“Each morning, when I return to my cell for the prayer time, I imagine Jesus sitting there listening to me, as if what I have to say is the most important thing in his life at that moment.” Br. James Koester invites us to trust that, in prayer, Jesus listens to us the way a mom might listen to her child.

“What’s not to love about the wise men? Beyond being picturesque and rather exotic in the Christmas crèche, they give us a prodding inspiration about God’s ongoing revelation oftentimes coming to us in very new ways, far beyond all that we could ask for or imagine.” Br. Curtis invites us to re-experience the transformative significance of the Magi on the feast of the Epiphany, as we celebrate the manifestation of God's saving grace.

“I wonder what 2022 has in store for you? Good news or bad? I don’t actually think that is the right question. For the news is not just what we read in the papers. We are not just passive recipients, victims of news from ‘out there’. The truth is that we can make news.” In a world full of bad news, Br. Geoffrey Tristram urges us not only to believe the good news of God, but to make good news around in the world around us, bringing light in the darkness.

“Sometimes I look around and I think 'This is Christmas? This place is a mess! My mind is a mess! My heart is a mess!' And there in that mess, I see the babe of Bethlehem, and it begins to makes sense.” Br. Todd Blackham finds the miracle of Christmas amid the mess of our hardship, chaos, and humanity.

We have partnered with TryTank – the experimental laboratory for church growth and innovation – to produce a new preaching resource aimed particularly at smaller congregations (those with an average Sunday attendance of 29 or fewer). That said, any congregation can use it. We have also paired it with an adult forum curriculum. From Christ the King Sunday to Christmas Day, we have six…

“How much we are alike, we who long for freedom from COVID, and Mary, Joseph, and the people of Jerusalem and Bethlehem from Rome. Although nearly 2000 years separate us, we are so, so alike. This longing for freedom is now at the core of our identity, just as it was theirs.” On Christmas Eve, Br. James Koester puts a face on the freedom for which we all long: his name is Jesus.

We have partnered with TryTank – the experimental laboratory for church growth and innovation – to produce a new preaching resource aimed particularly at smaller congregations (those with an average Sunday attendance of 29 or fewer). That said, any congregation can use it. We have also paired it with an adult forum curriculum. From Christ the King Sunday to Christmas Day, we have six…

“I think one of the most revealing questions to ask is ‘What is your image of God? How do you picture God?’.” Br. Geoffrey Tristram encourages us to revisit our images for God and consider which ones might need to be smashed, so that God can be born in us anew.

“With each new dawn God’s calls us and equips us to be God’s own missionaries, and in ways which only we, personally, can do. Our missionary field may be as expansive as Cape Breton in northern Canada, or as focused as the neighbor next door, the clerk at the checkout counter, the person we encounter on the street. We are missionaries, all of us. That is why we are still alive.” Looking to the extraordinary life of Simon Gibbons, Br. Curtis Almquist find inspiration for all of us in our widely varied missionary fields.

“Perhaps you’re short on hope today.  It may be that your life is complicated, and that you’re facing insurmountable obstacles.  It may be that your world is a tangled mess.  There is no denying the suffering and pain that are part of our human condition. But today we are given reason to hope even in the face of difficulties.  Today we are encouraged not only to bear our sufferings, but to give thanks in the midst of them.  Today, we are exhorted to 'rejoice in the Lord always.'” Br. David Vryhof dares us to hope, to rejoice even, because we have an unshakeable confidence that in the end the purposes of God will prevail.