Join Discipleship Ministries for a webinar on September 14 at 7:30 pm to discuss “how we can teach the current generation of children about generous living and faithful stewardship.”
Webinars
Our Health, Our Changing World
In all the years I’ve been a pastor, there is one thing I can count on Sunday after Sunday: when I ask the congregation if there are prayer requests, we will hear about who is sick, who is facing surgery, and who is recovering. These prayer requests remind me: as much as we might like to spiritualize our lives, we are always irrevocably tied to this physical reality we live in. What happens to our bodies impacts our souls. This is why we Christians are, rightfully, concerned about health.
Just as we cannot separate our bodies from our souls, we cannot separate our lives from the world around us. I recently heard a podcaster say, “I’m addicted to breathing.” That’s an addiction we all share. Yet we take for granted how the world around us impacts our health. We tend to silo things, separating issues into their own category and blinding ourselves to the connections between these categories. In terms of health, we separate our physical health, mental health, and the health of our environment, often not grasping the interrelatedness of it all.
Two of our Season of Creation webinars will be addressing this connection between our health and our changing world. Read on for more information, and to register for the webinars.
(Note: Registration is required for all webinars separately. All webinars will be recorded and the videos sent to those who registered.)
Heat Resiliency and the Local Community
September 12, 2023
7:00-8:00
Our world is getting warmer and our weather is changing. Here in North Carolina, we are seeing great changes in the type of rain storms we get, the frequency of extreme storms, and, most notably yet most often overlooked, hotter nights. These changes, and the overall hotter weather, puts many of our most vulnerable neighbors at danger.
Higher heat during the day is an immediate threat to all those who work outside, who work in manufacturing, and who have underlying health concerns; it is an underlying threat to all of us. Many who are dealing with chronic illness, such as diabetes and cardiovascular problems, do not realize the increased dangers the weather has on them. Additionally, studies have shown a link between mental health and high heat, including an increase in harmful actions towards self and others.
In our webinar Heat Resiliency and the Local Community, we will learn about how rising temperatures negatively impact our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health, as well as what can be done, individually and corporately, to address these heat-caused concerns.
This seminar will be presented by Dr. Ashely Ward. Dr. Ward is the director of the Heat Policy Innovation Hub, a part of the Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment and Sustainability at Duke University. Dr. Ward is a climate-health and resilience professional. Her career has focused on engaging communities to identify and address issues related to climate change, and helping communities develop long-term, sustainable strategies relevant to their community needs. As Director of the Heat Policy Innovation Hub, Dr. Ward works with communities, public agencies, and policymakers to create and inform effective policy solutions to extreme heat.
Follow this link to register for this webinar.
Eco-Grief: How Do We Respond to Climate Change?
September 19, 2023
7:00-8:00
The threat of climate change can be paralyzing. We have heard stories from many people who are despairing about the future for their children and grandchildren, with many uncertain if there will be a livable future at all.
Yet Christians are to be a people of hope.
How do we balance this call for hope with our anxiety for the future? How do we face tomorrow if we fear our tomorrows are running out? How do we move forward in the midst of such anxiety?
In Eco-Grief: How Do We Respond to Climate Change? psychiatrist Brendan Johnson and eco-theologian Ryan Cagle will consider these questions and more. They will explore this relatively new area of mental health, as well as the connection between our anxiety and our spirits.
D. Brendan Johnson MD MTS is training to be a psychiatrist at Brigham & Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School and is a recent graduate of Duke Divinity School’s Theology, Medicine, and Culture fellowship. He has published and spoken at academic conferences about topics like health as a human right, health and economics, and ethics during the climate crisis. Along with friends from across the world, he hosts the “Social Medicine On Air” podcast. He has is especially interested in how theology and religious communities can use their spiritual and material resources to take part in the fight against injustice.
Ryan Cagle is a self described trailer trash pentecostal seeking to cultivate an eco-liberation theology for the end of the world in the backwoods of Alabama. He is currently in the process of being ordained in the Disciples of Christ (Christian Church) tradition and co-organizes a ministry called Jubilee House, alongside his wife, that works to sow seeds of imagination that can grow into lives of prophetic resistance.
