For generations, churches and families have used Advent wreaths to help prepare for celebrating the Lord's birth at Christmas. The evergreen wreath symbolizes eternal life and includes four candles―typically three purple and one pink, with a white candle in the middle that symbolizes the purity of Christ. Various traditions assign different topics to each candle, and the candles are usually given names to remind us of the good news of Christ's birth.\nTo celebrate this season, TGC's editorial team put together 25 devotional readings that use the Advent wreath as a guide to focus hearts and minds on Christ during the month of December. Structured around traditional Advent themes―hope, peace, joy, love, and faith―these reflections will encourage your heart in this season of celebrating Christ's first coming, and longing for his second.

Christmas is the season most difficult to grasp and understand in all its spiritual richness. The sentimentality and commercialism that dominate the season tend to obscure the profound mystery at its heart: the Incarnation. God With Us provides the perfect way to slow down and reconnect with the litugical and sacramental traditions that illuminate the meaning of the Incarnation and bring it down to earth.Featuring daily meditations for the complete seasons of Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany, contributors Scott Cairns, Emilie Griffin, Richard John Neuhaus, Kathleen Norris, Eugene Peterson, and Luci Shaw offer a tapestry of reflection, Scripture, prayer and history. These profound words are enhanced by classic and contemporary art masterpieces carefully selected by the editors. God With Us will make anyone's journey to the stable in Bethlehem and the child in the manger utterly unforgettable.

Though Christians the world over make yearly preparations for Lent, there’s a conspicuous lack of good books for that other great spiritual season: Advent. All the same, this four-week period leading up to Christmas is making a comeback as growing numbers reject shopping-mall frenzy and examine the deeper meaning of the season.Ecumenical in scope, these fifty devotions invite the reader to contemplate the great themes of Christmas and the significance that the coming of Jesus has for each of us – not only during Advent, but every day. Whether dipped into at leisure or used on a daily basis, Watch for the Light gives the phrase “holiday preparations” new depth and meaning.Includes writings by Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt, Sylvia Plath, J. B. Phillips, Friedrich Wilhelm Foerster, Henri Nouwen, Bernard of Clairvaux, Kathleen Norris, Meister Eckhart, St. Thomas Aquinas, Karl Rahner, Isaac Penington, Madeleine L’Engle, Alfred Delp, Loretta Ross-Gotta, William Stringfellow, J. Heinrich Arnold, Edith Stein, Philip Britts, Jane Kenyon, John Howard Yoder, Emmy Arnold, Karl Barth, Oscar Romero, William Willimon, Johann Christoph Arnold, Gail Godwin, Leonardo Boff, G. M. Hopkins, Evelyn Underhill, Dorothy Day, Brennan Manning, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Romano Guardini, Annie Dillard, Martin Luther, St. John Chrysostom, Giovanni Papini, Dorothee Soelle, C. S. Lewis, Gustavo Gutiérrez, Philip Yancey, J. T. Clement, Thomas Merton, Eberhard Arnold, Ernesto Cardenal, T. S. Eliot, John Donne, Gian Carlo Menotti and Jürgen Moltmann.

What if you were visited by an angel one night who told you that you were to give birth to the Son of God? How would you feel? What might you think? Written as a series of vivid and dramatic first-person accounts, The Promise and The Light tells the stories of Mary, Joseph and Zechariah as they experience the events of the first Christmas. Written in a lively and engaging style, this imaginative yet biblically faithful book will captivate children aged 8-12. Readers will be able to get inside the hearts and minds of some of the key players in the Christmas story and will appreciate the power and excitement of what happened and why it is so amazing for us today. With 25 chapters, readers may choose to read a chapter a day during Advent.

In this edition of Advent and Christmas Wisdom, each day's reflection includes a selection from one of Chesterton's finest works, a suitable bible verse, an appropriate prayer and an action-oriented exercise. Readers will find the format stays the same, but this addition to our bestselling series is truly a refreshing, prayerful preparation for the coming of Christ at Christmas.

From one of the most original voices in contemporary spiritual literature comes this new book that weaves together the liturgical calendar, traditions from Christmas masses in medieval times, traditional themes of Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany, and stories from scripture and her own life. A delightful gift for those with whom you share the waiting and watching of the season of hope.

