religious authority, domestic relationships and global experience. Hillary Kaell crafts the first in-depth study of the cultural and religious significance of American Holy Land pilgrimage after 1948. The result sheds light on how Christian pilgrims, especially women, make sense of their experience in Israel-Palestine, offering an important complement to top-down approaches in studies of Christian Zionism and foreign policy.

Designed to empower preachers as they lead their congregations to connect their lives to Scripture, Connections features a broad set of interpretive tools that provide commentary and worship aids on the Revised Common Lectionary. For each worship day within the three-year lectionary cycle, the commentaries in Connections link the individual lection reading with Scripture as a whole as well as to the larger world. In addition, Connections places each Psalm reading in conversation with the other lections for the day to highlight the themes of the liturgical season. Finally, sidebars offer additional connections to Scripture for each Sunday or worship day. This nine-volume series is a practical, constructive, and valuable resource for preachers who seek to help congregations connect more closely with Scripture. This volume covers Year A for Lent through Pentecost.

God Reached Down from Heaven with the Best Gift of All
A sacred season is about to unfold for three women whose hearts belong to God.
Elizabeth is barren, yet her trust in God remains fertile. Mary is betrothed in marriage, yet she is willing to bear God's Son. Anna is a widow full of years, yet she waits patiently, prayerfully for the Messiah to appear in the temple courts.
Following in their footsteps, you too can prepare for the Savior to enter your heart, your mind, and your life in a vibrant, new way. Best-selling author Liz Curtis Higgs explores the biblical stories of Elizabeth, Mary, and Anna, unwrapping each verse with tender care and introducing you afresh to The Women of Christmas.

'My favourite thing about this book is the different perspectives on one main thing... Worship! Reading it provided much clarity on a word that is often misunderstood.' Guvna B, Rapper, Author & Broadcaster What does it mean to be a worshipper? Together, Tim Hughes and Nick Drake explore who, where, why and how Christians worship, what happens when we do and where the future of worship may take us. With contributions from Graham Kendrick, Lou Fellingham, Kees Kraayenoord, Dr Helen Morris and many more, this book offers a fresh reminder that worship isn't just music and the songs we sing, it is so much more. The Spring Harvest 2021 theme book, Why Worship? will help you reconnect to the purpose and meaning of worship, so that you can grow closer to God individually and as a church community and get the most out of worship. Contributors Tim Hughes, Nick Drake, Dr John Andrews, Dr Helen Morris, Graham Kendrick, Lou Fellingham, Lyn Weston, Kees Kraayenoord, Noel Robinson, Doug Williams, Dr Darell Johnson.

In recent times the popularity of the Camino de Santiago has prompted renewed interest in pilgrim walks in Ireland. Increasing numbers now follow ancient Irish pilgrim paths to such holy places as Glencolumbkille, Croagh Patrick, Lough Derg and Glendalough. John G. O'Dwyer has walked - or, in the case of Clonmacnoise, cycled - the pilgrim trails of Ireland, from Slieve Mish in the northeast, where Christianity may have had its first dawning in Ireland, to Skellig Michael in the southwest, where the known world once ended. Each walk description has directions, the degree of difficulty, estimated time and a map. The paths are varied and suited to a range of abilities, from casual ramblers to committed walkers. In each route the author recounts his feelings and experiences, and describes the entertaining and insightful characters he meets along the way.

Gegenstand der Analyse ist der Brauch des Reliquienfests (Heiltumsweisung, ostensio reliquiarum), bei dem die Reliquien einer Kirche oeffentlich zur Schau gestellt wurden. Auf der Grundlage von Untersuchungen zu 24 spatmittelalterlichen Reliquienfesten im roemisch-deutschen Regnum werden die liturgisch-zeremoniellen Muster dieser Feste und ihre Funktionen, besonders im Bereich des Ablasswesens und der Herrschaftsreprasentation (speziell Residenzbildung), dargestellt.

Die vorliegende Untersuchung befasst sich mit den "Festgottesdiensten" Friedrich Schleiermachers als Prediger an der Berliner Dreifaltigkeitskirche zwischen 1809 und 1829. Ausgehend von Schleiermachers Theorie des Festgottesdienstes werden neun dieser Festgottesdienste rekonstruiert, indem die Elemente Lied, Kirchenmusik, Gebet und Liturgie so weit wie moeglich dokumentiert und deren theologische wie asthetische Koharenz gepruft werden. Unterbrochen werden diese Analysen durch vier Exkurse (Kirchenmusik, Gesangbucharbeit, Agende und Gottesdienstvorbereitung). Es folgt ein Dokumenten- und Materialanhang, der uberwiegend ungedruckte Quellen aus dem Umfeld des Schleiermacherschen Gottesdienstes erstmalig veroeffentlicht, darunter die wieder-entdeckten Protokolle der Berliner "Gesangbuchs-Commission". Die von Schleiermacher in seiner liturgischen Theorie postulierte Einheit und Ganzheit des Kultus kann in seiner eigenen liturgischen Praxis der Festgottesdienste der Berliner Zeit eindrucklich nachgewiesen werden. Die einzelnen liturgischen Elemente sind sorgfaltig aufeinander abgestimmt, wobei jeweils in der Predigt der Schlussel zum theologischen Gesamtverstandnis des Gottesdienstes zu sehen ist.