Congregations celebrate various rites and rituals as a way of commemorating the significant life events and experiences of their members. By blessing something or someone, God’s presence is invoked and the sacred is invited into the mundane, the holy into the ordinary. This book offers pastors and other church leaders a collection of ready-made, easily adaptable blessings and rituals for a variety of occasions. The book is divided into four major chapters: Children, Adults, Everyday Life, and Pastoral Care. It includes blessings and rituals for such occasions as: welcome into a home or neighborhood, receiving a first Bible, graduation from high school, receiving a driver’s license, blessing the backpacks and lunch-boxes for a new school year, and pet funerals. Pastoral care rituals include such occasions as grief, lost love, anger, and declining health. Key Benefits: • Provides readers with a source of blessings and rituals for key moments in congregational members’ lives and meaningful ways to celebrate and support their life experiences and transitions • Shows readers how the intentional use of blessings and rituals within the congregation helps reveal to the community God’s presence in every phase of life

Honor life’s milestones and bring sacredness into everyday life. The Book of Blessings and Rituals shows you how to create ceremony and meaning around the most important events in you life. Drawing from different world traditions, leading metaphysical teacher Athena Perrakis presents blessings to cover a wide array of occasions and intentions, including holidays and sacred days, love, healing, protection, prosperity and success, lunar blessings and rituals, and manifestation. Organized by month, you'll be able to celebrate the sacred all year long. DIY projects and rituals will help you perform each blessing. You’ll learn how to construct medicine bundles and altars, which crystals to use to amplify the rituals or clear energy, and how to smudge for clearing and protection. In addition, you’ll learn how to use the power of invocations and blessings to set the energy of your home or event and to assist in amplifying goals and intentions. Deepen your experience of the sacred, find inspiration, and heal with this non-denominational guide to blessings and rituals.

This compilation of 75 Christian ritual blessings helps deepen and make sacred ordinary and out of the ordinary life moments. It offers three simple blessings for the seasons of the day; thirteen for the seasons of the year (holidays we celebrate from New Year's Eve to Thanksgiving); twenty-five blessings for seasons of our lives--event such as getting a driver's license, leaving home, getting a pet; seventeen blessings for seasons of our relationships; eleven for seasons of the Christian life; and six for the seasons of the church year. Each ritual has a welcome, prayer, time for reflection, suggested ritual action such as lighting a candle or passing a blessing cup, and a closing blessing. Families or other groups can share these blessings or they can be experienced by someone alone. These accessible blessings help to transform ordinary moments in time and space into holy moments of timeless grace. "To tend the journey of faith from pre-birth to the grave and to pass on the faith from generation to generation, families need tools that will help them look for God in all of life's milestones-from sending a child off to kindergarten to sending that child off with a new driver's license, from rejoicing over a birth to caring for the dying, from celebrating national holidays to observing Christian holy days. For Everything A Season, conceived and written from the heart of the Nilsen family, wonderfully helps families connect with God during 75 different milestone moments." Rev. Dr. David W. Anderson, Milestones Ministry, LLC "As a parent and a leader in the church, I am continually looking for tools to help both my family and other families take the moments of our daily lives and connect them with our spiritual journey. For Everything A Season is an answer to prayer for those who join me in this search. The Nilsen family has crafted 75 blessing rituals for transforming ordinary events into sacred time. This resource is a must for pastors, lay leaders and parents of all ages."Dr. Terri Elton, Associate Professor of Children, Youth, and Family Ministry, Luther Seminary In 1998, Mary Ylvisaker Nilsen of Zion Publishing broached an idea to her family, a family who, over the years, had discovered the power of blessing rituals. Within a year, For Everything A Season: 75 Blessings for Daily Life was in print, ready to begin enriching the lives of individuals and families. Six years later the then Youth and Family Institute bought the copyright, produced the second edition, and distributed it to thousands of families and congregations across the country. In 2014, Zion Publishing re-acquired the copyright and produced this edition: For Everything A Season: 75 Blessings for Life's Milestones. Our hope and prayer is that this tool will help you discover the profound joy and hope in this God who can bring calm in the midst of chaos, turn our mourning into dancing, and transform our everyday interactions in time and place into holy moments of timeless grace.

