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Although we often think the definition of shalom is "peace," the Hebrew word encompasses far wider meanings, including completeness, well-being, safety, prosperity, contentment, health, friendliness, and rest. Shalom implies the divinely ordained state of well-being, of justice, equity, and fulfilment, which God wants for each of us as individuals and for all of us as communities. It's a state of harmony, an interwoven connection that supports and nourishes both the parts and the whole.God yearns to heal all that is wounded or diseased, restore all that is lost, and mend all that is broken. This is the work of Christ, reconciling all Creation with Divinity, so that we all enter and participate in shalom. We need shalom in our bodies, our minds, and our spirits-and we need it in our relationships and in our communities. In these prayers, Ray Simpson invites us to offer up all that is broken or unhealthy, so that we can experience the full meaning of shalom.May the Divine Creator make us instruments of healing.May the Complete Christ take from us all that frustrates healing.May the Holy Spirit give us power for healing.

The Green Man is an ancient symbol that has gained new popularity, and yet his origins and meaning remain a mystery. Kenneth McIntosh offers a seldom-heard theory on the original significance of this leafy visage.

A New Spirituality of HolinessThis book explores the rich traditions of the Celtic saints and their kinship with animals. The accounts of these individuals' lives constitute the largest body of stories (hagiographies) of any group in Christian history-so to have so many creature stories included in them reveals the deep love early and medieval Celts had for animals, with their saints sharing this quality to the full.As we read these stories, we discover that they not only record what the Celtic saints did for animals but also what the animals did for the saints. This pattern of reciprocity, transcending species, so that all benefit in both the physical and spiritual circles of life, has a great deal to teach us today about what it means to be holy. Most of all, perhaps, it shows us how to build the Realm of Heaven as we protect and celebrate the creatures with whom we share our planet."Edward Sellner's new book is a gift and a delight. Offering the rich Celtic tradition of kinship between Celtic saints and animals, this book is an invitation to ponder our own relationship to the more-than-human world. We can take such inspiration from these monks and mystics, tending to their wild kin in ways that break them open to a God who is wild as well."- Christine Valters Painter, author of numerous books, including The Soul's Slow Ripening: 12 Celtic Practices for Seeking the Sacred"A beautiful book that reveals an enduring alternative tradition in Christianity that has always celebrated the lives of fellow creatures. Sellner wonderfully demonstrates that for the Celtic saints, the closer we get to God, the more God's creation should be treated with respect, wonder, and delight."- Clair Linzey, Professor of Animal Theology, and Deputy Director, Oxford Centre of Animal Ethics, Oxford, England."Through stories of foxes and badgers, otters and ducks, hounds and horses, Celtic Saints and their Animal Storiesinspires readers to reconnect with their sense of wonder and tenderness toward all of creation. Edward Sellner's book revitalizes our sense of compassion and of deep spiritual kinship with animals."- Lisa Kemmerer, author of numerous books, including Animals and World Religions"For those of us who already have a kinship with an animal, be it a dog, cat, horse, bird, or some other creature, this book teaches us how to integrate that kinship into our spirituality. Ed Sellner's book is a manual on how to integrate our relationships with animals into our spiritual lives."- Dara Molloy, author of Reimaging the Divine: A Celtic Spirituality of Experience and The Globalization of God: Celtic Christianity's Nemesis