Expect the unexpected this Christmas.\\nThis four-week Advent study focuses on the experiences of four sets of often overlooked characters in the Nativity story. During this Advent season, Rachel Billups guides readers through the themes of hope, love, joy, and peace by sharing the stories of Elizabeth and Zechariah, Herod, the Magi, and the shepherds. Each set of unexpected characters has something to teach about living faithfully on the journey to Christmas.\\nAdditional components to use the book as a four-week small group study include a leader guide and DVD/Video Sessions featuring Rachel Billups.

Infuse your days with meaning. You are part of a larger Story. And the One who began the Story is at work today, in your life, in the midst of your meetings and bills and family activities that make the days rush by and blur together. In these pages Bobby Gross opens to you--and opens you to--the liturgical year, helping you inhabit God's Story every day. \n\nRemembering God's work, Christ's death and resurrection, and the Spirit's coming will change you, drawing you into deeper intimacy with God and pointing your attention to the work of the Father, Son and Spirit right now, in and around you.\nYou'll be reminded daily that your life is bigger than just you, that you are part of God's huge plan that started before time and will continue into eternity.\n Whether you're familiar or unfamiliar with following the liturgical year, this book makes it easy to do, offering here the significance and history of each season, ideas for living out God's Story in your own life, and devotions that follow the church calendar for each day of the year. "The power that overshadowed Mary and raised Jesus from the dead also guarantees the final redemption of all things in him; that same power is at work in us now," Gross writes. "Keeping liturgical time, making it sacred, opens us further to this power as, year after year, we rehearse the Story of God--remembering with gratitude, anticipating with hope--and over time live more deeply the Story of our lives."

"Christians believe not just in one coming of Christ, but in three." We tend to think of Advent as the season of anticipation before Christmas--and while it is that, it's also much more. Throughout its history, the church has observed Advent as a preparation not only for the first coming of Christ in his incarnation but also for his second coming at the last day. It's also about a third coming: the coming of Christ to meet us in our present moment, to make us holy by his Word and Sacrament. In this short volume, priest and writer Tish Harrison Warren explores all three of these "comings" of Christ and invites us into a deeper experience of the first season of the Christian year. Each volume in the Fullness of Time series invites readers to engage with the riches of the church year, exploring how its traditions, prayers, Scriptures, and rituals all point us to Jesus.

In Preparing for Jesus, best-selling author and master storyteller Walter Wangerin Jr. recreates verbal images of the events surrounding the Advent of Christ, offering a devotional journey into the heart of the Christmas season. Through rich detail and vivid images, these moving meditations make Christ's birth both intimate and immediate, allowing us to see Christmas from its original happening to its perennial recurrence in our hearts. Preparing for Jesus is sure to be a seasonal classic, treasured year after year.

"O wondrous exchange!" Of all the seasons of the church calendar, Christmas is the one most recognized and celebrated by our society at large. That means it's the season we're most familiar with--but that can also make it harder to see past Christmas's many cultural trappings to its timeless beauty. At the first Christmas, God exchanged the glories of divinity for the vulnerability of human existence, uniting himself to us in order to unite us to God. In this short volume, priest and theologian Emily Hunter McGowin invites us into the church's celebration of that great exchange, in all its theological and liturgical splendor. Each volume in the Fullness of Time series invites readers to engage with the riches of the church year, exploring the traditions, prayers, Scriptures, and rituals of the seasons of the church calendar.

Advent for Everyone: A Journey with the Apostles provides readers with an inspirational guide through the Advent season, from the first Sunday in Advent through the Saturday after the Fourth Sunday in Advent. Popular biblical scholar and author N. T. Wright provides his own Scripture translation and brief reflection, helping readers understand Advent in the wider context of God's love.\n Wright's engaging and accessible writing and imagery help us see Advent both in relation to the Bible's message and in our own lives today. Each week discusses key themes for the season: thanksgiving, patience, humility, and joy. This book is suitable for both individual and group study and reflection.

To "prepare for Christmas" in our society is to be sucked into a vortex of indulgence, from decor to gifts to calorie-rich foods. Layer upon layer of tinsel, lights, and wrapping paper create the illusion of abundance, disguising the feeling of emptiness in our souls. The arrival of the Messiah, by contrast, is true abundance disguised by the impression of scarcity. Training our eyes to see through the rough stable, the adolescent mother, and the anxious escape to Egypt, we can see in that poverty and powerlessness the wonder of God's abundant life and grace coming down to dwell among us. This powerful devotional by best-selling author Walter Brueggemann includes daily reflections on the Scriptures and stories of Advent in order to invite us to see beyond the world's faux extravagance and realize the true feast laid out before us. Twelve prayers are also included for the twelve days of Christmas.