A blessing is a powerful and positive intention that can transform situations and people. Many of us seek rituals to help us recognize, celebrate, or negotiate the vital thresholds of our lives. Enclosed are fifty-two blessings to illuminate the milestones in your life's journey and bring light to your daily experiences. It is the modest wish that this collection shares the gift that a blessing can be, the doors it can open, the healing and transfiguration it can bring.

An eloquent anthology honoring the wonders and challenges of life on earth and celebrating the seasons of our lives. The mysteries and delights of life on earth are illuminated in this richly eclectic collection of poetry, wisdom, prayers, and blessings from thinkers and writers around the world. Here you will find the poetry of Hildgard of Bingen and Gary Snyder; the political wisdom of Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King, Jr.; a treasury of women's prayers, classical verse from China and Japan; and beautiful chants and prayers by Native Americans. A joyous affirmation of the human journey in all its forms, in all its struggles and glories.

Honor life’s milestones and bring sacredness into everyday life. The Book of Blessings and Rituals shows you how to create ceremony and meaning around the most important events in you life. Drawing from different world traditions, leading metaphysical teacher Athena Perrakis presents blessings to cover a wide array of occasions and intentions, including holidays and sacred days, love, healing, protection, prosperity and success, lunar blessings and rituals, and manifestation. Organized by month, you'll be able to celebrate the sacred all year long. Create medicine bundles and altars to support blessings and ceremonies Know which crystals to use to amplify rituals and clear energy Learn how to smudge for clearing and protection Use the power of invocations to assist in strengthening goals and intentions Deepen your experience of the sacred, find inspiration, and heal with this non-denominational guide to blessings and rituals.

Rituals From Birth to Earth: A Journey Through the Seasons is a collection of rituals and rites of passage that have been designed and performed over the last two decades by Rev. Dawn. They are a collection of rituals for honoring life's changes and growth, both of people and Mother Earth. This book contains numerous examples of the hundreds of rituals and rites of passage she's created for both common situations as well as unique rituals for various alternative communities that she is passionate about. Not only does this book contain a wealth of rites and rituals you can use, but it also includes the author's guide on how to create your own rituals! This book contains rituals the author has created for: seasonal celebrations weddings and handfastings baby blessings funerals cleansings and more!

This resource helps families look for God in all the milestones of life as they tend the journey of faith throughout the lifespan and pass on the faith from generation to generation. Each of the milestones, such as birthdays, new school year, adolescent body changes, getting a driver's license, new home, death of a pet, etc., has a simple ritual which includes a welcome, prayer, a suggested ritual action, and a closing blessing.

An Evangelism Tool for a New Generation. Today’s seekers are far more likely to be open to prayer than a traditional gospel presentation. This beautifully designed book is unintimidating, inviting, and effective. It’s a seven-day journey through the Lord’s prayer. Each day explores a new petition in the Lord’s prayer and helps show the reader the prayer’s importance and impact. The author offers reflection questions, prayer prompts, and sample prayers to help readers begin and deepen their personal journeys in prayer. It’s a perfect resource for anyone exploring the Christian faith or young Christians learning to pray. Plus it works well one-on-one and in small groups.

A hands-on resource for pagan parents and pagan families with hundreds of rituals, prayers, blessings, and meditations for every occasion along with suggestions for creating a sacred home. A Book of Pagan Family Prayers and Rituals provides a reference guide for pagans who wish to celebrate their religion as living, family tradition steeped in pagan ritual and pagan prayer. The book contains: Ritual guidelines for weddings, births, birthdays, seasonal celebrations, lunar phases, coming of age, divorce and death. Suggestions for the creation of the sacred home (including blessings and household shrines). Children’s activities including meditations, mask and rattle making, drumming, and storytelling. Prayers for throughout the day. Tips for teaching children about paganism. References and resources for further information in the appendices. This book was first published in 1995 under the title The Pagan Family: Handing the Old Ways Down. This new edition is substantially revised and includes new, previously unpublished material.