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Discover how everything changed when God was born. Everything seems different at the end of the year. We put lights on our houses to dispel the growing darkness, Christmas music floods local radio stations, apple cider and cranberry sauce are again on the menu, and wrapping paper and tape are always ready. Things just look, smell, and taste differently during the Advent and Christmas season, and these differences are a sign to us that God is about to do something radical and different. Christmas is when God surrounded the divine with senses of his own. That first noel was when God had eyes to see suffering, ears to hear our cries, and hands to hold those in need, and all of these senses were bundled in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. “This will be a sign to you,” the angel told the shepherds, and they traveled to Bethlehem and found a child. What signs do you see during the Advent and Christmas season that point you to the divine? Additional components to use the book as a four-week small group study include a leader guide and DVD/Video Sessions featuring Matt Rawle. This book also includes a link to free downloadable teaching resources for children and youth.
Discover how everything changed when God was born. Everything seems different at the end of the year. We put lights on our houses to dispel the growing darkness, Christmas music floods local radio stations, apple cider and cranberry sauce are again on the menu, and wrapping paper and tape are always ready. Things just look, smell, and taste differently during the Advent and Christmas season, and these differences are a sign to us that God is about to do something radical and different. Christmas is when God surrounded the divine with senses of his own. That first noel was when God had eyes to see suffering, ears to hear our cries, and hands to hold those in need, and all of these senses were bundled in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. “This will be a sign to you,” the angel told the shepherds, and they traveled to Bethlehem and found a child. What signs do you see during the Advent and Christmas season that point you to the divine? The Leader Guide contains everything needed to guide a group through the four-week study, including session plans, activities, discussion questions, and multiple format options. Additional components for the four-week small group study include the book and DVD/Video Sessions featuring Matt Rawle. The Leader Guide also includes a link to free downloadable teaching resources for children and youth.
An Anthology of Advent readings, collected from the works of 22 classic and contemporary theologians with a high view of Scripture, it will help in preparing your heart to honor the sacredness of each Christmas season.
In 1741, John Wesley preached his famous sermon titled “The Almost Christian” in which he encouraged people to follow Christ wholeheartedly. We should not be satisfied with being almost Christian but rather strive towards being altogether a Christian. In Almost Christmas: A Wesleyan Advent Experience, author and pastor Magrey deVega leads a group of authors to explore how we can make the same commitment to Christ during Advent, connecting our Wesleyan heritage with the traditional Advent themes of Love, Hope, Joy, and Peace. In this book, perfect for Advent, deVega and the other authors break down the barriers that prevent us from experiencing an “altogether” love, hope, joy, and peace in Christ in our lives and in the world around us. They demonstrate the promises God offers to us that makes those longings a reality, inviting us to claim those promises for ourselves this Advent and celebrate an altogether Christmas. Chapters include: Altogether Love Altogether Hope Altogether Joy Altogether Peace Additional components for a four-week study include a DVD featuring Magrey deVega and the other writers and a comprehensive Leader Guide, as well as nativity hymns by Charles Wesley, litanies for lighting the Advent wreath, and prayers that can be incorporated into both worship and small group settings. A daily devotional and a youth study book are also available.
Every year, we say we’re going to cut back, simplify, and have a family Christmas that focuses on the real reason for the season—Jesus. But every year, advertisements beckon, the children plead, and it seems easier just to indulge our wants and whims. Overspending, overeating, materialism, and busyness rob us of our peace and joy and rob Jesus of his rightful role as the center of our celebration. This Christmas, cut through the hype that leaves you exhausted and broke at the end of the year. Instead, experience the peace of knowing that God is truly with us, the joy of giving sacrificially, and the love of a Savior who gave everything he had for us. In five short, engaging chapters, Pastor Mike Slaughter inspires readers to approach Christmas differently, and be transformed in the process.
Rediscover the heart of the Advent season As the year comes to a close and the stress and busyness of the consumer Christmas holiday grows, it can be easy to lose sight of what the season really calls us to: worship. In today’s world, is it even possible to slow down, to ponder, to wonder in the coming birth of Christ? This Advent, recapture the mystery and beauty of the season with The Wonder of Advent Devotional. In this insightful and thought-provoking book, beloved devotional author Chris Tiegreen brings you into a deeper experience of this integral time in the church calendar. After completing a week of short readings to prepare your heart for the Advent season, you’ll journey through December with daily Scripture readings, prompts for reflection, and guided prayer to help you savor this remarkable divine story. With each day, The Wonder of Advent Devotional will reconnect you with what happened in Bethlehem long ago—and experience it anew in your life right now.
25 Days of the Christmas Story: An Advent Family Experience is a family devotional designed to help kids and parents engage with the Christmas story in a unique way--one person, place, or object from the Christmas story at a time!
This Christmas season, slow down the whirling merry-go-round and really enjoy the reason for the season. The Experience of Christmas helps families focus on the birth of Christ, through unique, two-stage devotionals-the first part, brief and simple, is for families with young children, while the balance of the reading goes into greater detail for older kids. With enough readings for every day in December-covering topics like Fulfilled Prophecies, Family Service, Christmas Symbols and Traditions, Names of the Messiah, and Christmas Worship-The Experience of Christmas provides food for thought, prayer starters, and ideas for meaningful family activities.
There is so much to do and share with our loved ones at Christmastime, it's possible to reduce the season to a holiday checklist we methodically work our way through. If we aren't intentional with the moments we have in the month of December, we can find ourselves on the 25th filled to the full of the good things this season brings, but missing the very best thing of all. That's what the Experience Christmas devotional is about-making space during a beautiful, but hectic time of year to wonder at the miracle of Christmas. Each devotional is formatted to engage the heart through Scripture, song, reflection, and prayer. Sprinkled throughout the book are fictionalized vignettes capturing what the characters of the Biblical story might have been thinking or feeling as they experienced the Nativity in real time. Formatted for both individual or group study, Experience Christmas is an incredible tool for both believer and seeker to engage the Biblical narrative in a new way. It clearly outlines the plan of Salvation and challenges the reader to prepare their heart for the manger during the first twenty-five days of December to experience this Christmas season, like no Christmas season they've experienced before.
"If you lie awake worrying about the overnight transition from December 31, 1 b.c., to January 1, a.d. 1 (there is no year zero), then you will enjoy Duncan Steel's Marking Time."--American Scientist "No book could serve as a better guide to the cumulative invention that defines the imaginary threshold to the new millennium."--Booklist A Fascinating March through History and the Evolution of the Modern-Day Calendar . . . In this vivid, fast-moving narrative, you'll discover the surprising story of how our modern calendar came about and how it has changed dramatically through the years. Acclaimed author Duncan Steel explores each major step in creating the current calendar along with the many different systems for defining the number of days in a week, the length of a month, and the number of days in a year. From the definition of the lunar month by Meton of Athens in 432 b.c. to the roles played by Julius Caesar, William the Conqueror, and Isaac Newton to present-day proposals to reform our calendar, this entertaining read also presents "timely" tidbits that will take you across the full span of recorded history. Find out how and why comets have been used as clocks, why there is no year zero between 1 b.c. and a.d. 1, and why for centuries Britain and its colonies rang in the New Year on March 25th. Marking Time will leave you with a sense of awe at the haphazard nature of our calendar's development. Once you've read this eye-opening book, you'll never look at the calendar the same way again.