Light Upon Light: A Literary Guide to Prayer for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany by Sarah Arthur
As Lauren Winner says "Maybe it’s not right to think of feasting during the somewhat penitential season of Advent, but that is what this book is: a sumptuous feast.”
In keeping with At the Still Point: A Literary Guide to Prayer in Ordinary Time (“a thing of beauty” and “a literary treasure trove and devotional feast,” two reviewers called it) this collection contains daily and weekly inspirational readings to help the reader prayerfully experience God through the liturgical seasons of winter. Well-loved classics by Andersen, Dickens, and Eliot join contemporary works by Frederick Buechner and Gary Schmidt. Poems by Donne, Herbert, and Rossetti are paired with newer voices: Scott Cairns, Benjamín Alire Sáenz, Susanna Childress, and Amit Majmudar. Readers are invited to experience Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany in its raw strangeness, stripped of sentiment, and to turn toward Emmanuel in Light Upon Light A Literary Guide to Prayer for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany.
Paperback: 192 pages
Dimensions: 5.4 x 8.0 x 0.5 inches
Shipping Weight: 7.0 ounces
ABOUT THE COMPILER
Sarah Arthur is a fun-loving speaker and author of nine books, including The One Year Coffee With God and At the Still Point. A graduate of Wheaton College and Duke Divinity, she lives in Michigan with her pastor-husband Tom and their two small sons. Find more at www.saraharthur.info
PRAISE
“You’re invited to a feast this Christmas. Sarah Arthur, editor of the collection At the Still Point: A Literary Guide to Ordinary Time, has published another volume with Paraclete Press, Light Upon Light: A Literary Guide to Prayer for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany. If you’ve prepared for past Christmas seasons with the help of God With Us, Image’s own book of meditations from some of our favorite spiritual writers, you’ll find Light Upon Light to be another rich tapestry of poetry, fiction, and scripture...You'll find food for nostalgia as well as delightful new voices, including Arthur's own. In short: both spiritual succor and pure pleasure.”
— Image Update
“Each year I look for ways to make the Advent season more meaningful. It can be surprisingly hard to find something fresh and new. But a new release compiled by Sarah Arthur, Light upon Light, is my pièce de résistance for this year. As Arthur says in her introduction: ‘Finding the works for this collection, discovering some of these authors and poets, has been like lighting one candle after another. Flame upon flame, light upon light, until the hallowed sanctuary of our quiet devotion becomes something of a shrine.’ Her book lives up to that description.”
— JoHannah Reardon, Christianity Today
“For years I have been seeking a book which weaves scripture, prayer and the finest poetry and fiction into the devotional experience of Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany. Finally I have found it: an elegant and accessible gem with some classic texts and a rich selection from contemporary literature. This is not only a useful book, it is edifying and exciting reading—the perfect way for the literature lover to focus, meditate and celebrate this time of year.”
— Jill Peláez Baumgaertner, poet, professor of English and Dean of Humanities and Theological Studies, Wheaton College
"In our individual darknesses we long for more light. Sarah Arthur understands this, and, as if pulling together scores of candles with burning wicks, she illuminates our whole year with the gift of flaming words. A treasure of enlightenment."
— Luci Shaw, author of Breath for the Bones and Adventure of Ascent
"A beautifully navigated journey through a treasury of literary wisdom—a book to cherish."
— Jeremy Begbie, professor of theology and director of Duke University Initiatives in Theology and the Arts
What types of shipping services do you offer?
We are thrilled to ship to the US and around the world. We offer Media Mail and Priority Mail via the United States Postal Service and other similar services. All orders are processed in the order they were received. All USPS shipping fees are based on our costs to ship to you and may shift ever-so-slightly from day-to-day, as they update in real time.
First Class International shipping prices range from $25-$40 USD and depend on the destination. International customers may also be charged an additional tariff fee when retrieving their packages from post offices. We are unable to include it in the cost of your item and shipping currently. We understand international shipping is a bit more expensive. We hope to have more international options as our volume increases, but in the meantime placing a group order with your friends will reduce the international cost and give you a group discount!
How quickly will my order ship?
