12 Tips for a Low Carbon Christmas

The NCC has just released a list of 12 recommendations to make this Christmas a low carbon Christmas. How many can you implement this year?

Looking to Simplify your Advent?

Tired of spending time in malls during Advent? Looking for a way to simplfy your life and catch a deep breath of peace this Christmas? Help has arrived. Instead of tracking down a gift for someone who really doesn't need it, give a gift in honor of your loved one to someone who really needs a gift this Christmas. Presbyterian Disaster Assistance has downloadable and printable cards on their website ready to be given to the people on your list. The cards read:

A gift has been sent in your honor to
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance.

May the knowledge of this gift
and God’s gift of love
fill you with peace during this
special season
and in the New Year to come.

Advent Wreath Lighting, With a Green Twist

Georgia Interfaith Power & Light has a free and fun Advent Wreath lighting liturgy online. Instead of lighting Advent candles, "Preparing for a New Light: Caring for God's Creation during Advent" leads participants to replace old lightbulbs with energy saving ones. After you have replaced the old bulb, the study then describes different benefits to God's creation of doing so. Go ahead and "light a candle and change a bulb" this holiday season! Click here to go to the study.

An Author Among Us

Our very own Barb Chalfant has an article in the new issue of the APCE Advocate. Her article, entitled "Like in a potter's workshop, we are reclaimed, recycled, renewed, remade," discusses how the Christian life lived out by Reformed Christians resembles the process of working with clay on a potter's wheel. Nice work, Barb!

New Immigration DVD

The Resource Center has just acquired a new video about immigration. Dying to Live puts a human face on the immigration debate. It asks, who are these people who are crossing our southern border? The 33 minute DVD discusses the issues that cause migrants to make the difficult decision to try to enter the United States and follows them as they make the difficult journey through the harsh landscape of the American Southwest. The film was made by Daniel Groody, a theologian at the University of Notre Dame. It has aired on PBS. I highly recommended it. Watch clips of the film here.

The Moderator Has a Blog

The current Moderator of the PC(USA), Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow, makes the following provocative statement on his personal blog. "I believe that the cultural, social and technological shifts that are happening in the world are the most pressing issues facing the church." Bruce is the pastor of a new church development in San Francisco. He is interested in moving the church beyond the tired, old conservative/liberal paradigm for being church. He wants the church to face the future and the changes that are happening in the culture. If you would like to read his frequent reflections on his time as Moderator, including what he is finding in the church as he travels and his vision for the church, you can read his blog here.

Ministry in Cities

One of the more interesting books the Resource Center has acquired recently is Sabbath in the City: Sustaining Urban Pastoral Excellence by Bryan Stone and Claire Wolfteich. The book grew out of a Lilly funded study on urban pastoral excellence conducted at the Boston University School of Theology. The book explores practices that sustain ministers working in urban contexts. Two that are highlighted are cultivating friendships and finding practices of re-creation and renewal. The authors do a nice job of highlighting the significance of place in one's ministry, how it shapes the focus of ministry and how it shapes the practice of one's own spirituality. Read a review here.

Advent Candle-Lighting Liturgy

The Winter 2008-9 issue of Ideas! for Church Leaders contains an Advent Candle-Lighting Liturgy, ready to be used in your church this holiday season.

New Advent Study

The Thoughtful Christian has released a new four session Advent study called "Advent Through the Eyes of Those Who Waited." It explores the four characters we meet in the lectionary who exemplify the waiting we will do this Advent, including Isaiah, John the Baptist, Mary the mother of Jesus, and Elizabeth.

Advent Study

A resource that would pair well with What Would Jesus Buy? is the 6-session study from We Believe called Keep It Simple and Sacred: Alternatives for Advent and Christmas. This study is designed for small groups of young adults, but I think it would work well as a discussion starter for lots of folks. Available now!