An ECPA 2023 & 2024 Christmas Bestseller!
Experience the Wonder of Advent Through the Eyes of Nature
Step into a world of wonder this Advent season with All Creation Waits: The Advent Mystery of New Beginnings, a stunning gift edition of Gayle Boss's beloved bestseller. This beautifully crafted book invites readers to embrace the ancient wisdom of Advent through the extraordinary lives of 25 northern hemisphere animals as they prepare for winter. Each daily reflection unveils the intricate and awe-inspiring ways animals like the honeybee, porcupine, and painted turtle adapt to darkness and cold, revealing the timeless truth: The dark is not an end--it's a door to a new beginning. Paired with charming, original woodcut illustrations, these poetic meditations create a transformative journey for readers of all ages.
This special edition includes:
- A new introduction with practical tips for using the book during Advent.
- Inspirational insights from scientists, poets, and philosophers who find God in creation.
- An Afterword that updates readers on the enduring impact of this cherished book.
- A ribbon marker to guide your daily journey.
Perfect for families, church groups, and individuals seeking respite from holiday hustle, this book fosters meaningful conversations and quiet moments of reflection. Whether read with children by the fire or savored alone, All Creation Waits will awaken your sense of wonder and deepen your connection to the natural world and the sacred rhythms of life.
Celebrate the beauty of creation, the mystery of Advent, and the promise of new beginnings with this timeless treasure--an ideal gift for those longing to rediscover the joy and peace of the season.
Learn more about All Creation Waits and find free resources at AllCreationWaits.com
Review Quotes:
"Each of the beautiful creatures in this little book is a unique word of God, its own metaphor, all of them together drawing us to the One we all belong to. Adapting to the dark and cold they announce in twenty-four different ways the Good News of Advent: that through every dark door the creating Love of the universe waits." --Richard Rohr, OFM
"To be awake in the world each winter is to sense loss, to know the weight of waiting. This book's illustrations and descriptions of the winter habits of 24 animals are gentle lessons in biology--about how lactic acid pools in the bloodstream of a turtle or a porcupine's gut digests wood. But the animals are also a metaphor for faith, and the final chapter explores the meaning of a God who became incarnate 'as a child at home among animals' for the sake of a creation that still waits." --Christian Century
"Gayle Boss writes lovingly about animals in their habitats using rich and lyrical language. Children will learn--and be awestruck--as their parents read about creatures they know, and don't know. I'm certain families will make reading this lovely book together a yearly tradition, whether they observe Advent or not. All Creation Waits: The Advent Mystery of New Beginnings is a beautiful addition to any family library." --Deborah Heiligman, author of Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith, a National Book Award Finalist
"A wonderfully refreshing sidelong book that makes you stop and think and ponder and consider and contemplate and see not only Advent but your entire blessed life with new eyes. Which seems to me to be the whole point of any generous honest art. Which All Creation Waits most certainly is." --Brian Doyle, author of Chicago
"This is the book I gave to my family and friends two Christmases ago in hard copy. It is one of the most beautiful books I have ever seen and so deeply moving with the story each day from December 1 to December 25 about what it takes for different animals to get through the winter cold. This book is something to share with your family or even alone to touch something that is very rare, and so real and heart-rending." --Trina Paulus, author of Hope for the Flowers
"This book reminds me of what St. Paul tells us in Romans 8:19--All creation waits! In this invigorating view of Advent the contrasts are beautifully presented--between darkness and light, waiting and arrival, sleeping and waking, human and animal creatureliness. The stories and illustrations partake of the kind of reality Christ exemplified in his Advent...How helpful it is to join the animals during their Advent waiting." --Luci Shaw, Writer in Residence, Regent College, author and poet
"This book is a delight to savor and behold. I am someone who believes that the earth is our original monastery, and this worthy guide invites us intimately into the gifts of winter by exploring the rhythms of various birds, bees, and animals during the holy season of Advent. A lovely invitation into the quiet mysteries of darkness." --Christine Valters Paintner, PhD, author of Illuminating the Way: Embracing the Wisdom of Monks and Mystics
"With daily Advent meditations shaped by an exploration of how creatures survive and flourish even amidst the dark and cold, this is a beautiful book. I love the woodcuts that accompany each chapter, and my children love the facts about the animals explored each day. Poignant, wise, fascinating." -- Sarah Clarkson, From the Vicarage
Gayle Boss writes from West Michigan, where she was born and raised. Her lifelong love of animals and her immersion in spiritual texts and practices have melded in poems and essays that explore how relationships with animals specifically, and an attentive presence in the natural world generally, restore us to our deepest selves. Also the author of Wild Hope: Stories for Lent from the Vanishing, Gayle lives with her husband and Welsh corgi rescue.
" Writing about animals and the human-animal bond is the writing that enthralls me. I've found it true, what the thirteenth-century mystic Meister Eckhart said: 'God is equally near in all creatures.' Many human creatures and two corgis have loved me and encouraged my work. Beyond them, the creatures and landscapes of Michigan's west coast, often wounded, open to me wonder after wonder." -- Gayle Boss
David G. Klein is an award-winning graphic artist, novelist, printmaker, engraving artist, and co-founder of Brooklyn-based Point Made Animation. He is a third generation graphic artist who started his career in his father's ad agency, doing design and print production. Klein's grandfather taught typography at the New York High School of Art & Design. Klein attended Pratt, where his father previously taught. His illustrations have been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Random House, Tor Books, DC Comics, and Marvel.
Paraclete Press
Pub Date: October 18, 2022
0.83" H x 8.56" L x 7.3" W
192 Pages
Hardcover