Digital products are automatically sent by email shortly after you place your order. Physical products are shipped from our warehouse in Waco, TX every weekday afternoon. You'll receive an email with tracking information when your order is shipped.
Can I change my shipping address, email or payment info?
Because our orders ship daily, we may not be able to change your information before your order is processed and shipped. For that reason, please verify your shipping address at checkout before submitting your order. If you find an error, contact us as soon as possible and we will try our hardest to make corrections before the order goes out. We try to check email for any shipping-related updates before printing labels.
What is your return policy?
We do our best to describe and depict each product with great care and detail. For that reason we created the FREE Essentials Workbook to give you a closer look at the design of our planner. The Essentials Workbook will help you evaluate if our product is a good fit for you before you spend any money. You can often purchase digital sample months of the planners to try before you buy. Our planner isn't a perfect fit for everyone, though. We haven't set out to be. It's not possible! That said, let us know if you find an issue and we will do our best to make it right.
If your physical product is damaged or defective, or you receive the wrong product, please contact us with your name, order number, and nature of the issue at hello@sacredordinarydays.com and we will address your concern as quickly as possible.
I discovered this unassuming series one afternoon when I got lost on Amazon--and have not regretted it since! If you love literature and scripture and the slow-reading of both, then this gem is for you. My absolute favorite book in the series is the "Between Midnight and Dawn" one she wrote on Lent and Eastertide. Her selections mirror the death and descent we experience during Lent and the rising and resurrection we experience during the Eastertide season.
Honest Advent: Awakening to the Wonder of God-With-Us Then, Here, and Now by Scott Erickson
For those who are looking for something honest, something real, something with a little more human grit to it and a little less conventional red and green, Honest Advent offers a new kind of devotional.
For too many of us, Christmas has lost its wonder. Maybe for you, the joy of the season is painfully dissonant with the hard edges of life right now. Or maybe you feel wearied by the way Christmas has become a polished, predictable brand. Or maybe this sacred story feels too far removed from our world today, a world that's hard to make sense of.
But what if the Christmas story is not just something that happened a long time ago... but a story that is still happening today? Honest Advent: Awakening to the Wonder of God-with-Us Then, Here, and Now illuminates the astonishing, hope-filled truth that the God who showed up in the hardest parts of our humanity is still doing so today.
From celebrated artist-storyteller Scott Erickson come 25 days of heart-stirring images and thought-provoking meditations to rekindle the wonder of God-with-Us in this season. Honest Advent creates a space for you to encounter the Incarnate Christ in unexpected places: a pregnancy announcement in an era of political unrest and empirical bloodshed, the morning sickness of a Middle Eastern teenager, and the shocking biology of birth that goes far beyond the sanitized brand of Christmas as we know it.
Then, through powerful benedictions, prayers, and questions for honest reflection, you will discover how the wonder of God-with-Us is still happening today: in your unexpected change of plans, your unaccomplished dreams, your overcrowded lodging, your humble stories of new beginnings. In a world that's difficult to make sense of, and a season that's so often overtaken by consumerism, find here fresh eyes to see this powerfully sacred story.
Jesus appeared in a way no one expected: incarnating by way of human vulnerability. He does the exact same thing in our lives today: bringing light and life through our ordinary everyday vulnerabilities.
Hardcover: 224 pages
Dimensions: 5.4 x 8.4 x 0.5 inches
Shipping Weight: 8.9 ounces
ABOUT THE AUTHOR & ILLUSTRATOR
Scott Erickson is a touring painter, performance artist, and creative storyteller who mixes autobiography, biblical narrative, and aesthetics to create art that speaks to our deepest experiences. Scott lives in Portland, Oregon, with his wife and three children. For more information, visit www.scottericksonart.com.
PRAISE
"There is something so enticingly refreshing about the perspective and conversation of Advent through the feminine lens. Scott Erickson's reflection of the Advent season through the connection of the misrepresented women in the Savior story not only is healing and restorative but also brings us back into the story, where the feminine and the divine have always been."
— Arielle Estoria, poet, author, speaker
"Scott Erickson does a perfect job of removing the current taste of stale commercialization and male centeredness from Advent. He then brings back in the beauty, mystery, and wonder that this season is meant to inspire. If you want an Advent made for our moment of social and racial awakening, and one that doesn't oversimplify, this is it!"
