My Aunt Mimi gave it to me when I was a small child.

It was from England, as she was….a war bride, married to my mother’s older brother.

In my memory, I can see it and feel the texture of it still.

About 8 ½ x 11…maybe a little bit larger. Paper with a dark illustration of the nativity and a bit of glitter all over. I tried so hard not to rub the glitter off when I touched it. But, it was really hard not to do so with little girl fingers. And, those little “windows” that opened day by day. I tried so hard not to bend them or, worse, tear them. I had to try even harder not to open the window for 17 days before Christmas before it was the 17th day! Patience wasn’t then and still isn’t my best spiritual gift!

But, even though I found it so very hard to wait until day 17 to open window 17 or day 3 to open day 3, Advent remains my favorite season in the church year. And, part of the love for it’s quiet, gentle, patient, expectant waiting in the midst of Christmas festivity-preparation frenzy stems from this tradition of the paper Advent calendar that I treasured each year.

At Augsburg Fortress, we treasure the creation of resources to help children & adults learn to slow down just a bit and enjoy the holy season of Advent.

If you are looking for ways to encourage this slowing and appreciating in the lives of people in your congregation or synod or campus ministry, here are some of the ways we may be able to help:

Prophets and Angels: Advent Festival of Lessons and Carols byAaron David Miller and Herb Brokering. I have to list it first because I’m still grieving over the recent death of my friend, Herb.

Book of Faith Advent Reflections: While We Wait , a marvelous way to encourage people who are new to Bible study (or those who have been engaged for many years) to carve out time for Scripture for a few weeks. Maybe it will build a foundation for a life-long habit!

Kids Celebrate Advent & Christmas to encourage pre-readers and early readers to learn about more than Santa Claus! Perfect in pew racks, children’s busy bags or to send or mail to homes with small children.

And, of course, various church supplies: Advent bulletin covers, music, Advent wreaths and candles and many more items to enrich worship as we wait……

Blessings to you, as you wait and enjoy Advent peace in the midst of our hectic lives.
Beth

http://twitter.com/bethalewis

Herb worked on the development of faith formation curricula as an employee of Augsburg Fortress for many years.

He has written and published poetry with us.

He has written and published non-fiction books with us.

He has written and published hymns with us.

In fact, off the top of my head, I can’t think of anyone who has published such a range of resources with Augsburg Fortress.

Sadly, his voice will now only be heard through the echo of his writings since he died one week ago today. As someone said to me yesterday, “our world is a little less joyful now, but there must be a good party going on in heaven!” Perhaps not exactly orthodox Lutheran theology, but I certainly understand and appreciate the sentiment!

Rather than trying to describe the many, many gifts that Herb has shared with people around the world in his 83 years, I will just point you to several memorial pieces that have been written about him in this past week from the Caring Bridge site, from the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, from the San Francisco Examiner, and a press release from the ELCA communications unit. Enjoy and give thanks for this gifted theologian!

I will certainly miss Herb, our author. I will miss, even more, Herb, my friend.

Blessings,
Beth

http://twitter.com/bethalewis

Among the many stories I have enjoyed from these leaders are the stories of how well some of our newer AF resources are working in their congregations. I was delighted to learn that many, many of their congregations are using our new Spark Sunday School curriculum! And, even many of those who are using another Sunday School curriculum told me that they have purchased quantities of our Spark Bibles for the children in their congregation (not to mention selling a few to grandmas and grandpas in their congregation for grandchildren who don’t attend that church!)

I also heard rave reviews for our new Fed and Forgiven curriculum for teaching children, youth & adults about communion. And, a slightly older resource that one pastor noted with “I give it two thumbs up!” is Splash, a resource for keeping families with children, ages birth to three, connected to the church.

Then, as I was sitting in the back of the conference room trying to keep up with my emails while Rick was speaking to this group of relatively new rostered leaders, I received this one from my colleague, Ian Swanson, who serves congregations in the western part of the USA:

“I just go off the phone with Kathy Schreiber from Lutheran Church of the Holy Spirit in Centennial, CO. My goodness, was she excited about Spark! At LCHS each member congregant brings his or her own bible to church. All the adults have LSB and all the kids have either the Spark NRSV or Spark Story Bible. When the readings happen, the lay minister announces page numbers and everyone reads together. Kathy thinks the whole participation has really “revitalized services”.

We talked for half an hour or so, and I eventually learned that they have been without a senior pastor for the better part of a year. Though they had a capable interim pastor, he didn’t have time to get to know everyone, obviously. However, instead of losing attendance as often happens when a church is in transition, Spark Sunday School and the inclusion of adult members in programs, LCHS has actually seen their attendance climb. Now, on December 4th, they will be getting a brand new pastor, and the whole building is “teeming with life”.

….she is also the mother of a child in the Spark program, and she loves to see his enthusiasm for church.”

There are so many reasons that I love this story. But, perhaps the most exciting is that this is a church that is very seriously embracing the Book of Faith initiative. Did you catch that line, “At LCHS each member congregant brings his or her own bible to church”? This isn’t generally the “norm” in Lutheran or other mainline denomination churches. But, it’s the norm at LCHS! They are leading by example!

Of course, I’d love it if all ELCA congregations had this habit of bringing their Lutheran Study Bibles or Spark Bibles to church. But, I would be happy no matter what Bible was selected as long as we could move in this direction in mainline churches….that of being engaged with Scripture both in worship and in the home.

Thanks, Kathy, for sharing this story with Ian! And, Ian, thanks for sharing it with me! It’s these real-life stories of the ways that the worship and faith formation resources we create at Augsburg Fortress make a difference in the lives of people and congregations that really keep us going!

Blessings,
Beth

http://twitter.com/bethalewis