And The Sea Lay Down

Here are all the pastoral resources you need for a complete and integrated Lenten season of preaching and worship -- Ash Wednesday through Easter, including Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. Included for each Sunday or worship service are: * Call to worship * Suggested processional hymn * Children's message * Prayers * Scripture passages * Sermon * Suggested hymn * Pastoral prayer * Affirmation of faith * Suggested closing hymn Ward's first book for CSS, Asking For Wonder: Resources For Creative Worship And Preaching, has become a favorite resource for thousands of busy pastors. Elaine M. Ward has spent her lifetime helping others discover the joy and wonder of worship as she has taught storytelling workshops throughout the country. She has taught Christian Education at Perkins School of Theology, Iliff School of Theology, DePauw University, Lancaster Theological Seminary, and Franklin and Marshall College. Ward is a prolific writer and creator of video materials on many subjects, including storytelling, Old Testament and New Testament stories, children and worship, children and prayer, activities for teacher's training, and worship materials for Advent, Lent, and other seasons. In 1990 she won the prize for the Best Written Sermon while at Lancaster Theological Seminary. She has been featured as a keynote speaker and has filled pulpits in Pennsylvania, New York, Virginia, Ohio, California, and Texas. Her workshop for ministers on "Preaching The Story" has been widely acclaimed.

KATE TERRELL is a forty-plus-year-old woman who decides to end her long-term relationship with Ben, a nice, successful but all-too-practical businessman, finally accepting that he is not “the one.” Deciding to put distance between her and Ben after the breakup, Kate heads north to Carmel-by-the-Sea for a vacation that will change her life. Sam Chandler is a professor of marine biology at the University Of Maryland on sabbatical conducting research in Monterey. Part-time, he leads whale watch excursions out of Monterey Bay. Sam is a spiritual being and a lover of all nature, especially the sea, but he has led a loveless life. Kate meets Sam on one of his whale excursions, and there is an instant attraction, an indescribable magnetism, that is cemented when they share a magical moment at the sea. Despite their mutual captivation, Sam is reluctant to begin something he cannot finish; Sam has a secret. They meet again by chance the next day during a rainstorm in Carmel. It is the beginning of a course that neither can change—the beginning of a love affair that most people only dream about, filled with romance, deep love, and sexual passion. It is then surprising when, suddenly, Sam secretly flies home, leaving Kate only a note reassuring her that he loves her but cannot and will not provide a reason for his departure. Devastated and filled with doubts and unanswered questions, Kate returns home to pick up the pieces of her life. After several months and an unexpected turn of events, Kate finds her way to Sam’s doorstep determined to get answers. This is a story that will make you long for true love, cry over life’s ironies, but leave you hopeful for the future. It shows us how one insignificant decision can change lives forever and begs the question, what difference does a life make, and how much can you endure for love?

Catalog of an exhibition held May 26 - September 23, 2012.

The New York Times-bestselling collection of poems from celebrated poet Mary Oliver In A Thousand Mornings, Mary Oliver returns to the imagery that has come to define her life’s work, transporting us to the marshland and coastline of her beloved home, Provincetown, Massachusetts. Whether studying the leaves of a tree or mourning her treasured dog Percy, Oliver is open to the teachings contained in the smallest of moments and explores with startling clarity, humor, and kindness the mysteries of our daily experience.