ECPA Christian Non-Fiction Bestseller, Christmas 2023“Joy to the world—the Lord has come!”We sing these words every year, but what does it mean that the Creator came to his creation as a baby? How exactly does the “earth receive her King?” What does it sound like when rocks, hills, floods, and plains echo his praise? And what would it mean for you to join in the chorus?Heaven and Nature Sing invites you into a fresh reading of the Christmas story—one where earthy, overlooked things like snowflakes, trees, serpents, bodies, and swaddling bands reveal the glory of the Promised Son. Journeying from the first pages of Scripture to the last, you’ll experience the goodness of our Creator King and learn how the whole earth sings his praise.So this Advent season, join Hannah Anderson as she guides you through 25 meditations on the natural elements of the Christmas story. Accompanied by Nathan Anderson’s distinctive artwork, the entries gradually move you from hope to faith to joy to peace. Find your soul renewed and your heart restored, and discover once again why heaven and nature sing.

Engage with the Christmas story as you may never have heard it. With insights from the Old and New Testaments, John Greco brings to life the historicity and beauty of the birth of Christ and how it relates to us today. The Promise of Christmas offers twenty-five readings that will prepare your heart for the birth of the King.

Encounter Christ on every continent and in every century of Christian History. A new genre of Bible―a weekly meditation Bible―Holy Bible: Mosaic is an invitation to experience Christ both in His word and in the responses of his people. Each week, as you reflect on guided Scripture readings aligned with the church seasons, you will receive a wealth of insight from historical and contemporary writings. Full-color artwork will engage the soul; quotes, hymns, prayers, and poems enhance the rich devotional experience. Also includes a Dictionary/Concordance, NLT word study system with Hebrew/ Greek dictionary. A beautiful layout of art and devotional content, and an online community and content (coming Fall 2009) will extend the experience.

Take the time this Christmas season to connect with your kids in a meaningful way while enjoying a very special Advent in Odyssey! Prepare for Christmas with 24 Adventures in Odyssey episodes―designed to help your family understand Christmas in a new and meaningful way. Use in conjunction with the Adventures in Odyssey Advent Calendar or on its own. This Christmas, start a new family tradition and have fun with your friends from Adventures in Odyssey.

The third and final volume in a trilogy of prayer manuals compiled by Publishers Weekly religion editor Phyllis Tickle as a contemporary Book of Hours to guide Christians gently yet authoritatively through the daily offices.The Divine Hours is the first major literary and liturgical reworking of the sixth-century Benedictine Rule of fixed-hour prayer. This beautifully conceived and thoroughly modern three-volume guide will appeal to the theological novice as well as to the ecclesiastical sophisticate. Making primary use of the Book of Common Prayer and the writings of the Church Fathers, The Divine Hours is also a companion to the New Jerusalem Bible, from which it draws its Scripture readings. The trilogy blends prayer and praise in a way that, while extraordinarily fresh, respects and builds upon the ancient wisdom of Christianity. The third and final book in the set, Prayers for Springtime, provides prayers, psalms, and readings for this season associated with rebirth. Compact, it is perfect for those seeking greater spiritual depth. As a contemporary Book of Hours, The Divine Hours:Prayers for Springtimeheralds a renewal of the tradition of disciplined daily prayer, and gives those already using the first two volumes the completion they are seeking. With this volume, the series culminates with three prayer manuals encompassing the liturgical and calendar year with the offices for every day.

How to focus on Christ during Advent\nMost Christians agree that Christmas is all about Jesus, yet most of us spend little time preparing our hearts to celebrate Him. Why is this? Partly because we don’t know how.\nIn Unwrapping the Names of Jesus, Asheritah Ciuciu leads readers through the four weeks of Advent (Hope, Preparation, Joy, and Love). Each week:\n\nBegins with an interactive family devotional that equips readers to celebrate Advent together \nOffers five daily reflections that focus on that week's name of Jesus\nIncludes suggestions for fun-filled family activities or service projects \n\nThis devotional can be used by readers in their own personal worship times or as a tool to engage in family worship during the busy holiday season. Either way, participants will gain a greater sense of awe and wonder at who Jesus is.\nBy focusing on the person and character of Jesus throughout the Advent season, readers will prepare their hearts so that when they admire the live nativity, sit in the candlelight service, or wake up on Christian morning, they can join the faithful who sing from the bottom of their hearts, "O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord!"