When people hear the word Quaker, their first association is often oats, motor oil, or the Amish-but oatmeal, automobile lubricant, and avoiding electricity have nothing to do with the Quakers' holistic mysticism. What is central to Quaker spirituality is the Divine Center, an inner sanctuary where the very Presence of God dwells. As Quaker theologian Rufus Jones wrote: "The kingdom of God is not a place where we go, but a state of being we can live in." And we don't need to take the journey by horse and buggy! "Let Amos Smith open your heart and expand your mind. Quakerism holds wisdom we desperately need today. Read, contemplate, and prepare to be transformed."-Phileena Nikole, author of Mindful Silence: The Heart of Christian Contemplation and Pilgrimage of a Soul: Contemplative Spirituality for the Active Life"I am grateful to Amos Smith for sharing himself, for bringing alive these voices from Quaker tradition, and for making clear that mysticism is not confined to monasteries or otherwise isolated from the problems of the world."-Margery Post Abbott, author of To Be Broken and Tender "My own interior work by the Spirit of Christ has been affirmed on many levels by this new book by Amos Smith. . . . Read, relish, and be renewed."-David Sanford, Executive Editor of Tyndale House's Holy Bible: Mosaic Amos Smith is a practicing Quaker (Friends General Conference) and a long-term centering-prayer practitioner, as well as a writer, workshop leader, and rehabilitation counselor. He emphasizes centering prayer and contemplative arts as the saving graces of his life. He is also the author of Healing the Divide (Resource, 2013) and Be Still and Listen (Paraclete, 2018). For more information, go to RCMR5.org (password: friends).

At war with his stepmother, in trouble at school, and desperately unhappy, thirteen-year-old Ray finds himself shipped off to distant family in the high mountain hollows of Western Virginia. There Ray encounters a strange world of mystery, where nothing quite makes sense. The mystery deepens when he discovers a great stone snake carved on the wall of an old coal mine high in the hollow. A piece of that stone draws Ray into a conflict that echoes an ancient tragedy played out over sixteen hundred years before.

A love and appreciation for animals can shape a child's entire life, teaching important lessons about responsibility, empathy, and respect for nature. In Caring for Dogs, young readers will learn about how to care for the dogs in their lives, as well as the importance of treating all animal life with respect. Readers will also learn about the importance of adopting dogs from shelters rather than "puppy mills" and how they can help dogs without homes. Whether you're considering bringing a new pet into your home and want your child to learn about care and feeding or just want to teach your child about the value of a connection to animals, Caring for Dogs can be the beginning of a lifelong love of all our furry and feathered friends.Explore the rest of the series in:Caring for CatsCaring for Small AnimalsCaring for Farm AnimalsCaring for Wild Animalsor buy all five books in one with the combined volume, Animals Need YOU!

A love and appreciation for animals can shape a child's entire life, teaching important lessons about responsibility, empathy, and respect for nature. In Caring for Small Animals, young readers will learn about how to care for the fish, birds, reptiles and other small creatures in their lives, as well as the importance of treating all animal life with respect. Whether you're considering bringing a new pet into your home and want your child to learn about care and feeding or just want to teach your child about the value of a connection to animals, Caring for Small Animals can be the beginning of a lifelong love of our furry and feathered friends, no matter how small.Explore the rest of the series in:Caring for CatsCaring for DogsCaring for Farm AnimalsCaring for Wild Animalsor buy all five books in one with the combined volume, Animals Need YOU!

A love and appreciation for animals can shape a child's entire life, teaching important lessons about responsibility, empathy, and respect for nature. In Caring for Wild Animals, young readers will learn about how to treat wild animals-and their habitats-with caution and respect, as well as what they can do to advocate for the lives of animals all around the world. Whether you're trying to foster environmental awareness or just want to teach your child about the value of a connection to animals, Caring for Wild Animals can be the beginning of a lifelong love of our furry and feathered friends, even those who aren't part of our families.Explore the rest of the series in:Caring for CatsCaring for DogsCaring for Small AnimalsCaring for Farm Animalsor buy all five books in one with the combined volume, Animals Need YOU!

A love and appreciation for animals can shape a child's entire life, teaching important lessons about responsibility, empathy, and respect for nature. In Caring for Farm Animals, young readers will learn about how to care for the farm animals in their lives, as well as the importance of treating all farm animals with respect. Readers will learn about factory farming and why even animals that are used as food deserve healthy lives-and that they have the power to advocate for animals unable to speak for themselves. Whether you're considering bringing a new farm animal pet into your life and want your child to learn about care and feeding or just want to teach your child about the value of a connection to animals, Caring for Farm Animals can be the beginning of a lifelong love of creatures big and small.Explore the rest of the series in:Caring for CatsCaring for DogsCaring for Small AnimalsCaring for Wild Animalsor buy all five books in one with the combined volume, Animals Need YOU!

