Reclaiming Christmas

Reclaiming Christmas PDF Author: Ginger Jurries
Publisher: WestBowPress
ISBN: 1490814426
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 158

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Book Description
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.

Reclaiming Christmas

Reclaiming Christmas PDF Author: Ginger Jurries
Publisher: WestBowPress
ISBN: 1490814426
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 158

Get Book Here

Book Description
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.

Reclaiming Christmas

Reclaiming Christmas PDF Author: Ginger Jurries
Publisher: WestBow Press
ISBN: 1490814418
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 161

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Book Description
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.

Christmas

Christmas PDF Author: Bruce David Forbes
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520933729
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 198

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Book Description
Written for everyone who loves and is simultaneously driven crazy by the holiday season, Christmas: A Candid History provides an enlightening, entertaining perspective on how the annual Yuletide celebration got to be what it is today. In a fascinating, concise tour through history, the book tells the story of Christmas—from its pre-Christian roots, through the birth of Jesus, to the holiday's spread across Europe into the Americas and beyond, and to its mind-boggling transformation through modern consumerism. Packed with intriguing stories, based on research into myriad sources, full of insights, the book explores the historical origins of traditions including Santa, the reindeer, gift giving, the Christmas tree, Christmas songs and movies, and more. The book also offers some provocative ideas for reclaiming the joy and meaning of this beloved, yet often frustrating, season amid the pressures of our fast-paced consumer culture. DID YOU KNOW For three centuries Christians did not celebrate Christmas? Puritans in England and New England made Christmas observances illegal? St. Nicholas is an elf in the famous poem "The Night Before Christmas"? President Franklin Roosevelt changed the dateof Thanksgiving in order to lengthen the Christmas shopping season? Coca-Cola helped fashion Santa Claus's look in an advertising campaign?

Living the Season Well

Living the Season Well PDF Author: Jody Lee Collins
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781977718440
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 124

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Book Description
Living the Season Well is a down-to-earth volume that encompasses the arc of Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany, introducing a new frame of mind about approaching the holidays. Readers will find practical wisdom and ways to reimagine the celebrations and reclaim the joy of Christmas. For those whose church background has not afforded them a knowledge of the Church Calendar, its feasts and practices, Living the Season Well also serves as an introduction to the holy days (holidays) with simple ways to adopt or adapt the traditions of Advent, Christmas and Epiphany. Included in this compact volume are family practices that will: *Bring readers and extended families closer to the heart of God *Infuse celebrations with the joy readers crave *Reveal the wisdom of living by the Church Calendar versus the 'calendar' of consumerism. *Promote a thankful attitude in by shifting the Christmas focus from gifts to God The Book will: *Outline the pattern of waiting for, celebrating and sharing Christ's birth *Provide specific examples of ideas for observing the entire Christmas season, including Epiphany *Provide resources and activities for children of all ages to inspire and replace current practices

Reclaiming Christmas Joy

Reclaiming Christmas Joy PDF Author: Julie Ademe
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781737959700
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
Christmas is a time for celebration. We celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus. We gather in our homes as we celebrate the season of giving with friends and family. We celebrate by decorating, listening to holiday songs, and gazing at the brightly illuminated holiday displays.Christmas also comes with a full calendar. The month fills with shopping, parties, decorating, baking-the list is endless. We desire to focus on the celebration of Jesus' birth, but each year our self-imposed plans leave us busy, overtired, and anxious.There is another way to celebrate. On December 1st let's begin our day reclaiming Jesus' promised gifts of peace and joy. Each day we will unwrap the blessings of worship and prayer by connecting with the life-giving breath of Christ. In His presence we will be refreshed by His love and have the capacity to share His love with others.I know it's difficult to find time in our busy day for worship, but, Jesus is faithful to help each of us on this journey. He will bless us as we spend time together, and along the way, our relationship with Him will grow and flourish.

Gospel Discipleship Congregation Guide

Gospel Discipleship Congregation Guide PDF Author: Michelle J. Morris
Publisher: Abingdon Press
ISBN: 1501899082
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 135

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Book Description
Each congregation has a unique mission field. Several tools for developing disciples and for engaging in discipleship are available to churches; however, the resources assume that the churches using them are similar to the church that created them. With Gospel Discipleship, individuals and churches learn how to engage in self-reflection, which then defines a path that fits their context. The discipleship path for each individual disciple is assessed and determined through the Gospel Discipleship Participant Guide while this Gospel Discipleship Congregation Guide guides the implemntation of the program and assesses the discipleship path for the congregation as a whole. Therefore, the program leader(s) needs the congregation guide while individual particpants need their own participant guide. With Gospel Discipleship, churches can identify a pathway for discipleship applied from one of the four Gospel storytellers: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Each had a distinct approach to discipleship which can be applied to a given church's identity, vision, and mission. As disciples are encouraged by the church to step beyond the door and engage the needs of people, they can be sent forth confidently with an awareness of personal, unique gifts, and insights into the actual mission field where they participate with God in changing the world.

