Advent is about beginnings, and we have two new initiatives!

FIRST, we have launched a new monthly e-newsletter! We hope this will be a great way to stay in touch and share our latest news, prayer bead designs, and devotions. If you did not receive the newsletter and would like to join our mailing list, you can sign up here!

SECOND, this month we are entering the world of PODCASTING!

Each month, The Upper Room’s Academy for Spiritual Formation produces a podcast featuring snippets of faculty presentations from past Academy sessions. Over it’s 32-year history, The Academy has amassed an incredible collection of talks from some of the leaders in spiritual formation, so I was thrilled to be invited to host the podcast for the next several months. I was planning to begin podcasting anyway, so this is a great way to start! I also encourage you to listen to the previous Academy podcasts. Good stuff!

Academy for Spiritual FormationIn this Advent episode of From the Well, we consider how the Advent season reveals the depth of pain and sin in the world. Mass shootings and global issues of violence point to our continuing need for Christ’s presence here on earth. Drawing on a blog post from Johnny Sears, and a talk by Robert Benson, we explore how we reached this point – by denying our worth as human beings. As we prepare for birth of Christ, we are encouraged to reaffirm the worth of ourselves and others and to celebrate the contributions each of us is called to make toward realizing God’s dream for wholeness in the world.

Find the podcast on iTunes, Soundcloud and Stitcher