A love and appreciation for animals can shape a child's entire life, teaching important lessons about responsibility, empathy, and respect for nature. In Caring for Cats, young readers will learn about how to care for the cats in their lives, as well as the importance of treating all animal life with respect. Readers will also learn about the importance of adopting cats from shelters and how they can help cats without homes. Whether you're considering bringing a new pet into your home and want your child to learn about care and feeding or just want to teach your child about the value of a connection to animals, Caring for Cats can be the beginning of a lifelong love of all our furry and feathered friends.A portion of all profits earned from your purchase of this book will be sent to Every Dog's Dream Rescue, an organization in Johnson City, New York, that works to find homes for cats, dogs, and other animals.Explore the rest of the series in:Caring for DogsCaring for Small AnimalsCaring for Farm AnimalsCaring for Wild Animalsor buy all five books in one with the combined volume, Animals Need YOU!

"Each of us is growing toward the revelation of our true selves," wrote George MacDonald, "the white stone given to each person by God, on which the true name is written." MacDonald, a nineteenth-century minister, was considered a heretic in his day, because he believed absolutely in a God of love who works eternally to make us whole. His theology of love, hope, and affirmation runs through all his writing-and Anamchara has pulled out some of the best selections and arranged them thematically. Each page-long thought is intended to be read slowly, one at a time. This is the sort of book that's meant to be picked up for five minutes and put down again, while a kernel of insight takes root in your mind throughout the day.¿¿¿¿¿¿¿"Every moment that we are true to our true selves," wrote MacDonald, "some new shine of the white stone breaks on our inward eyes."

When Miggle creates a make-believe treasure hunt, she never dreams it could turn into a very real and dangerous battle against an ancient evil-or that nearby strip-mining could be a threat not only to the landscape but also to the existence of the Fair Folk who dwell within the mountain. In the end, it's up to Miggle and her siblings and cousins to help these mysterious and beautiful people find their way to safety.

When Callie and the other children stumble upon an ancient artifact, they find themselves facing a terrible danger from the long-ago past. Time overlaps in a mysterious way, while the children fight to help an ancient tribe in both the past and in the present.

The characters from The Daybreakers return for more time-travel adventures. An imaginary girl, invented by Callie and her friends as an elaborate hoax, takes on an unexpected reality that turns out to be at the heart of a magical mystery from the long-ago past.

Dave finds a curious silver medallion in a cave by the Ohio River-and then finds he has changed places with Dewi, a sixteenth-century boy in medieval Wales. When he travels across the sea with explorers searching for the legendary cities of the New World, Dave hopes to find a way back to his own time and place. Meanwhile, Dewi is adjusting to life in the modern world. As the boys journey through time, caught up in a world where prophecies come true and past becomes the future, they find that they may be better suited to the other's time than for their own.

This is a moving reflection on motherhood's spiritual lessons. Ellyn Sanna draws from personal anecdotes as well as from a wide range of male and female Christian saints and writers, making the book personal yet truly universal at the same time."¿¿Discover the continuous thread that connects a modern mother's ordinary life with Christianity's ancient fabric. Ellyn Sanna's personal transparency gives us all permission to be honest about our inner feelings and longings. This book is a valuable resource for all women who struggle with issues of identity, occupation, and faith."-Lois Barton, CSJ"Ellyn Sanna draws on the metaphor of sunshine and shadows to reflect on the paradoxes of motherhood: the moments of illumination and darkness, the wonder and grief, the growth and guilt, the delight and exhaustion. The kaleidoscope of experiences that make up motherhood can seem random and overwhelming without a spiritual focus to keep the patterns of light and dark in perspective. . . . Ellyn Sanna sees these challenges as a call to live in sacred wholeness, in the presence of God. A beautifully written contemplation of many aspects of motherhood."-Library Journal

In this prequel to the other books in the series, Eilian faces the distrust of neighbors who fear she is a fairy child. Since no one understands or accepts her, including her own family, Eilian decides she might be happier if she could actually run away and live with the fairies. The truth she discovers-about herself and about the fairies-is not what she expected, but it leads her into a new acceptance of herself and the world in which she lives.

