Embrace the God Life

Family Prayer for the 12 Days of Christmas

Today (Christmas Eve) is the final day of Advent. Tomorrow (Christmas Day) begins the celebration of Christmas, which lasts for 12 days: Dec 25-Jan 5. Here is the prayer guide my family will be using for prayer before meals as we celebrate the birth of Christ for 12 days. We’d love it if you used the prayer guide to pray along with us!

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Book Review: The Liturgical Year by Joan Chittister

Thomas Nelson recently sent me a copy of The Liturgical Year: The Spiraling Adventure of the Spiritual Life by Sr. Joan Chittister. I was excited to receive the next volume in the very helpful Ancient Practices Series. In The Liturgical Year , Chittister opens the reader to the beauty of the liturgical year as a spiritual formation practice. She begins with several chapters that explain how the cycles of the liturgical year form both individuals and faith communities in the fullness of the life of Christ. Through the remainder of the book Chittister walks the reader through the seasons of the liturgical year, mining the depth of meaning and spiritual formation present in each season.

I didn’t grow up in a church that followed the rhythm of the liturgical calendar, but have slowly been learning the beauty of the liturgical life. Sr. Joan Chittister, though, has lived a lifetime being formed by the rhythms of the liturgical year. Reading The Liturgical Year is like having a conversation with a friend who is sharing her love for following the intentional rhythms of the Christian calendar. I am glad to have this resource on my journey into allowing the rhythms of the liturgical year to shape me in the life of the Spirit.

Happy All Saints Day

Almighty God, you have knit together your elect in one communion and fellowship in the mystical body of your Son Christ our Lord: Give us grace so to follow your blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living, that we may come to those ineffable joys that you have prepared for those who truly love you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

—Book of Common Prayer