Are your holidays too hectic? Take a few minutes to savor the season with this beautiful Christmas edition of Jesus Calling devotions, a perfect gift that includes 50 short selections along with festive and breathtaking imagery.\nJesus Calling® for Christmas is a compilation of 50 seasonally appropriate devotions from Sarah Young's bestselling brand. In addition to the heartwarming devotions, enjoy scriptures about the Christmas story and exquisite seasonal images.\nWhether a self-purchase to enhance your observation of Advent and the birth of the Christ child or a natural gift for friends and loved ones, Jesus Calling® for Christmas will prove an annual treasure for celebrating the season.

“As Lauren Winner says "Maybe it’s not right to think of feasting during the somewhat penitential season of Advent, but that is what this book is: a sumptuous feast.” In keeping with At the Still Point: A Literary Guide to Prayer in Ordinary Time (“a thing of beauty” and “a literary treasure trove and devotional feast,” two reviewers called it) this collection contains daily and weekly inspirational readings to help the reader prayerfully experience God through the liturgical seasons of winter. Well-loved classics by Andersen, Dickens, and Eliot join contemporary works by Frederick Buechner and Gary Schmidt. Poems by Donne, Herbert, and Rossetti are paired with newer voices: Scott Cairns, Benjamín Alire Sáenz, Susanna Childress, and Amit Majmudar. Readers are invited to experience Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany in its raw strangeness, stripped of sentiment, and to turn toward Emmanuel.

For over a decade, The Jesus Storybook Bible has been introducing children to God’s wonderful story, and the Savior at the center of that story. Trusted and treasured for over a decade, with over 3 million copies sold, The Jesus Storybook Bible is the quintessential book for parents, grandparents, pastors, and anyone else who wants to share God’s Never Stopping, Never Giving Up, Unbreaking, Always and Forever Love with children.What makes The Jesus Storybook Bible different from every other kids’ Bible?While other kids’ Bibles contain stories from the Old and New Testaments, The Jesus Storybook Bible tells the Story beneath all the stories in the Bible, pointing to Jesus as our Savior. From the Old Testament through the New Testament, as the Story unfolds, children will clearly see that Jesus is at the center of God's great story of salvation—and at the center of their story too.The Jesus Storybook Bible: Is beautifully written by New York Times bestselling author Sally Lloyd-Jones and illustrated by award-winning artist Jago Contains 21 stories from the Old Testament and 23 stories from the New Testament Visually brings Scripture to life for children, sharing how Jesus is at the center of our story Presents the best-loved stories of the Bible in an easy-to-understand format Is the perfect kids’ Bible for any age up to 6th grade, as well as church ministry Makes an ideal gift for Christmas, Easter, and other gift giving occasionsOther titles in the Jesus Storybook Bible collection include: The Jesus Storybook Bible: A Christmas Collection the board books Found, Near, and Loved The Jesus Storybook Bible Coloring Book The Story of God's Love for You, which presents the Jesus Storybook Bible text for adults

Combat the stress of the holidays by focusing on the true liberating message of Christmas! Drawn from the extensive preaching and teaching ministry of John Piper, these 24 Advent meditations will lead you to ponder the events surrounding Jesus' birth---as well as his significance as Israel's long-awaited Messiah, joy-bringer, and Savior of the world. 64 pages, softcover

About The Series Modern life is fast-paced. Even worse, it's often chaotic and confused. But it doesn't have to be that way. Our days and our weeks are part of God's created order; the sun setting and rising, the regular shift from work to rest: all of these form a rhythm for our lives, a rhythm that the church has historically observed through a set calendar of feasts and fasts. Maybe you've used an Advent calendar to count down the days till Christmas. Or you might have recently tried giving up something for Lent. These practices are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the riches of the Christian church year. Why do we celebrate seasons in the church? How can we do it well? And what does it mean for you? Thousands of Christians wrestle with these questions, and others like them, every year - even every season. In this series of books, these questions are answered! Written for Christians who want to embrace the historic traditions of the church, and whose desire is to bring them into their daily lives and homes, Let Us Keep the Feast seeks to provide explanation, guidance, and resources for richer, fuller practices for living the Church Year at home. About This Volume Advent and Christmas are two of the most frequently practiced seasons in the church, but many Christians wonder how they could approach them more personally and devotionally. In the Advent and Christmas edition of Let Us Keep the Feast, you'll find help for celebrating both seasons: traditions new and old, suggested readings, recipes, and prayers.