At war with his stepmother, in trouble at school, and desperately unhappy, thirteen-year-old Ray finds himself shipped off to distant family in the high mountain hollows of Western Virginia. There Ray encounters a strange world of mystery, where nothing quite makes sense. The mystery deepens when he discovers a great stone snake carved on the wall of an old coal mine high in the hollow. A piece of that stone draws Ray into a conflict that echoes an ancient tragedy played out over sixteen hundred years before.

As the adventures continue for the characters from The Wolves of Aam, they face more dangers in the jeweled caverns and darkness of the Shadowlands. The tale moves to a dramatic conclusion that unlocks the final mysteries of the magic stones. These books lay the foundation for the events told in later books in the series.

Searching for his missing "dreamstone" and the answers to the mystery surrounding it, Runner ventures into the northern Icelands and the grim mountain fortress that lies there. In a night of terror and destruction beyond imagining, part of the dreamstone's riddle is solved. With extraordinary skill and depth of imagination, Jane Louise Curry has created an ancient world filled with brooding mystery, danger, and forces of power. The magical characters cast their own spell in this suspenseful fantasy.

Join Ray Simpson in prayer as you follow the hidden way to spiritual life.Ray Simpson has spent his life following the mystic's path that lies hidden in the midst of everyday life. This path is also the heart of Celtic Christianity: simply following in Christ's footsteps in the ordinariness of life. From this perspective, everything becomes an act of spiritual meaning-getting up in the morning and going to bed at night, going to work and playing with children, suffering pain and rejoicing in pleasure, working together in friendships and families and communities.Ultimately, the hidden path is the way of love-love of God, love of other human beings, and love of all Creation, including our own selves. Love weaves through all Reality, expressed in souls and cells and societies. Love empowers us to walk confidently, even when the way ahead is obscured, for this is also the Path of Promise. As it leads us through the humdrum details of each day, our earthly lives participate in eternity. As John Chrysostom wrote in the fourth century, "Love brings us heaven."Knowing One of the hidden path,Infinite One of the wise heart,may I learn from night, may I learn from day.Show me your hidden path.

Deepen Children's Relationships with Jesus through the Chronicles of Narnia!Children and adults alike are taking new interest in C.S. Lewis's children's classics, the Chronicles of Narnia. In these books, Lewis presented the Gospel story hidden within tales of the magical land of Narnia, a place where Christ reveals Himself in the shape of a great lion named Aslan.Now you can enrich your children's religious education and spiritual development using the excitement they experience in adventures from the Chronicles of Narnia. This devotional book leads children from Narnia to their own lives and on into prayer, offering opportunities for meaningful family discussions about spiritual beliefs. This is also an excellent foundation for Sunday school classes and religious education.

Imagine the Celtic saint Brigid and the great bodhisattva Guanyin sitting down together for a cup of tea. I certainly would want to listen in to their conversation! Oak and Lotus takes us to a similar place. It's a beautiful, expansive book about the joyful integration of Eastern and Western wisdom, a resource I expect to return to again and again.- Carl McColman, author of The New Big Book of Christian Mysticism and Eternal HeartOak and Lotus is a joy to read. Bringing Celtic Christianity into conversation with three major Eastern faith traditions-Hinduism, Buddhism, and Taoism-this book delights the heart again and again with parallels both uncanny and enlightening. Reader-friendly, it draws you in and won't let you go.- Rev. John R. Mabry, PhD, author of God as Nature Sees God: A Christian Reading of the Tao Te Ching and A Christian Walks in the Footsteps of the BuddhaKenneth McIntosh's book, Oak and Lotus, is a masterpiece of scholarship, insight, and wisdom itself, focusing on the mystic heart of Celtic Christian and three major spiritual traditions of Asia. I highly recommend this book for individuals as well as groups who want to deepen their spirituality.- Edward Sellner, professor emeritus of theology, spirituality, and animal theology, author of numerous books on Celtic spirituality, including Celtic Saints and Animal Stories: A Spiritual KinshipCritics may say, "This book is dangerous." My reply is: "Being born is dangerous. Live dangerously and find the Divine at the heart of the universe."- Ray Simpson, author of many books on Celtic Christianity, including The Celtic Book of Day, Brendan's Return Voyage: A New American Dream-Indigenous, Post-Colonial and Celtic Theology, and Celtic Christianity and Climate CrisisKenneth McIntosh's Oak and Lotus takes you on a holy adventure in which you set sail on your coracle in companionship with Celtic pilgrims, Buddhist monks, Hindu sages, and Taoist wanderers. On your journey, you may catch a glimpse and receive guidance from Brigid of Kildare, St. Brendan, Gautama Buddha, and Lao Tzu. McIntosh describes a spiritual path, and more than that, he provides tools and practices for spiritual transformation. When you read this book, you take a voyage of discovery and venture toward far horizons. This is one of the most inspirational books you will read on interspirituality and the universal wisdom of the Celtic sages.- Bruce Epperly, author of Jesus - Mystic, Healer, and Prophet and The Elephant is Running: Process and Open and Relational Theology and Religious Pluralism

