“A Radiant Birth: Advent Readings for a Bright Season” edited by Leslie Leyland Fields and Paul J Willis (IVP Formatio)
The Season of Advent is upon us, a time of anticipation, of waiting in the darkness for the Light to arise. Christians know that we should be introspective as. We wait for the Christ Child to be born in Bethlehem, and look ahead to when He will return in glory to claim us and to forever banish sin and death. But often we just try to cram a little Advent calendar into all our Christmas busyness, and we miss out on the mystery, and the glory, and the majesty. That’s why Paul J. Willis and Leslie Leyland Fields compiled a wonderful new anthology for observing Advent, with the help of 24 other authors, poets, theologians, preachers and sages. These “wise guides all will help shepherd us through the mistletoe wickets of the season. Consider the first Christmas sermon preserved and passed down through the centuries from Antioch in AD 386 by St. John Chrysostom, a priest who later became the Bishop of Constantinople” (the capitol of the Byzantine Empire, Eastern Europe’s Christian strong hold for almost a millennium.) “This is why (they are) here in these pages to behold together, anew. We are following our namesake. All of (those) in these pages belong or have belonged to the Chrysostom Society, an informal gathering of writers of faith. St. John spoke so eloquently, so passionately, that he was named Chrysostom, meaning ‘golden-tongued’.” Their goal: to inspire us “to behold-again; to hear the good news-again. To know hope-again.” The 42 daily readings take us from the first Sunday of Advent through to Epiphany on January 6, the Twelfth Day of Christmas. (That celebrates the king’s worship and recognition of Jesus as the Messiah King.).My favorites include
“Redeeming All Brokenness”, “Into the Darkest Hour”, and “A Sky Full of God’s Children” by Madeleine L’Engle;
“Joseph at the Nativity” by Tania Runyan;
“Our Merrymaking” and “Melancholy Angel” by Philip Yancey;
“Jesus’ Bloody Birth” and “Christmas and the Cross” by Lauren F. Winner;
“Winter Solstice” and the two-part “Somewhere in the Judean Hills” by James Calvin Schaap;
“Sermon on the Nativity” by St. John Chrysostom;
“Orphan Christmas” by Daniel Taylor;
“Maundy Thursday” by Walter Wangerin Jr.;
“Old as Clouds, Wise as Wind” by Gina Ochsner;
“A Welcome-Unwelcome Traveler in Narnia” by Matthew Dickerson;
“The Least of Us” by Sarah Arthur;
“Neighbors” by Deborah Dickerson;
“Epiphany” by Lucy Shaw, and
“He Came to Even Me: A Reader’s Theater” by Leslie Leyland Fields
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