Customer Reviews

Simply Wait: Cultivating Stillness in the Season of Advent

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book was used for an adult Sunday School class and was very useful. Each session had clear guidelines and goals, with accessible information, easily adaptable to the several different ways we used it. Very worthwhile!

I wanted an Advent devotional that would make me slow down and think about what Christmas is all about. I like many can get caught up in the gifts and decorations and going here and there. I want this year to be different to be about thankfulness in the one true gift Jesus.

I have just looked through the book and it is going to be just that for me. Come the end of the month I will be using it everyday. I am looking forward to it with great anticipation. That is the first word that you are asked to think about. What does it bring to mind about Christmas.

God speaks in a still small voice and unless we get quite enough to hear it what a huge loss for us. So I plan to cultivate stillness.

We used this book for a small group reading/discussion. The book is very well-organized, well thought out, and very concise. This is not an especially time-consuming book. The major obstacle our group encountered was that several in the group did not write down any reactions or thoughts to the prompts at the start of each chapter, ditto for the daily Scripture readings, so our weekly discussions didn't seem to take us very far. In other words, this book can work very well for groups looking to share reactions and thoughts in a conversational structure, but it may be less rewarding for groups that are expecting a sort of "lesson" and "leader" structure.

The prayer practices discussed at the end of each chapter may be the best "take aways" in the book.

There appears to be a typo for the concluding question for week three: it repeats the question from week two, but it's easy enough to work around that.

I ordered this book for a group Advent study at my church. We are trying to incorporate more contemplative practices into our worship services and classes, and this study is perfect because it introduces different ways of praying and is conducive to periods of silence and reflection during group sessions. I have had very good feedback from class members who are getting a lot out of their individual preparations. They feel it is helping them to remain centered and focus on what is truly important during a normally frenzied, highly commercialized season.

We are using this as an Advent Group Bible Study and it's been great so far.