Please register for Eco-Grief: How Do We Respond to Climate Change? by following this link.
And don’t forget about the final webinar in our Season of Creation series:
Energy Use and God’s Creation
September 26, 2023
7:00-8:00
What measures can individuals and congregations take to save energy and reduce carbon waste? What renewable and sustainable energy options are out there? How are the Bible and God’s teachings connected to our power bills?
Join us on September 26 to learn answers to these questions and more. Our time together will be led by John Rees.
John Rees is a retired Energy Engineer from NC State University and is active with several organizations focused on care of Creation. He performs energy audits for North Carolina Interfaith Power & Light and Waste Reduction Partners.
Need Help?
Got questions? Are you struggling to plan your own Season of Creation observances? Want to request a speaker to come to your church, small group, Bible study, or other group? Want to find others in your area who are involved in creation care ministries?
For any help or guidance, reach out to Jarrod Davis (jdavis@nccumc.org) and he will be glad to assist.
Advent Study and Planning Resources for 2023
The NC Conference Media Center offers planning resources, studies, devotionals, and more to help create a meaningful Advent season for 2023.
Planning Resources
Webinars
Amplify, the United Methodist video streaming service, hosted a webinar with retired Bishop Will Willimon and NC Conference Pastor Cameron Merrill based on Willimon’s new Advent study. The recording of Heaven Meets Earth: Preaching on Advent is now available. In the webinar, the pastors discussed preaching on Advent and the Incarnation in down-to-earth ways with stories, wit, and authenticity.
Amplify also hosted An Unlikely Experience: Getting Ready for Christmas, a webinar with Rachel Billups and Matt Rawle that invites you to prepare for Christ’s arrival in a new way this Advent season. Both authors talked about their new Advent studies.
Amplify’s Advent webinars from previous years are also available to watch on their website. Prepare for the Celebration of Advent featured Adam Hamilton and Susan Robb presenting their Advent studies that were published in 2022. Sharing the Christmas Story, Sharing Our Faith featured Adam Hamilton, Matt Rawle, and Laceye Warner discussing their three Advent studies that were published in 2021.
Worship Resources
Discipleship Ministries offers worship resources around the theme, Our Spirit Waits, including preaching notes, liturgies, prayers, graphics, youth lessons, and more. They also provide free worship resources for Christmas Eve 2023 and a liturgy for Advent Candle Lighting.
The General Commission on Religion and Race published free sermon starters and children’s sermons in their resource, God’s Unimaginable Surprises, in 2022. Dual themes of surprise and anti-oppression create the lens by which the truths of the Isaiah texts are contextualized into our contemporary longings for God.
Cokesbury’s Advent Study Comparison Chart
Cokesbury has posted an Advent study comparison chart to help you decide which Advent study to use with your church or small group this year. We have even more Advent studies available at the Media Center, so keep reading to discover additional options.
Advent Studies for Adults
New for 2023
Heaven and Earth: Advent and The Incarnation
by Will Willimon
It’s not within our own power to make a fresh start. If we’re to have a future different from the past, it must come as a gift, something not of our devising. What we need is a God who refuses to be trapped in eternity, a God who not only cares about us but is willing to show up among us and do something with us, here, now. In this study, Willimon introduces you to the God who does just that, bringing heaven to earth and changing everything. You can also purchase a Sermon and Worship Series Download from Cokesbury. Watch a promo video.
An Unlikely Advent: Extraordinary People of the Christmas Story
by Rachel Billups
This study focuses on the experiences of four sets of often overlooked characters in the Nativity story. During this Advent season, Rachel Billups guides readers through the themes of hope, love, joy, and peace by sharing the stories of Elizabeth and Zechariah, Herod, the Magi, and the shepherds. Each set of unexpected characters has something to teach about living faithfully on the journey to Christmas. Watch a promo video.
