excellent devotional

Nouwen always gives me something deep to ponder about life and faith. Each day of this advent devotional includes devotional thoughts by Nouwen, Scripture reading, prayer, and a recommended action.

The excerpts from Nouwen's writings are enhanced by the addition of prayers and "Advent actions" which are perfectly in keeping with Nouwen's style. Some really good insights and inspirations in these daily devotions.

Beautiful way to enter the Advent season - wisdom from Nouwen, paired with a Bible reading, prayer and a suggested "Advent Action" each day. Loved the format and hope to read it/do it again next year.

This advent devotional is filled with excerpts of Nouwen's writing. Each day includes a short excerpt, a Scripture, a prayer, and an activity.

At times, I was challenged by the excerpts, and other times I felt like they were taken out of context. Sometimes the activities were meaningful and added to my days; other times they were just strange.

The best parts made this devotional worth reading; the other parts? I just skimmed them over and moved on. I am always reading something else, and so I didn't feel deprived.

Practical. Concise. As always with Nouwen, challenging.

A little too Mary-centric for me, especially in the prayers and “Advent action” which were added by the editor. Nouwen’s actual writings, excerpts from other things, were the best part, but not really related to Advent and seemed to be “forced” to fit into the topic/structure of this devotional. Would not recommend.

This was hit or miss. I'm glad I did it, and I'm glad it's done.

Loved the format of the daily readings - Henri Nouwen excerpt, Bible passage, reflection, and action…all in a two page spread for the entirety of the Advent and Christmas seasons. We used it for a women’s prayer group, and it provided many opportunities for rich discussion and connections.

Beautiful, thoughtful, with Scripture, prayer, a reflection, and then a suggested action. And it covers not just Advent, but Christmas too! A gem of a book and looking forward to using it again next year.

Our family read through this during our evening advent candle lightings and then followed it with a song. Some of the things Henri Nouwen wrote about were helpful for all of us ages 8-42! The daily entries were 2 brief pages that included thoughts from Nouwen, verses of scripture, a prayer written by Nouwen, and an action step. There are entries for Advent as well as the 12 days of Christmas. I'd love to revisit this next year.

I LOVE this Advent meditation! I have gone through it before, and it remains a favorite. It’s short and sweet, and as Henri Nouwen’s writing so often is, profound.