Focuses on the times in the liturgical calendar surrounding Advent and Christmas and Lent and Easter.

We often go to church on Sunday, then lose touch with God's word amid the craziness of our weekly routine. This series helps the entire family stay in touch with the word proclaimed in liturgy. For every Sunday and holy day of the year, each book offers three sets of prayerful reflections that parallel the lectionary: one for adults, one for teens, and one for small children. A thematic index is included for easy reference. These books are ideal for liturgy planning, and they're perfect for helping the entire family stay focused on prayer--all week long. In Touch with the Word: Cycle B for Ordinary Time is for the year 2009 and every third year thereafter.

At bedtime, a mother and child think about their day and remember one thing each is sorry for, then the child recalls five things to be grateful for, takes a peaceful breath, and falls asleep. Includes notes for children and adults.

Drawing on the rich imagery of rocks and stones in scripture, these powerful messages center around the compelling metaphor of stones (and our willingness to throw them) as representative of our sins. As worshipers enter the sanctuary they are invited to pick up stones as a concrete symbol of each sermon's theme; then as the message concludes the stones are placed at the foot of the cross. When the stones disappear on Easter (just like the stone sealing Jesus' tomb), it's a vivid illustration of how the Lord also removes our stones of sin. Each chapter includes several thought-provoking discussion questions to spur further reflection. With messages for Ash Wednesday, five weeks of Lent, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday, this is an excellent resource for Lenten midweek programming. Molin takes us on a journey of prayerful and honest repentance -- a powerful and life-changing journey of celebration, of grace, of awe at the miracle of the empty tomb and the promise of life.... Pastor Molin is one of the best sermon story-tellers I've heard. But each sermon and every story also teaches a biblical text. These sermons are grounded in the living Word of God... (from the Foreword) Glenndy L. Sculley, Bishop's Associate Minneapolis Area Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Steven Molin is the senior pastor of Our Savior's Lutheran Church (ELCA) in Stillwater, Minnesota. He has also served parishes in Oregon and South Dakota, and been an area director for the youth ministry organization Young Life. Molin is a graduate of Concordia University (St. Paul, Minnesota) and Luther Theological Seminary.

With laugh-out-loud humor anchored by spiritual truths, author Tim Schenck helps us maintain our spiritual sanity through the often-frenetic chaos of Advent and Christmas. Illustrated by popular cartoonist Jay Sidebotham, "Dog in the Manger" also explores the major characters of the season in new ways, including John the Baptist, Mary, Joseph and of course, Jesus. Thoughtful questions following each section make "Dog in the Manger" ideal for personal or group use.

The title of this book, Very Short Reflections--for Advent and Christmas, Lent and Easter, Ordinary Time and Saints--through the Liturgical Year, accurately describes its contents. Chapter 1 presents a short reflection for every day of the Advent Season. Chapter 2 does the same for every day of the Christmas season. Lent is covered in chapter 3, the Sacred Paschal Triduum in chapter 4, and the fifty days of the Easter season in chapter 5. Chapter 6 covers Ordinary Time. And chapter 7 presents a short reflection for every solemnity, feast, and memorial of saints, whose special day falls during the liturgical year. The short reflections are based on sets of Mass texts--Entrance Antiphon, Collect, Prayer over the Offerings, Preface, Communion Antiphon, Prayer after Communion, and Prayer over the People--presented for every day of Advent and Christmas, Lent and Easter, Ordinary Time and saints in The Roman Missal. The reflection identifies the theme of the day and presents how it is manifested in the Mass texts. These very short reflections are designed to expose to the reader the liturgical spirituality that emanates from the Mass texts.

‘On this Day’ is a prayerful and meditative work, consisting of daily reflections and prayers on Scriptural passages used in season of Ordinary Time-cycle 1. Its content, as spiritual food, comes out of the enlightening Scriptural words, proclaimed by the Church during everyday Masses. We are pilgrims in this world walking, marching, jogging, or running to reach our ultimate life’s destiny for which God has designed and created us. Every day is so important because, as the Bible points out, today is the only Day God has entrusted to us to prepare for our meeting Him. It is the only Day every human has in hand to please God. It is the only Day every God’s child is given to reciprocate to his Father’s Covenantal Love. It is the author’s earnest desire that ‘On this Day’ may assist his readers in their spiritual and religious exercises through which they gain sufficient heavenly energy to make each day pleasing to the Lord and to magnify His Glory.