Experiencing Christmas: Christ in the Sights and Sounds of Advent
By Matt Rawle
Things just look, smell, and taste differently during the Advent and Christmas season, and these differences are a sign to us that God is about to do something radical and different. Christmas is when God surrounded the divine with senses of his own. That first noel was when God had eyes to see suffering, ears to hear our cries, and hands to hold those in need, and all of these senses were bundled in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. “This will be a sign to you,” the angel told the shepherds, and they traveled to Bethlehem and found a child. What signs do you see during the Advent and Christmas season that point you to the divine? Watch a promo video.
Advent: A Season of Surprises
By Scott Chrostek
Advent is a season filled with anticipation of what’s coming next. No one could anticipate the surprise that awaited humankind with the birth of Jesus. Two thousand years later, we still look forward in expectation, wondering what lies next. What’s coming next for you? What’s next in your life beyond the presents, the family gatherings, and the Christmas traditions? What are you anticipating in your life? What are you dreading? These questions fill our hearts and minds during the Advent season. The studies in this five-week devotional guide are meant to be used by individuals, small groups, or entire congregations.
Light from Afar: An Advent Devotional from Around the World
By Nadiyka Gerbish, Joel Bengbeng, Claudio Carvalhaes, and Sidwell Mokgothu
Light from Afar is a daily Advent devotional that illuminates the season through the experiences and reflections of writers from around the world. The four weeks of Advent are each written by a different author, providing unique perspectives on the traditions of Advent from a variety of cultures. Authors include Nadiyka Gerbish (Ukraine), Bishop Sidwell Mokgothu (South Africa), Joel Bengbeng (Philippines), and Cláudio Carvalhaes (Brazil). A guide for small groups is included in the book. The Upper Room is offering an online course based on this book.
Triptych 2023: Daily Advent Scripture, Reflection, and Prayer (including Christmas and Epiphany)
By Steve Hickle and Andy Morris
Advent is the season for Christians to remember and rehearse “the coming of the Lord.” The days after Christmas through The Epiphany mark the early life of Jesus, including the perils he faced. This guide offers a view through both of these seasons using the “lens” of three foundational scriptures, Isaiah 58:1-14, Luke 1:46-55, and Luke 4:16-21. We use these three texts as a “triptych,” borrowing on the name for an art piece of three thematically and physically connected panels, often used as an altarpiece, especially when designed by classical artists.
More Advent DVD Studies for Adults
Prepare the Way for the Lord: Advent and the Message of John the Baptist by Adam Hamilton. Hamilton explores the Advent themes of John’s life and ministry, and how John calls all followers of Jesus to prepare our hearts for his coming. In each of the Gospels, the story of Jesus is intertwined with that of his cousin John, the one whom the prophets foretold would come to “prepare the way of the Lord.” When we hear the message of John the Baptist, it makes us and our world ready to receive Christ.
The Angels of Christmas: Hearing God’s Voice in Advent by Susan Robb. Explore the four angelic visits surrounding the birth of Jesus with Zechariah, Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds. In this study, the reader will explore the visits and dive deep into the history of the angel Gabriel–and other angels–in the Old Testament. This study uses these four angelic appearances to discuss God’s presence in history and our lives today. The messages of the angels hold meaning for listeners both then and now.
All the Good: A Wesleyan Way of Christmas by Laceye C. Warner, Amy Valdez Barker, Jung Choi, Sangwoo Kim, Barker, Amy Valdez. A group of diverse Wesleyan scholars will take you on an Advent journey guided by the practices in John Wesley’s means of grace. In four sessions of study, prayer, and conversation, readers will look at preparing the way for God, the discipline of prayer, the substance of good works, and the recognition of God’s presence with us in communities that are called to serve the world.
The Heart That Grew Three Sizes: Finding Faith in the Story of the Grinch by Matt Rawle. Explores the faith themes in the Christmas classic, How the Grinch Stole Christmas! including, how did the Grinch’s heart grow three sizes come Christmas morning? How did Christmas save the Grinch? Could it be that the very thing we think we hate is the one thing that changes our lives? Look at a familiar classic through the lens of faith and see how Christ speaks to us through our culture.
