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The Christmas season has become more of a chaotic consumer ritual than a nurturing spiritual time. This online retreat invites you to experience Advent and Christmas differently this year. Advent, which includes the four Sundays before Christmas, is for Christians a time of waiting, a time to prepare our hearts, minds, and spirits for the birth of the Christ child. Christmas, then, is the twelve days from December 25 through Epiphany on January 6. It is an opportunity to carry the joyful spirit of Christmas forward into the new year.

"Take time for God: that's exactly the challenge God gives us during this season," writes our retreat leader Beth Richardson. She is the Editor of Alive Now, a magazine published by The Upper Room that seeks to nourish people hungry for a sacred way of living.

This Advent/Christmas e-course is based on Richardson's book Child of the Light. It is designed to help you find a quiet center, a time out from busyness, to be with God. Daily emails include readings, reflections, and prayers inspired by Advent hymns:

• "Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus"
• "I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light"
• "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel"
• "Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming"

And for the 12 days of Christmas, we'll reflect upon 12 favorite Christmas carols.

Sing along with audio recordings of the hymns and carols and pray with special meditations based on the lyrics. Then share your own Advent/Christmas thoughts and feelings in the online Practice Circle with Beth Richardson and other participants from around the world.

Do you long for a more sacred and measured observance of Advent and Christmas this year? Let this online retreat joyfully carry you through these special days as a child of the light!

To register, click on the "Subscribe to E-Course" button below.