Who do you say Jesus is?In his answer to this age-old question, Bruce Epperly brings us a new vision of Jesus of Nazareth, the healer, mystic, and prophet who is always more than we can imagine. This Jesus embraces all times and places with his mystical union with God, his healing presence, and his transforming prophetic challenge.Rather than requiring supernatural intervention from outside our reality, the Jesus of the Gospels is present in the natural, ordinary-yet-amazing world we too inhabit. The energy of his love opens up new realms of unexpected possibilities within our daily lives. At the same time, he points the way to meeting the challenges of our broken world. He calls us to venture out beyond the safe boundaries of doctrines and institutions, into new adventures of spiritual growth and inclusive ethical imagination. The quest to know Jesus never ends-and yet at the same time, he lives in us, inspiring us to embrace the ever-present God and transform the world.

Those who sing pray twice. In our Christmas carols, we find praise, contemplation, lamentation, and affirmation. Singing them, we join the angelic chorus with the shepherds, participating in the harmonies of the spheres. Our carols rise to the heavens and plumb the unconscious depths of the Spirit, where the "sighs too deep for words" whisper. Childhood memories of carols linger forever at the edges of our memories, fueling our hearts with hope.This holiday season, extend the Christmas joy through the traditional twelve days that lead up to Epiphany. After the busyness of parties and gifts, family gatherings and cookie-baking, take time to focus on the real meaning of Christmas. Celebrate each day with Bruce Epperly, meditating on the familiar words of Christmas carols. Sing and pray at the same time, as you rejoice in the coming of Love and Wisdom into our world, embodied in a Child whose compassionate embrace is greater than any challenge.Joy to the world, for God is come.

For setting us, like the stars in their courses,within the orbit of Your love,we praise You.¿¿This book contains short, daily devotions, selected from thirty-five different titles published by Anamchara Books. Included here are prayers and insights from authors Lynne Bundesen, Jeff Campbell, David Cole, Marietta Della Penna, Bruce Epperly, Sharon Grussendorff, Rich Lewis, Kenneth McIntosh, Bill Palmer, Melina Rudman, Patrick Saint-Jean, Ellyn Sanna, Marc Thomas Shaw, Ray Simpson, Bruce Stanley, and Lilly Weichberger. This collection from our favorite authors not only offers you daily inspiration and comfort; it also allows you to sample for yourself books you have not yet read. All the readings reveal the many ways in which Divine love encircles our lives-and they challenge us to actively participate in that same endless circle.For the glory of Creation ever streaming from Your heart,we praise You.For the air of the eternal seeping through the physical,we praise You.For the everlasting glory dipping into time,we praise You.For the wonder of Your presence beckoning from each leaf,we praise You.-Ray Simpson