— Propaganda and Dr. Alma Zaragoza-Petty, The Red Couch Podcast
"When I was an evangelical, I thought Christmas took too much emphasis away from Easter. When I was an atheist, I thought Christmas reinforced an absurd fairy tale. Me and Christmas, well, it's complicated. That's why I love Honest Advent. As a meditation on the vulnerability of God through the strange mystery of Christ's incarnation, Scott invites us not to master that mystery, but to experience it."
— Mike McHargue, author of You’re a Miracle (and a Pain in the Ass) and host of Ask Science Mike podcast
"Beautiful. Evocative. A wake-up call to the mystery of life."
— John Mark Comer, author of The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry
"I'm no Scrooge, but the last thing I want to read is another book on the Christmas story. Luckily, that's not what this book is about. Scott Erickson's beautifully crafted book helped me see God-with-Us with fresh eyes. Honest Advent is no shallow seasonal gift book; it's an invitation to explore the divine flourishes of everyday human vulnerabilities. A transformative read, regardless of the time of year."
— Jonathan Merritt, author of Learning to Speak God from Scratch and contributing writer to The Atlantic
"Through striking visuals and conversational prose, Scott Erickson has created a doorway between the foreign and the familiar, the simple and the complex, holiday and the everyday. On any day of the year, but especially through the time of Advent, land on any page in this book to find a prayer, a bridge, an invitation into what is coming and out of the boxes we put around God."
— Hillary McBride, PhD, RCC, therapist, researcher, and author
"Scott Erickson's iconographic works serve as portals to the 'kingdom of heaven within us.' In this collection of art and reflection, we're reminded what makes our hearts that heaven--the God who comes nearer than we are to ourselves. I'll be opening these doors with wonder and gratitude. Thanks, Scott, you're such a good doorman!"
— Brad Jersak, author of IN: Incarnation & Inclusion, Abba & Lamb
"We know of few other voices that so powerfully bring back the luster to tarnished, sacred things. Scott Erickson's Advent meditations will be an evergreen gift for the weary soul, calling out fresh and upending wonder at the incarnation, what it meant then, and how we are to be now."
— Jay and Katherine Wolf, authors of Hope Heals and Suffer Strong
"Readers on a quest for information can sometimes find themselves devouring books too quickly without taking time to chew, not fully tasting the words and their meanings. Scott Erickson's drawings force us to slow down and open up to truth in a new way. Advent is a season for slow contemplative reflection, and this book will be a tasty treat to savor and to help us reflect on the greatest wonder of all--God becoming one of us."
— Peri and Brian Zahnd, authors of Every Scene by Heart and Postcards from Babylon
"There are so many things I love about Scott Erickson, and this Advent book brings them all together. I sense that he is always doing his own work, learning how to live in the body and mind he's been given, making sense of the world through all of the means--psychology, sociology, art, science, spirituality, and wonder--so that when he turns his lens toward something, anything, out come these well-formed, beautifully connected scenes. This lens, turned toward Mary, Jesus, and incarnation, helps me break through the incredibly solidified narratives of Christmas into something that moves me again and helps me connect with the real earth, the blood, sweat, and tears--this happened here, on this earth, in our way, through human birth."
— Sara Groves, recording artist, advocate
What types of shipping services do you offer?
We are thrilled to ship to the US and around the world. We offer Media Mail and Priority Mail via the United States Postal Service and other similar services. All orders are processed in the order they were received. All USPS shipping fees are based on our costs to ship to you and may shift ever-so-slightly from day-to-day, as they update in real time.
First Class International shipping prices range from $25-$40 USD and depend on the destination. International customers may also be charged an additional tariff fee when retrieving their packages from post offices. We are unable to include it in the cost of your item and shipping currently. We understand international shipping is a bit more expensive. We hope to have more international options as our volume increases, but in the meantime placing a group order with your friends will reduce the international cost and give you a group discount!
How quickly will my order ship?
Digital products are automatically sent by email shortly after you place your order. Physical products are shipped from our warehouse in Waco, TX every weekday afternoon. You'll receive an email with tracking information when your order is shipped.