Prepare your heart this year by expecting Christ for Christmas. That first Christmas, the world missed His coming. They missed worshipping the newborn King. Two thousand years later, people are still missing Him. What if you’re missing Him? But what would this Christmas be like if your heart was prepared to expect Christ? Expecting Christmas offers forty daily readings to help center your heart on the Christ of Christmas so you can respond to the peace, hope, and love made flesh in worship. This year let Christ fill your heart with the season of joy.

Max Lucado loves Christmas. Let the sleigh bells ring. Let the carolers sing. The more Santas the merrier. The more trees the better.\nHe loves it because somewhere someone will ask the Christmas questions: What’s the big deal about the baby in the manger? Who was he? What does his birth have to do with me?\nAnd the answers he’s found give us all hope. God knows what it’s like to be a human. When we talk to him about deadlines or long lines or tough times, he understands. He’s been there. He’s been here. Because of Bethlehem, we have a friend in heaven. \nAnd Christmas begins what Easter celebrates. The child in the cradle became the King on the cross. Because of Bethlehem, we have a Savior in heaven.\nThese are the heart shaping promises of Christmas. Long after the guests have left and the carolers have gone home and the lights have come down, these promises endure.\nLet’s turn on the lamp, curl up in a comfortable spot, and look into the odd, wonderful story of Bethlehem.\nMax has found a lifetime of hope. We will too.

An interactive story, sound, and song Advent experience for the whole family! Brought to you by beloved New York Times bestselling author Sally Lloyd-Jones and based on the bestselling The Jesus Storybook Bible, with over 2 million copies sold. With an interactive array of creative and heartfelt elements, The Jesus Storybook Bible A Christmas Collection: Is a picture book for children ages 4 to 8 Features 16 buttons that activate 20 seconds of classic Christmas music or narration by award-winning British actor David Suchet Includes four beloved Christmas hymns: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel; God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen; We Three Kings; and Joy to the World Four pages of Advent activities and a "map" tracing Jesus's story through the Old Testament, with suggested Bible readings for each day of Advent Activity and a devotional thought referencing the Epiphany (or Three Kings' Day) for an extended celebration of Jesus's arrival Includes a heartfelt letter and reflection from New York Times bestselling author Sally Lloyd-Jones This picture book not only highlights the significance of the Nativity and reaffirms the spiritual meaning of God's most precious gift, it does what few other Christmas or Advent books do. It shows that even the Old Testament stories pointed to a Rescuer, and it is a complete celebration of the holiday season, which doesn't end on Christmas morning with Jesus's birth. The Jesus Storybook Bible A Christmas Collection is a great Advent or Christmas gift for the family. This premium interactive picture book helps children young and old understand and celebrate the true meaning of Christmas by showing readers that at the center of every story in Scripture is a baby, the child that everything will depend on.

Add The Advent Storybook to your family holiday traditions and enjoy the rich images and thoughtful retellings of ancient stories that feature God’s recurring, faithful promise to rescue us. A simple question at the end of each story helps readers engage in understanding the bigger story God wants us all to know—the good news of Jesus coming to save us. Parents and children alike will delight in the biblical messages of joy, hope, and peace every day as they look forward to celebrating Jesus’ birth.

2016 ECPA award winner. Over 50,000 copies sold!\n13-inch 3D pop-up tree\nDevotional booklet with 25 family devotions written by Ann Voskamp\n24 Christmas tree ornaments with hangers\nStar-shaped tree-topper\nBased on her bestseller Unwrapping the Greatest Gift, Ann Voskamp expands her presentation of the timeless Advent tradition of the Jesse Tree with this beautiful keepsake that can be handed down and enjoyed for generations.Each December, families can celebrate the coming of Jesus by opening the book to see a stunning 13-inch, three-dimensional Jesse Tree pop up from the page. At its foot are 25 doors, one for each day of Advent, which hide meaningful, beautifully detailed ornaments―including the Christmas star―that are ready to be hung on the tree.Also inside is a simple devotional book with a reading for each of the 25 ornaments.