Almost Christmas: A Wesleyan Advent Experience by Magrey R. DeVega, Ingrid McIntyre, April Casperson, Matt Rawle. In John Wesley’s famous sermon, “The Almost Christian,” he encouraged people to follow Christ wholeheartedly. Pastor deVega leads a group of authors in exploring how we can make the same commitment to Christ during Advent, and connect our Wesleyan heritage with the traditional Advent themes of Love, Hope, Joy, and Peace.
Light of the World: A Beginner’s Guide to Advent by Amy-Jill Levine. Author, professor, and biblical scholar Levine shows how the Gospel narratives connect to the Old Testament; highlights the role of women in first-century Jewish culture; and emphasizes the importance of Mary’s visitation, the census, the stable, the star of Bethlehem, and the flight to Egypt.
Complete List of Advent Studies
We have 39 DVD-based studies and 15 additional Christmas movies listed in our Advent and Christmas DVDs for Adults pathfinder. We also have 32 book-based studies plus 30 devotionals, program ideas, and additional books listed in our Advent and Christmas Books for Adults pathfinders.
More Books for Advent
Fully Human, Fully Divine: An Advent Devotional for the Whole Self by Whitney R. Simpson. Simpson suggests practices that will help us focus on the body God created and embrace what it means to be fully human. By letting go of external demands and giving ourselves permission to be present as we listen for God in our lives, we can learn what it looks like to notice and pay attention to our bodies. Each chapter covers one week of Advent and each week focuses on one of the following themes: Slow Down and Hope, Simplify for Peace, Sit with Joy, and Savor God’s Love. The Upper Room offers an eCourse based on this book.
The First Advent in Palestine: Reversals, Resistance, and the Ongoing Complexity of Hope by Kelley Nikondeha. Trusted scholar and community organizer Kelley Nikondeha takes us back, to where the landscape of Palestine is once again the geographic, socioeconomic, and political backdrop for the Advent story. Reading the Advent narratives of Luke and Matthew anew, in their original context, changes so much about how we see the true story of resistance, abusive rulers and systems of oppression, and God coming to earth.
God Broke Through at Christmas: A Daily Advent Study for Individuals and Groups by Debra Wallace-Padgett. This study focuses on four different aspects of life transformed by Jesus Christ’s birth, ministry, death, and resurrection: Silence, Nights of the soul, Seemingly impossible situations, and Chaos. Each chapter begins with a meditation and study session guide, followed by daily devotionals for the week.
Making Room: Sharing the Love of Christmas by Ed Robb. This four-week study explores the warmth of welcome at Christmas following interactions with the Holy Family, the shepherds, and the magi. The story of Christ’s birth encourages us to widen our borders and increase our sense of community—and make room for others. This study also has a Leader Guide.
The Living Nativity: Preparing for Christmas with Saint Francis by Larry J. Peacock. This book introduces readers to Saint Francis and explores how nativity sets, Advent wreaths, candles, carols, Christmas cards, and other traditions help prepare our hearts for the God “who bends low to enter our world and our lives.” Prayer poems for each day of the season lead readers to deepen their spiritual journey, and the book provides a guided pattern for individuals and small groups to share reflections and experience activities that open their hearts to the Christ child. The Upper Room offers an eCourse based on this book.
Blue Christmas: Devotions of Light in a Season of Darkness by Todd Outcalt. Blue Christmas reminds us that all of our Christmases, even the darkest ones, can be filled with honesty and hope if we are first willing to sit in silence and bring our deepest fears to God. The book includes daily devotions, additional prayers, a “Blue Christmas” worship service, and reflection questions. The Upper Room offers an eCourse based on this book.
Complete List of Advent Books
View our complete list of book-based Advent studies, devotionals, activity books, liturgies, prayers, and more in our Advent and Christmas Books for Adults pathfinder.