Simply Christmas

Simply Christmas PDF Author: Tama Fortner
Publisher: Ink & Willow
ISBN: 0593233387
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 129

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Book Description
Thirty-one encouraging devotions to help busy moms pause and ponder the true miracles of the Christmas season--the wonder of a Savior who would leave heaven to save us and the love of those who share our home. Between holiday baking, hunting for the perfect tree, decorating, preparing for visiting relatives, and making sure everyone gets the ideal gift, Christmas can be anything but peaceful for a busy mom. Too often, the stress and busyness of the season make it difficult to find time to just sit and reflect on the wonder of the Savior's birth. If this sounds familiar, allow Simply Christmas to be your personal invitation to slow down and savor the beauty of the manger this year. These thirty-one devotions are not dated, so you're welcome to begin reading anytime--whether that's on December 1, Christmas Eve, the day after Thanksgiving, or the middle of July--without even a smidgen of guilt or shame. Accompanied by seasonally inspired full-color photographs, this thirty-one-day devotional brings a bit of calm to each day through a short reflection and Scripture, together with points to ponder and fun ideas for simplifying your Christmas traditions.

Christmas Unwrapped

Christmas Unwrapped PDF Author: Richard A. Horsley
Publisher: Trinity Press International
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
Fascinating critique of the American Christmas from the perspectives of cultural studies, theology, & biblical studies.

Living the Season Well

Living the Season Well PDF Author: Jody Collins
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780578403625
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 128

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Book Description
Living the Season Well is a down-to-earth volume that encompasses the arc of Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany, introducing a new frame of mind about approaching the holidays. Instead of December ramping up to the pinnacle of Christmas, with a vast let down for everyone the day after, LTSW puts forth some practical ways to reimagine the celebrations and reclaim their generosity with an outward, other focus. For those whose church background has not afforded them a knowledge of the Church Calendar, its feasts and practices, LTSW also serves as an introduction to the "holy days." Rather than throwing out traditions that are hallmarks of more "high church" celebrations, LTSW puts forth simple ways to adopt or adapt the traditions of Advent, Christmas and Epiphany. LTSW is NOT a collection of crafts and recipes to do with your family. It is also NOT a daily devotional for the season with inspirational readings or poems. Living the Season Well puts forth reasonable, up-to-date steps for this electronic, screen-filled age we live in, a fact that impacts children as young as two. Included are examples and ideas to slowly change, adopt or adapt family practices with the goal of: Bringing readers and their extended families closer to the heart of God Infusing celebrations with the joy readers crave Readers will: Discover the wisdom of living by the Church Calendar versus the "calenda"' of consumerism. Be able to model and pass on a joyful, thankful attitude in their homes by shifting the Christmas focus from gifts to God Learn how to adopt or adapt practices for the season The Book will: - Outline the pattern of waiting for, celebrating and sharing Christ's birth - Provide specific examples of ideas for observing the entire Christmas season - Provide resources and activities for children ages 3-18 to inspire and replace current practices

Reclaiming Art in the Age of Artifice

Reclaiming Art in the Age of Artifice PDF Author: J.F. Martel
Publisher: North Atlantic Books
ISBN: 1583945784
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 209

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Book Description
Part treatise, part critique, part call to action, Reclaiming Art in the Age of Artifice is a journey into the uncanny realities revealed to us in the great works of art of the past and present. Received opinion holds that art is culturally-determined and relative. We are told that whether a picture, a movement, a text, or sound qualifies as a "work of art" largely depends on social attitudes and convention. Drawing on examples ranging from Paleolithic cave paintings to modern pop music and building on the ideas of James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, Gilles Deleuze, Carl Jung, and others, J.F. Martel argues that art is an inborn human phenomenon that precedes the formation of culture and even society. Art is free of politics and ideology. Paradoxically, that is what makes it a force of liberation wherever it breaks through the trance of humdrum existence. Like the act of dreaming, artistic creation is fundamentally mysterious. It is a gift from beyond the field of the human, and it connects us with realities that, though normally unseen, are crucial components of a living world. While holding this to be true of authentic art, the author acknowledges the presence—overwhelming in our media-saturated age—of a false art that seeks not to liberate but to manipulate and control. Against this anti-artistic aesthetic force, which finds some of its most virulent manifestations in modern advertising, propaganda, and pornography, true art represents an effective line of defense. Martel argues that preserving artistic expression in the face of our contemporary hyper-aestheticism is essential to our own survival. Art is more than mere ornament or entertainment; it is a way, one leading to what is most profound in us. Reclaiming Art in the Age of Artifice places art alongside languages and the biosphere as a thing endangered by the onslaught of predatory capitalism, spectacle culture, and myopic technological progress. The book is essential reading for visual artists, musicians, writers, actors, dancers, filmmakers, and poets. It will also interest anyone who has ever been deeply moved by a work of art, and for all who seek a way out of the web of deception and vampiric diversion that the current world order has woven around us.