Can I change my shipping address, email or payment info?
Because our orders ship daily, we may not be able to change your information before your order is processed and shipped. For that reason, please verify your shipping address at checkout before submitting your order. If you find an error, contact us as soon as possible and we will try our hardest to make corrections before the order goes out. We try to check email for any shipping-related updates before printing labels.
What is your return policy?
We do our best to describe and depict each product with great care and detail. For that reason we created the FREE Essentials Workbook to give you a closer look at the design of our planner. The Essentials Workbook will help you evaluate if our product is a good fit for you before you spend any money. You can often purchase digital sample months of the planners to try before you buy. Our planner isn't a perfect fit for everyone, though. We haven't set out to be. It's not possible! That said, let us know if you find an issue and we will do our best to make it right.
If your physical product is damaged or defective, or you receive the wrong product, please contact us with your name, order number, and nature of the issue at hello@sacredordinarydays.com and we will address your concern as quickly as possible.
In Wisdom's Path: Discovering the Sacred in Every Season by Jan Richardson
In Wisdom's Path is a perennial favorite now available in a beautiful hardcover version! Jan returns to the rhythm of the sacred year with a compelling offering of original artwork and reflections that invite us to notice the presence of God in each season. From the "Cave of the Heart" in Advent through the "Daily Way" of Ordinary Time, In Wisdom's Path serves as a companion in our search for the holy.
Hardcover: 144 pages
Dimensions: 10.3 x 7.3 x 0.5 inches
Shipping Weight: 1 pound 3.7oz
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jan is an artist, writer, and ordained minister in the United Methodist Church. She serves as director of The Wellspring Studio, LLC, and has traveled widely as a retreat leader and conference speaker. A native Floridian several generations over, Jan grew up in Evinston, a small community near the university town of Gainesville. Known for her distinctive intertwining of word and image, Jan’s work has attracted an international audience drawn to the welcoming and imaginative spaces that she creates in her books, online blogs, and public events. Find out more about Jan at https://www.janrichardson.com.
What types of shipping services do you offer?
We are thrilled to ship to the US and around the world. We offer Media Mail and Priority Mail via the United States Postal Service and other similar services. All orders are processed in the order they were received. All USPS shipping fees are based on our costs to ship to you and may shift ever-so-slightly from day-to-day, as they update in real time.
First Class International shipping prices range from $25-$40 USD and depend on the destination. International customers may also be charged an additional tariff fee when retrieving their packages from post offices. We are unable to include it in the cost of your item and shipping currently. We understand international shipping is a bit more expensive. We hope to have more international options as our volume increases, but in the meantime placing a group order with your friends will reduce the international cost and give you a group discount!
How quickly will my order ship?
Digital products are automatically sent by email shortly after you place your order. Physical products are shipped from our warehouse in Waco, TX every weekday afternoon. You'll receive an email with tracking information when your order is shipped.
Can I change my shipping address, email or payment info?
Because our orders ship daily, we may not be able to change your information before your order is processed and shipped. For that reason, please verify your shipping address at checkout before submitting your order. If you find an error, contact us as soon as possible and we will try our hardest to make corrections before the order goes out. We try to check email for any shipping-related updates before printing labels.
What is your return policy?
We do our best to describe and depict each product with great care and detail. For that reason we created the FREE Essentials Workbook to give you a closer look at the design of our planner. The Essentials Workbook will help you evaluate if our product is a good fit for you before you spend any money. You can often purchase digital sample months of the planners to try before you buy. Our planner isn't a perfect fit for everyone, though. We haven't set out to be. It's not possible! That said, let us know if you find an issue and we will do our best to make it right.
If your physical product is damaged or defective, or you receive the wrong product, please contact us with your name, order number, and nature of the issue at hello@sacredordinarydays.com and we will address your concern as quickly as possible.
Jan Richardson is one of the wonderful voices of calm and reason amongst the chaos. I picked up nearly everything of hers during the pandemic and have found that her prayers, even in times where I am flustered bring a sense of calm.
This book is particularly beautiful in its printing and communicates a great sense of depth in understanding who God is through words and art.