Advent for Youth and Children
Many of our Advent studies for adults also offer separate guides to use these studies with youth and children. Here are some additional resources to help families celebrate the Advent season this year.
Fathom: The Coming of Jesus, The Birth of a Savior by Charlie Baber. This bible study for youth, written by NC Conference Pastor Baber, is a journey through some of the key Old Testament scriptures that shape our beliefs about the specific events leading to the birth of Jesus. A leader’s guide is also available.
Advent: A Journey Of Waiting, Watching And Preparing For The Light by Erik E. Willits. Waiting, patience, and prayer are the hallmarks of the Advent season. We learn to become people who wait for what we know God will do. Advent is a devotional guidebook to that anticipation, a reflective map readying you to receive the best present ever given.
Faithful Families for Advent and Christmas: 100 Ways to Make the Season Sacred by Traci Smith. In this new book of faith practices for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany, parents, grandparents, Sunday School teachers, pastors, and anyone who cares about kids will find 100 easy, fun, and meaningful ideas for bringing the sacred back into the season.
Advent A to Z: Prayerful and Playful Preparations for Families by Sharon Harding and John Indermark. Beginning December 1 and running through December 26, each day will explore an Advent-related word that begins with a successive letter in the alphabet. This is followed by suggestions for simple, easy-to-prepare, and complete activities (discussion starters, games, crafts, meditations, journaling, outreach project, devotions).
Children’s Dramas for the Church Year: Reproducible Dramas for Advent and Christmas. You’re only asking for four things when it comes to an Advent or Christmas program for your children’s ministry. It needs to be 10 minutes or less, incorporate all age groups, work for the size of your church, and be super easy to produce. This is the resource that will get you from rehearsals to curtain calls stress-free.
John Wesley Church Mouse by Evelyn Anne Johnson-Neal. It is Christmastime in the small town of Chapin, South Carolina. Chapin United Methodist Church is putting together the last plans for the worship service. Unknown to the staff or Pastor Jody, another secret member of the staff is scampering about to check on each person as they finish up. John Wesley Church Mouse VI is doing his job although a little more slowly this year. “Twas the day before Christmas and all through the church…” Read the poem to hear about a tornado, a fire, a box of hymnals, and a brave little mouse ending in a lesson of great joy!
Complete List of Youth & Children’s Resources
View the Advent and Christmas Resources for Youth pathfinder to see a complete list of our Advent studies and program resources for youth.
View the Advent and Christmas Resources for Children pathfinder for a complete list of our Advent studies, family-friendly movies, picture books, and program resources for children.
Ableism in the Church
The Center for Leadership Excellence invites you to join us tomorrow for the third webinar in our four-part series on Disability Ministries.
It is not possible to be a congregation that welcomes all and a congregation that perpetuates ableism at the same time. But how do we dismantle ableism in our congregations if we do not know what it is or how to recognize it?
In this webinar, Melinda Baber will highlight experiences of ableism in the church and provide tools for church members to recognize ableism in their own contexts, disrupt it, and dismantle it.
Ableism in the Church
Presented by the Center for Leadership Excellence
with Melinda Baber
Tuesday, August 22, 12pm-1pm
About Melinda Baber:
Melinda Baber is an ordained Elder in the Mountain Sky Conference, currently appointed as senior pastor to Phillips UMC in Lakewood, Colorado. Her call is to the local church and the world, to follow the Way of Jesus that values, sees, delights in, disciples, and equips all people to be their best selves. She also serves as a member of the Mountain Sky Conference Disability Ministries Committee and the denomination-wide Disability Ministries Committee of the UMC.
In her own words…
I am autistic. I am grateful for the experiences, perspectives, and gifts that come with my particular set of both hidden and obvious disabilities, living as I do from the margins of the dominant ableist culture here in the USA. I am an immigrant’s daughter, a middle child, a former foster-care child, a member of the LGBTQIA+ community, bi-racial, a certified Benedictine spiritual director with a special emphasis in trauma-informed spiritual care, a former hospice and law enforcement chaplain; and a mother of four adult children, each with their own complex personhoods, three of whom have disabilities.
