Resources for Advent 2012

Advent resources 2012

Each year I put together a new list of Advent resources. This list always builds on the previous lists that I have compiled. Here are the best of what I have discovered this year, but I would also like to know what resources you have discovered that should be added to this list

The Voice has one of the most comprehensive explanations of Advent and the symbols we use during the season. They are also a great source for the daily scriptures of the liturgical year.

The Text This Week always has an awesome array of resources.

Sojourner’s Top Ten Advent Resources for 2012 

Advent resources from Ignatian Spirituality

Christmas & Advent _ Ideas, resources and Donkey Rides

RECOMMENDED READING especially for those who know very little about Advent: 

• For an evangelical perspective on practicing the liturgical year, few are better than the late Robert Webber. “Ancient-Future Time” is an easy read, with chapters on specific seasons of the year, making it a valuable reference and resource. Check it out on Amazon HERE.

• Mark D. Robert’s ebook, “Discovering Advent”, is a short, helpful explanation of Advent. Check it out HERE.

• Joan Chittister’s book “The Liturgical Year” is a beautiful explanation of how marking time can be a spiritual practice. Joan is a Benedictine sister and writes from that perspective, but has the modern person and not a monastic in mind. Check out her book HERE.

And resources I have listed in previous years:

Resources for Advent 2011

A couple of years ago Schoolwork.co.uk. published this great Ultimate Christmas Resource List!

Mustard Seed Associates also has a number of Advent resources available including this year’s Advent video:

You can purchase and download a high resolution copy here: Alleluia – The Christ Child Comes 

Or you may like to download the entire series of Advent videos from previous years.

And our Advent/Christmas Devotional Waiting for the Light. 

Ten Books That Changed My Faith

Sarah Bessey – books that changed my faith

Sarah Bessey is currently running a series of posts on Ten Books A Day for a Week. I particularly enjoyed her Sunday post Ten Books That Changed my Faith. Sarah and I have obviously been influenced by some of the same books but I thought that I would put together my own list. To be honest it would be easier to list 10 authors that have influenced me because choosing one book from people such as Wlater Brueggemann, C.S. Lewis, John Stott and Henri Nouwen is impossible. However I have done my best.

Living Towards a Vision: Biblical reflections on Shalom. Walter Brueggemann. I love all of Bruggemann’s books but this was the one that started me grappling with a faith that not only embraced all of life for me as an individual but also God’s concern for the renewal and restoration of all creation.

Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster. As for so many other evangelical Christians, this was the first book that opened my eyes to a rich array of spiritual disciplines that i had never encountered before.

Rich Christians In An Age of Hunger by Ron Sider. I read the original version of this book just after I had worked in the refugee camps on the Thai Cambodian border in 1985. I had been exposed to depths of poverty I never realized existed. it turned my faith upside down. This book helped turn it right side up again challenging me to put concern for others and particularly the marginalized at the centre of my faith.

Compassion: A Reflection on the Christian Life by Henri Nouwen, Donald McNeill and Douglas Morrison. This was the first Nouwen book that I read, this time after working with Haitian refugees in the Dominican Republic. It is not always easy to act compassionately we we work with people in need. This book helped shape my responses.

One Thousand Gifts: by Ann Voskamp. The power of gratitude is a revolutionary discovery that has transformed my life over the last few of years and this is the book that has most helped me learn that perspective.

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. This is a Christian classic that was very influential in shaping my faith in my early days as a Christian.

Basic Christianity by John Stott. This was another of the classic books that shaped my early faith giving me a solid foundation in scripture and the principles of faith.

Silent Spring by Rachel Carson. This may seem like a strange book to have shaped my Christian faith but I read it in the mid 1960s not long after I became a Christian and the concerns it raised about pesticides and pollution radically impacted me and initiated my concerns for the environment which gradually became an important part of my Christian world view and advocacy.

What’s Right with Feminism by Elaine Storkey. This was the first book I read that made me feel that being a Christian woman did not make me a second class citizen. It gave me the confidence to pursue what God had called me to be and to do.

Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church by N.T. Wright. Again here is an author who has deeply influenced my life and it is hard to choose which book has influenced me the most, but I think this one is at the top of the list. So I thought that I would end with a quote from the book

Our task as image-bearing, God-loving, Christ-shaped, Spirit-filled Christians, following Christ and shaping our world, is to announce redemption to a world that has discovered its fallenness, to announce healing to a world that has discovered its brokenness, to proclaim love and trust to a world that knows only exploitation, fear and suspicion… 

Say YES! to This – My Favourite Green Resources

Reaching for Resources

Ever wondered where I find all those interesting articles I post? Here are a couple of places I monitor regularly.

One of Tom’s and my favourtie magazines is YES Magazine and I wanted to share it with you.

The YES website has posted some great articles in the last few weeks on community. Here are my favourites

Ten Ways to Love Where You Live by Ross Chapin

How to build community here and now—because neighborhoods are more than houses in proximity. Read the article here

Cheaper Together. How neighbours Invest in Community by by Miriam Axel-Lute, John Emmeus Davis, Harold Simon.

Cooperative financing and community land trusts keep rents affordable and homeownership within reach. Read here

Inhabitat: Design will save the world is another great site with very innovative housing and environmental designs like this one:  PHOTOS: Get a Sneak Peek of HWKN’s Giant Blue Smog-Eating Wendy Sculpture Before It Opens Next Week | Inhabitat – Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building

And Grist Magazine is always worth a visit. For example I loved this article Have Sledgehammer will farm

I also love to check out the latest at ECHO, ; Plant with Purpose and A Rocha

Obviously this is only a very short list of possible sites to visit for environmental issues. I would love to put together a more comprehensive list. So what are your favourite sites to visit?

So what are your favourite websites on environmental issues, green living and community?

Walk to Bethlehem During Advent

Advent is still a couple of months away but here is a really cool idea I heard about this last weekend that would not only prepare us spiritually for the birth of Christ but also physically and emotionally.

A Walk to Bethlehem is an Advent resource developed by St John’s Health Parish Nursing.  The initial concept was A Walk to Jerusalem –  a resource for Lent but because of its success a new resource for Advent has been produced.

The idea is to calculate how many miles it is from your city to Bethlehem and then plan a walk each day so that the cumulative miles over a period of time mean that you have actually walked to Bethlehem.  This would take a little organizing but I think it is a wonderful idea – a great way to integrate the celebration of our faith with our everyday life.

There is a resource available to assist with this walk which evidently includes Advent devotionals.  You can order The Walk to Jerusalem/Bethlehem materials, at 1-888-440-7325.  I have not seen these yet so cannot comment on the content but have heard good reports.

The Walk to Jerusalem is a walking program developed by St. John Health parish nursing and designed to  increase the physical, spiritual and emotional health of participants.  This “imaginary” trip to Jerusalem is accomplished by individuals within the church or organization logging their own walking miles each week. The Walk to Jerusalem usually begins in January with the goal of accumulating enough miles to reach Jerusalem by Easter.  The fall version of this walk is The Walk to Bethlehem.  This begins in September with the intent of reaching Bethlehem for the Christmas celebrations.

Resources from Online Schools

Many of you are just starting back to school so I thought that you might be interested in this site which I just became aware of because they listed my blog amongst their 100 Best Blogs For Real World Advice and Education

As the site says:

College comes with a hefty pricetag. And why would it not? A university degree is invaluable, and students get a lot for their money. However, certain things aren’t part of the enrollment package: insight, wisdom, maturity, humor, patience, humility, perspective.

They do have some interesting sites listed and have some previous lists that may be of interest to students in specific areas.  Because of my interests I particularly enjoyed looking at the list on Green Technology and Design.

100 Excellent Open Courses on Green Technology, Development, and Design
Top 100 Twitterers in Academia
100 Best Blogs for Career-Minded Students
100 Best Blogs for Law School Students