Episcopal Life Online Daybook -- Today is Tuesday, December 11, 2007.
* Today in Scripture: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/82457_ENG_HTM.htm * Today in Prayer: Anglican Cycle of Prayer: http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acp/index.cfm * Today in History: On this day in 1640, Puritans introduced a petition to the English Parliament seeking to abolish the church episcopacy, "with all its dependencies, roots and branches." The House of Commons accepted what has become known as the "Roots and Branch Petition," but the House of Lords rejected it, and the episcopacy remained in the Church of England.
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Catalyst: "God With Us" from Paraclete Press, by Scott Cairns, Emilie Griffin, Richard John Neuhaus, Kathleen Norris, Eugene Peterson, and Luci Shaw, edited by Greg Pennoyer and Gregory Wolfe, 185 pages, hardcover, c. 2007, $26.95
[Source: Paraclete Press] God with us. This is the meaning of the Incarnation. This is the meaning of Christmas. When we cut through all of the sentiment and marketing to the spiritual richness and vitality of Christmas, we not only discover who God is, but who we are as human beings.
When we become adults, and the wide-eyed wonder of childhood has passed, we need to replace what was once magical with something much more meaningful.
Now is the time to put first things first, and seek silence, if only for a few precious minutes a day. Now, ever more intently, we are to watch and listen for God.
God With Us is a companion for those who want to experience Christmas as the early Christians once did, set in the larger context of Advent and Epiphany. Through daily meditations, scripture, prayer, illuminating history and fine art, we experience what saints have glimpsed through the ages - the wonder of God made flesh.
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