Reconnect with the feminine God who has been there all along. For Mary, mother of Jesus, everything changed when the angel Gabriel appeared to announce that she had been chosen to birth the promised Messiah. With her courageous Yes, Mary came to embody the spirit of the Sacred Feminine by participating in the work of incarnation--God's creative work of combining matter and spirit. Traditional understandings of the Trinity cause Christians to frequently think of God in solely masculine terms. But Scripture tells us that God possesses both masculine and feminine attributes. Gifts of the Mother, a five-week devotional for the Advent season--or any season of transition--serves as a loving remedy to this limited understanding of God. Following the season's liturgical themes of Hope, Peace, Joy, Love, and Christ in the World, Gifts of the Mother invites you into a transformative devotional journey of sacred imagination. Through prayer practices inspired by the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius, you will encounter aspects of God that are rarely explored but are important, and without which Christmas is incomplete. As you travel with Mary through the Christmas story, you will witness the Sacred Feminine's role in birthing the full image of God into the world in the person of Jesus Christ. At the end of your journey, you will have gained a more expansive and complete image of God and will be left with a renewed sense of the Divine Mother's work of incarnation.
Sabra Engelbrecht is a writer, spiritual leader, and mystic with a passion for bringing the Sacred Feminine into Christian practice. She has degrees in psychology from the University of Kansas and law from Wake Forest University, and she recently served as the Executive Director of Ministries for The Gathering United Methodist Church, a large multi-site church in her home city of St. Louis, Missouri. For over a decade, Sabra has used Saint Ignatius's Spiritual Exercises to guide her spiritual practice. She has completed the Exercises numerous times, participated in Ignatian leadership training, and led small groups in nine-month Ignatian retreats.
Dedication Preface Introduction The Liminal Space of Advent An Unlikely Marriage: Ignatian Spirituality and the Sacred Feminine How to Use This Book A Final Word Preparation Week: Getting Ready Step 1: Prepare a Time Step 2: Prepare to Go Deeper Step 3: Prepare a Place Step 4: Prepare to Journal Step 5: Prepare an Altar Step 6: Prepare Your Heart Step 7: Prepare to Begin Week One: Hope Week One Activity: Creative Reflection Day 1: Master of Crafts Day 2: In Our Image Day 3: Our Great Mother Day 4: Unique Creation Day 5: Fully Known Pause: A Word on Resistance Day 6: The Incarnation Day 7: Review Your Week of Hope Week Two: Peace Week Two Activity: Fire Meditation Day 8: Light Day 9: Presence Day 10: Disruption Day 11: An Invitation Day 12: Discernment Pause: A Word on Ignatian Repetition Day 13: Let It Be Day 14: Review Your Week of Peace Week Three: Joy Week Three Activity: Honoring Sacred Friendships Day 15: No Turning Back Pause: A Word on Detachment Day 16: Facing Fear Day 17: Warm Welcome Day 18: Mirrors of Truth Day 19: Joy, Magnified Day 20: Trusting Acceptance Day 21: Review Your Week of Joy Week Four: Love Week Four Activity: Womb Meditation Day 22: Rough Terrain Day 23: Liminal Space Day 24: Labor Day 25: Remembering Day 26: Holding Love Day 27: Good Is the Body Day 28: Review Your Week of Love Week Five: Christ Week Five Activity: Christ Reflected Day 29: Sacred Memory Day 30: A Treasure of Gifts Day 31: A New Way Day 32: Concerned Mother Day 33: Nurturing Mother Day 34: Word Became Flesh Day 35: Review Your Week with the Light of Christ Final Activity: Labyrinth Prayer Epiphany Suggestions for Small Groups and Their Leaders Acknowledgments Notes
"This Advent guide to prayer is both timely and wonderfully edifying, leading readers through an integrative experience of daily prayer based on the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises but informed by a powerful vision of God our Mother. Highly recommended!" --Elaine A. Heath, PhD, author of The Mystic Way of Evangelism and Healing the Wounds of Sexual Abuse: Reading the Bible with Survivors "Sabra Engelbrecht invites readers into a gentle, more embodied Christian story. She creates space for prayer, imagination, and feminine wisdom that many were taught to distrust and despise. This book compassionately speaks to those who love and long to retain their faith, while confronting the harm and limitations of the church that formed them. It offers hope through peaceful presence, rather than pressure to try harder or be more perfect." --Angela J. Herrington, MA, ACC, LSCC, author of Embracing the Old Witch in the Woods: Liberating Feminine Wisdom from Christian Patriarchy "Advent has become one of those seasons I want to celebrate more honestly, but my old devotionals feel disconnected. Gifts of the Mother is what I've been longing for: a practical, deep, and compassionate companion to enter into Christmas alongside Mary--as an archetype of the Sacred Feminine. Sabra Engelbrecht doesn't ask us to admire the Divine Mother, but to learn her way--birthing and tending new life with empathy at a collective moment when it is most needed." --Victoria Loorz, author of Church of the Wild and director of the Center for Wild Spirituality "The best books are often those we first write for ourselves and then offer to the world. Englebrecht has given us such a book in Gifts of the Mother, inviting readers into deeper intimacy with the Sacred Feminine at the heart of Christian faith. Poetic and wise, clear and kind, this devotional offers a necessary gift to the church and to the season of Advent. It is for all who long for a faith that defies the limits of masculinity and opens heart, mind, body, and spirit to the Divine Feminine, who has always been, is now, and forever will be." --Claire K. McKeever-Burgett, author of Blessed Are the Women: Naming and Reclaiming Women's Stories from the Gospels and In the Beginning Were the Women: Matriarchs, Mystics, Wise Women, and Warriors in the Hebrew Bible "This lovely book invites the reader into a profoundly important journey--that of reclaiming the Sacred Feminine in their lives. Full of meaningful ways to pray, these Advent devotions are a rich feast to companion us through the days of sacred waiting and holy birthing." --Christine Valters Paintner, abbess of Abbey of the Arts and author of over 25 books on contemplative living
