In the spirit of God's call to creative transformation, Bruce Epperly invites you to join him on a holy adventure in spiritual growth, inspired by the evolving wisdom of Christianity and the world's great spiritual traditions, innovative global spiritual practices, and emerging visions of reality. Epperly explores the many resources of Christian spirituality in dialogue with the spiritual practices of the world's great wisdom traditions, describing the gifts other spiritual paths contribute to the pathway of Jesus; at the same time, he uses the lens of the spiritual practices Jesus has inspired throughout Christian history to examine these spiritual paths. Epperly write as a Christian committed to Jesus, whose teachings and way of life he believes lead to pathways of healing and creative personal and planetary transformation. We need an illuminating and multifaceted spirituality, Epperly affirms, to shed light and provide guidance as we confront the unique crises of our time. By embracing the diverse insights of spiritual wisdom givers, physicists, cosmologists, healing practitioners, and Earth keepers, we can meet the Earth's current challenges with love, joy, and a united strength.
Bruce Epperly invites you to share a Christmas adventure with him, voyaging through the twelve days of Christmas (plus Christmas Eve and Epiphany) with Brendan, Columba, Brigid, Patrick, and other Celtic saints. With these Celtic adventurers as your companions, you will discover "thin places"-moments of time when the Incarnation of Christ shines through ordinary people, places, and events. After the busyness of Advent, the days that follow Christmas can be a quieter time, when you can venture out on an inner vision quest for new ways of seeing and being. Loving God, give me vision. Help me hear the singing of angels and the crying of children. Let my prayers take shape in loving words and healing hands. Walk with me, and help me walk with the lost and lonely, the forgotten and marginalized. Let my life be an incarnation of that little Child who is our Savior. May your Christmas journey awaken you to thin places everywhere.
How can we recover the radical meaning of the Christmas season? Using the thoughts and words of Madeleine L'Engle, this books offers you a guide through the hectic Christmas season. With quiet times of prayer, Scripture, and meditation, you can begin to wonder-to imagine big possibilities and ask important questions-as you wander outside your typical comfort zones. In the twelve days of Christmas, bookended by Christmas Eve and the Feast of Epiphany, you will experience anew the awe and wonder of the Incarnation. As you both wonder and wander, the questions and images in this book will open your heart to the radical message of Christmas. Like the Magi, you too can follow a star, seeking wisdom in everyday life, while contemplating the cosmic forces within which we live and move and have our being.
Let us begin the work of Christmas This book is a celebration of the twelve days of Christmas, offering us a chance to dwell on the meaning of the season in dialog with the wisdom of one of America's greatest mystics and activists, Howard Thurman.Thurman knew that Christmas always begins in darkness-the darkness of the womb, the darkness of human violence and oppression, the darkness of hopelessness. In Christmas, Thurman reminds us, a light shines even in the darkness, and this light will never be defeated. God's light streams into the most unexpected places-a stable, among foreign magi from another religious tradition, and in the varieties of human culture and ethnicity. Just a little light can transform the darkness and help us anxious pilgrims find our way.During the twelve days of Christmas, our goal is to experience God's light, despite the temptation to close our hearts in a world too often characterized by racism, sexism, polarization, nationalism, and exclusion. This season asks us instead to open our hearts and our lives, so that throughout the year ahead, we may be light-bearers, carrying the message of Divine justice and hope, making it come alive even in the darkest corners of the world. This is the year-round work of Christmas
Authentic spirituality embeds us in the pain of the world and inspires commitment to social justice and conflict resolution. It seeks peace and justice in the public sphere, while nurturing a sense of connection with both God and all creation. Rooted in the deep mystery of Divine love, we can face challenges with confidence that God's vision of justice and peace will outlast the demagogues, dictators, and destroyers.This book is intended to support your integration of peacemaking, justice-seeking, and spiritual growth. You have a calling to be God's companion in healing the world-one relationship, phone call, and protest at a time. The journey may be long and difficult, but the path of contemplative activism found in this book will restore your spirit, giving you strength and inspiration as you join in God's work of peace and justice.Anamchara Books seeks to create a community of "soul friends" to encourage and inspire all of us who are on spiritual journeys. The Soul Seeds series is a unique new offering in that life-enhancing library, timely books that gently and accessibly address the challenges facing all of us in today's world.
This book takes its inspiration from the familiar Gospel Nativity stories-but it is far more than a Christmas book. As we revisit the characters of the familiar Christmas stories, we are invited to a new understanding of the Incarnation. We realize that, like Mary, we too are called to be the wombs and midwives of Divine revelation. We may receive Divine guidance and inspiration in dreams, just as Joseph did, and like him, find the courage to go against our society's expectations. Like the shepherds, we are welcomed to see the ongoing glorious pageant of God-made-flesh. And finally, we learn from the magis' example to widen our spiritual horizons and explore new paths.In Jesus, the Word is made flesh; God has skin, cells, a reproductive system, and circulatory system. Our own souls and cells also reveal God's artistry, for they too embody the Source of all life. In fact, incarnation is everywhere we turn, revealing the marriage of Creator and creature in all its messiness.Embodiment in all its wonder declares the glory of God-and calls us to build a world where justice and kindnessreplace oppression and violence.
For four years in a row, Bruce Epperly has spent the Twelve Days of Christmas with spiritual companions-authors and thinkers from ages past and present-and then he has shared his twelve-day journey with the rest of us. Last year, Bruce's spiritual companions were Saint Francis and Saint Clare.During the Twelve Days of Christmas, Clare and her spiritual companion Francis ask us to consider the following questions: Where do I see Christ in my life and the world?What clutters my life, spiritually and physically?What one action can I take to simplify my life in order to protect the environment and promote the well-being of others?In the lull after Christmas Day, join Bruce, Francis, and Clare on their quest to repair the world, taking you beyond presents and parties to world loyalty and holy restlessness.
Those who sing pray twice. In our Christmas carols, we find praise, contemplation, lamentation, and affirmation. Singing them, we join the angelic chorus with the shepherds, participating in the harmonies of the spheres. Our carols rise to the heavens and plumb the unconscious depths of the Spirit, where the "sighs too deep for words" whisper. Childhood memories of carols linger forever at the edges of our memories, fueling our hearts with hope.This holiday season, extend the Christmas joy through the traditional twelve days that lead up to Epiphany. After the busyness of parties and gifts, family gatherings and cookie-baking, take time to focus on the real meaning of Christmas. Celebrate each day with Bruce Epperly, meditating on the familiar words of Christmas carols. Sing and pray at the same time, as you rejoice in the coming of Love and Wisdom into our world, embodied in a Child whose compassionate embrace is greater than any challenge.Joy to the world, for God is come.
