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Nurture your spirit
How do we prepare our hearts, minds and spirits to welcome Christ during the season of Advent? The blizzard of advertising campaigns, shopping excursions and social obligations is hardly conducive to spiritual reflection and formation!
Holidays are often difficult times for those who have recently lost loved ones or have gone through other major transitions. This time of year can also be particularly hard on church leaders and their families as they extend themselves to others in the spirit of the season. We hope that the resources and ideas provided here will help to nurture your spirit and to center you in the true significance of this special season as we celebrate Christ's incarnation and await his coming again. |
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Kneeling in Bethlehem
Ann B. Weems
 Ann Weems puts her heartfelt faith into this collection of 46 contemporary, reverent and faith-filled poems as she reflects on the mystery of the Christmas season. Capturing the spirit of joyful celebration, poems are inspirational in worship, at family gatherings or for quiet reflection. If you love Christmas, like poetry or both, you will want this book!
Item # 978-0664228880 • $19.95
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A peaceful Advent season includes time to pray, time to be still, time to tell the story of the coming Messiah. How do we plan for an Advent season like this? |
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Advent is a time to prepare for the return of the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ, who comes to us through the Word of God that is living and active, the Bible.
Devotional reading of the Scriptures has always been a wellspring of both Jewish and Christian spiritual life. While there is certainly a place for learning information and mastering the content of texts, in devotional reading we are seeking a deeper and more authentic relationship with the God in whom we live and move and have our being. Read more. |
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Following Thanksgiving, we hear the annual news reports of people pushing and shoving their way into stores for Christmas shopping specials and reports on how much our society goes into debt each year for the holiday season. It does seem that the season gets more hectic every year, and the pressure is on to produce the most extravagant parties, buy the best gifts and win the neighborhood decorating contest at all costs. In that mass of human-made insanity, it’s easy to stop and wonder what has happened to the celebration of Christ’s birth. Read more. |
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All too often the season of Advent and its gentle, quiet anticipation is drowned out by the Christmas carols blaring over the loud speakers at the shopping malls, the cha-ching of cash registers and the feeling in the pits of our stomachs that we will never be ready for Christmas. We don’t have enough time or enough money or enough patience! Our children are hyped up on parties and presents and letters to Santa. The adults wonder in weariness if we can get to all the school pageants, Christmas parties and extra choir rehearsals.
It is important for us as individuals and as a community of faith to take a deep breath and stop, even for a moment. Read more. |
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"There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see 'the Son of Man coming in a cloud' with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near." (Luke 21:25-28, Advent 1, Year C)
It can be jarring to be confronted with a text like that when it seems the whole world is already humming carols and baking cookies. Yet the beginning of Advent calls us to a deeper joy. For these texts that remind us of the judgment that will come at the end of time also remind us of the promise that will be fulfilled: Justice and peace will reign once and for all, sorrow and suffering will be no more and the Savior for whom we long will indeed come. Read more. |
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Journeying through the liturgical year and reading the weekly lectionary text unites God’s people around the world. The climax of the Christmas season comes on Epiphany as the star leads the Magi to journey from the east to worship the Christ child. Read more. |
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During the Christmas holidays, while many of us are caught up in the hustle and bustle of the season, it is important to remember that this may be a rather wearisome time that reminds older adults of what is no more. While older adults, especially those with limited opportunities for interaction, value visits at this time of year, Hattie Wagner, chaplain at Presbyterian Homes of Kentucky, suggests several activities you might consider including in your holiday plans that go beyond the traditional cookies and caroling. Read more. |
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