Rediscover the life-giving connections between us,which neither death nor racism can destroy.In a captivating blend of Black history, African spirituality, and personal memory, Home-Going displaces hopeless accounts of racism and death with a story of limitless love. Saint-Jean invites us to participate in the pain and trauma as well as the creative resilience of the Black experience. He inspires us with courage and possibility.- Valarie Kaur, author of See No Stranger and Founder of the Revolutionary Love ProjectIn this compelling book by Patrick Saint-Jean, we see how much we have to learn from the Black community about death and grief. It should be a must-read for bereavement counselors, and everyone will benefit from its explanation of how life and community are inseparable. Bereavement is a health disparity because the mortality rate is higher in Black and Indigenous communities; what we have yet to realize is that these communities can also teach us about how to understand grief. What a fantastic book!- Mary-Frances O'Connor, PhD, author of The Grieving BrainArresting, illuminating, and categorically exquisite, Home-Going is a gem and balm. Through personal storytelling and analysis, weaving the spiritual and intellectual, historical and contemporary, Saint-Jean's book is an eloquent meditation on life, death, and community. Directing us from social sin and the epidemic of racism, denial, and brokenness to healing, informed by African worldviews and Christianity, it is a deeply layered, timely edifice-supremely discerning, innovative, and necessary-that charts a geography of hope and renewal.- Trimiko Melancon, Professor of African American and African Studies, Michigan State UniversityPatrick Saint-Jean provides a highly personal narrative of his journey toward justice, as he also encourages us to take a similar journey. He reminds us that while we start from different places, we must together embark toward stronger community.- Chris Elias, MD, MPH, President, Global Development, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Energize us with Your compassion, Giver of Life,to help the dispossessed, to listen to those without voices,and to reach out in friendship to all.Empower us with Your love; encourage us with Your Spirit;make us strong to bring Your justiceto individuals, communities, nations, and the entire globe.Our society often assumes that "justice" has to do with punishment. We think it means we make criminals pay for their crimes. The biblical meaning of the word "justice," however, means "to make right." This concept of justice has to do with healthy relationships based on equity and kindness; it refers to a society based on life-giving relationships between God, human beings, and the natural world. This is the world Ray Simpson seeks to build, and he offers these prayers as openings into the Divine power that constantly seeks to heal and restore.Remind us, God of Love,that when we eagerly desire the best for one another,the differences between us no longer seem as important.Knowing that we share the same origin, the same essence,and the same journey together away from fragmentation,may we work with You toward the completion of all thingsand all people, so that in Christ,we might be reunitedin love.

Holy Spirit,breathe upon the cosmos.May it share in Christ's resurrectionand grow with the birth pangs of his kingdom.May we, even in the middleof its groanings and agony,be instruments of its healingand breathe peace upon it this day.In the prayers collected in this book, Ray Simpson asks us to "hear the cry of the earth and work together to 'choose life'" (Deuteronomy 30:19). He reminds us that Divine life courses through Earth's rivers, breathes through her winds, and sings in each life form she nourishes, and he invites us to celebrate Earth's beauty as we learn from her deep wisdom. At the same time, with a prophet's clear voice, he calls to us to repent of our selfishness and ignorance, and commit ourselves to the Earth's healing and restoration. "Come!" he says. "Celebrate! Learn! Repent! Take hands and work together! Join in Creation's dance with all your strength and soul!"May every soul join with the song Nature sings.May the birds sing,may the trees clap,and may we humans taste and dance.

God is in me, and God is in you,just as Life is in every seed. . . .Kabîr, an ordinary craftsman who lived in fifteenth-century India, could neither read nor write-and yet he left us spiritual wisdom that spans religions. Although both Hindus and Muslims today claim Kabîr as their saint, ultimately, his religion was simply love. Kabîr's passionate love affair with the Divine offers a resolution to the dualism so present in our modern thinking. We tend to perceive an impenetrable wall between the spiritual and physical worlds, as well as between humanity and the Divine and between life and death, but Kabîr saw past the illusion of separation. Everything and everyone, he taught, is an expression of the eternal Love that sustains us all.We carry God within us, woven through both our bodies and our souls, Kabîr believed, and so there's no need for us to strive after holiness, no need to agonize and search for the spiritual heights. We don't have to "become religious" or convert to a particular theology; Divine rest and fulfillment are ours simply for the taking. We don't have to go anywhere, because we're already home.