I am told that I am a Bible nerd. I have a special love for oceans and old forests, old people, and babies; and a gift for numbers, patterns, singing off-key, communication in the written word, and in the poetry of silence. I am introverted, introspective, detail-oriented, free-thinking, self-directed, and a lifelong learner; and my preferred leadership styles are playful, contextual, and relational.
Farm Bill Advocacy in North Carolina
The creation care committees of the North Carolina and Western North Carolina Conferences have recently taken on the task of advocating with our federal legislatures who are at work on the Farm Bill.
Opportunities to meet with legislative aids for Congresswoman Alma Adams, Congressman Don Davis, and Congressman David Rouzer have been scheduled in anticipation of the Farm Bill coming before Congress in September.
Please watch this video or read below for more information on why and how these advocacy efforts are taking place.
The Farm Bill is a trillion dollar piece of legislation that is brought before Congress for approval every five years. A large part of the farm bill addresses nutrition in our communities. Other parts of the Farm Bill look at equity for minority farmers, the promotion of sustainable and regenerative agriculture practices, financing opportunities for greener farm practices, and rural development. This is why our creation care teams have felt led to address the Farm Bill.
If you would like to be a part of our ongoing advocacy efforts, please reach out to Keith Sexton at ksexton@nccumc.org.
You can also be a part of our September 5 webinar with Keith by registering at this link.
And don’t forget to check out all of our Season of Creation Webinars.
Advocacy: Connecting Faith and Public Policy
September 5, 7:00
Tired of the partisan divide? Exhausted with the political wrangling? Good News! Advocacy is nothing like the political theatre in the media! Advocacy is civil, reasoned conversation with a genuine exchange of ideas and the opportunity to effect real policy change.
If you are ready for a positive, rewarding, faithful approach to Christian confession in the public square, then join us for the Season of Creation webinar, Advocacy: Connecting Faith and Public Policy, September 5 at 7:00.
Heat Resiliency and the Local Community
September 12, 7:00
July 2023 was the hottest month recorded in global history, yet it seems this is just the beginning. What can we do to make our communities more heat resilient? How can local churches prepare to love our neighbors in the years ahead?
Join Dr. Ashley Ward, director of the Heat Policy Innovation Hub of the Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment and Sustainability at Duke University, as she shares about the real dangers of rising temperatures, and what we can do about it.
Eco-Grief: How Do We Respond to Climate Change?
September 19, 7:00
Climate change has been described as the greatest threat the human race has ever faced. As this cataclysm looms, many are reporting feeling anxious, afraid, sad, guilty and even paralyzed. The threat of climate change has already started impacting our mental health and our hope for the future.
Psychiatrist Brendan Johnson and eco-theologian Ryan Cagle will be joining us to share about their work around eco-grief, this anxiety centered around our fears of climate change. Join us as Johnson and Cagle explain this relatively new area of mental health, and provide us some guidance for dealing with it.
Energy Use and God’s Creation
September 26, 7:00
What measures can individuals and congregations take to save energy and reduce carbon waste? What renewable and sustainable energy options are out there? How are the Bible and God’s teachings connected to our power bills? Join us on September 26 to learn answers to these questions and more. Our time together will be led by John Rees.
John Rees is a retired Energy Engineer from NC State University and is active with several organizations focused on care of Creation. He performs energy audits for North Carolina Interfaith Power & Light and Waste Reduction Partners.
Energy Use and God’s Creation
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What measures can individuals and congregations take to save energy and reduce carbon waste? What renewable and sustainable energy options are out there? How are the Bible and God’s teachings connected to our power bills?
Join us on September 26 to learn answers to these questions and more. Our time together will be led by John Rees.
John Rees is a retired Energy Engineer from NC State University and is active with several organizations focused on care of Creation. He performs energy audits for North Carolina Interfaith Power & Light and Waste Reduction Partners.