Benjamin Howard

The Wondrous Mystery

Fri, 03 Jun 2022 15:03:44 GMT

We live in strange times. Our world is shifting and changing, and we are increasingly aware of our vulnerability and uncertainty. The season of Advent invites us to embrace the yet unknown?to pay attention to what we do not see with our eyes and what we do not understand. It's a season that asks us to wait expectantly and hopefully, though we may not be at all certain just what we are waiting for.

As Christians, we are empowered by our knowledge of Jesus Christ: we know that Jesus was born, lived among us, was crucified, and rose from the dead and that through Christ we are given the profound gift of eternal life. But, at the first Advent, those who watched and waited did not have such assurance; they did not know what we know now. These people who had heard the prophets' foretelling and who were waiting for the Messiah?how did they experience the first Advent? Isaiah answers, "The people who walked in the darkness have seen a great light." (Isaiah 9:2, NRSV) As we watch and wait this Advent amid great uncertainty, we have much to learn from the saints who came before us.

Let's watch and wait together. The Wondrous Mystery: An Upper Room Advent eCourse will be led by Sharon Conley Cottingham, Director of Formational Learning for The Upper Room, and attended by friends of The Upper Room. Our daily readings will come from The Wondrous Mystery, a collection of meditations from Weavings, an award-winning Christian journal published by The Upper Room. Written by exceptional authors, including Henri J. M. Nouwen, Barbara Brown Taylor, Wendell Berry, Sue Monk Kidd, Wendy M. Wright, and John S. Mogabgab, these meditations will challenge us to reflect on the wondrous mystery of God and on the ways that Jesus' birth upends the world as we know it and signals the beginning of God's kingdom.

Our eCourse includes:

Daily meditations from The Wondrous Mystery
Audio recordings of the daily meditations
Daily reflection questions

The Wondrous Mystery

Sat, 14 May 2022 03:44:08 GMT

During Advent we think about a wondrous mystery: that God chose to become human and lived among us. The Savior of the world was born a vulnerable child. The king who will rule all of creation was laid in a humble manger. The Wondrous Mystery invites readers to reflect on several paradoxes that make up the Advent season: light and darkness, peace and strife, solitude and community, simplicity and complexity.

This daily Advent reader incorporates meditations from Weavings: A Journal of the Christian Spiritual Life. Writers include Barbara Brown Taylor, Henri J. M. Nouwen, Sue Monk Kidd, Wendell Berry, Wendy M. Wright, and other voices from Weavings, which contained the teachings and perspectives of some of the finest theologians and teachers of Christian spiritual formation.

This book may be used by individuals or groups. Groups can use the reflection questions for discussion and talk about the meditations they found most meaningful for that week.

Compiler Ben Howard writes, "The glory of the Advent season is that it's irrational. It shows us a glimpse of the way that God turns the world and our expectations upside down. . . In a season filled with the longest, darkest nights, we are told to wait for the coming of the most beautiful light."

The Wondrous Mystery

Sat, 14 May 2022 01:48:07 GMT

This book may be used by individuals or groups. Groups can use the reflection questions for discussion and talk about the meditations they found most meaningful for that week.

The Wondrous Mystery

Fri, 13 May 2022 23:28:00 GMT

This book may be used by individuals or groups. Groups can use the reflection questions for discussion and talk about the meditations they found most meaningful for that week.