Celebrating Christmas

Author Amy Boucher Pye & Leo Boucher
Publisher BRF £9.99
Format hbk
ISBN 9781800390515

This beautiful book has been written and illustrated by a father and daughter team. It is divided into four parts which could be used during the four weeks before Christmas. Each part is made up of several short sections comprising scripture, a reflection by the author and an illustration. Amy, the author, encourages us to think more deeply about a particular aspect of Christmas. She also gives us an insight into her childhood memories and why they are so special to her. She then closes each reflection by leaving questions with the reader; questions for us to ponder and pray about. Leo beautifully illustrates the theme with his paintings. This would make an excellent small gift which could be used year after year and still stay fresh.

Reviewed by SUE PIPER

Advent

The Christmas Story

Author Martin Payne
Publisher BRF £2.50
Format pbk
ISBN 9781800391208

This little book covers the Christmas story from the announcement to Zechariah of the coming of the Christ child, to the escape to Egypt of the Holy family. Each section offers a reading from scripture, followed by a commentary, questions, ideas and activities for families to do together. The author was part of BRF’s Messy Church team and is passionate about the richness experienced when families talk about faith together; this book would make an excellent inexpensive pre-Christmas gift and would generate new ideas and conversations about the importance of celebrating the Nativity and what it means to us today.

Reviewed by SUE PIPER

Advent

The Art of Christmas

Author Jane Williams
Publisher SPCK £9.99
Format pbk
ISBN 9780281086474

The distinguished theologian and writer, Jane Williams, has produced another helpful volume in SPCK’s series of booklets on classical and modern artworks to accompany the liturgical seasons. The Art of Christmas follows the author’s earlier offering The Art of Advent (2018), and similar works from the late and much-loved Wendy Beckett: The Art of Lent (2017); and The Art of Holy Week and Easter (2021, published posthumously). Both these authors have provided exceptional insights into great artworks and have related the art to biblical matters. Beckett is, perhaps, the greater expert on art history; Williams the more profound theologian. It matters little – all these delightful booklets provide great scope for personal meditation and deeper understanding of scripture through the inspiration of artistic masterworks. It is a joyful and highly collectable series.

The Art of Christmas is subtitled ‘Meditations on the Birth of Jesus’, and certainly there is strong emphasis on the nativity scenes as documented in Matthew and Luke. The holy family, the shepherds and the magi all feature in a variety of works. But Jane Williams is also at pains to take us beyond the birth of a baby in Bethlehem, and reminds us through wider scripture readings of the eternal meaning of the incarnation and its significance for our salvation. Thus, she provides allusions to Romans chapter 8 as well as John chapter 1. And, with a nod to prophecy, she relates Mary’s pregnancy thanksgiving in the Magnificat to Hannah’s prayer and subsequent psalm of joy (1 Sam. chapters 1 & 2), augmented by a moving and little known portrait of Hannah by the Dutch artist Jan Victors (1619-1679).

One of the strengths of the book is the way familiar artworks such as Botticelli’s Annunciation and The Mystical Nativity are balanced against the inspiration of lesser known works. For example, I was unfamiliar with the wonderful portrait of St Joseph with the Infant Christ by the Italian Baroque painter, Guido Reni (1575-1642). There is also a beautiful and intriguing and work by Gerhard von Hornthorst (1592-1656) on The Adoration of the Shepherds with exceptional use of light and shadow to show the infant Jesus as the light of the world. In summary, this is a book to treasure – and an ideal, thoughtful Christmas gift.

Reviewed by KATE BURTON

Advent

The Deep End
(A journey with the Sunday Gospels in the Year of Luke)

Author Triona Doherty & Jane Mellett
Publisher Messenger Publications €14.95
Format pbk
ISBN 9781788125062

The foreword describes ‘The Deep End’ as an ‘Inspiring commentary on the Gospel reading of every Sunday of the year of St Luke’. Most but not all of the readings are taken from Luke’s Gospel. The authors’ base and ministry is Catholic.

The book starts with brief but helpful introductions to the person believed to be Luke and the principle of Lectio Divina; the latter is a useful reminder of how to read, reflect and meditate on any Bible reading. It is predictably and pragmatically divided into the liturgical seasons of the year, which includes a ‘Season of Creation’, feast days and ordinary time. There is an index of Scripture references, and the book refreshingly ends with ‘Endnotes’ (although printed in near-microscopic font). This is a useful list of references which encourages and helps the reader to explore further some of the book’s readings and quotations.

The layout of the book is uniform with each Sunday’s offering occupying two, side-by-side pages which certainly makes it easier to read. Each day’s entry begins with the reading and is followed in turn by a brief and sometimes contemporary commentary or reflection, a quotation (many by Pope Francis, others by people both well-known and unknown) that is considered relevant to the reading, and ends with a ‘Go Deeper’ section. This final section comprises of one or two questions which invites the reader to consider and reflect on the reading and apply its message to their personal experiences and spiritual growth. Going ‘deeper’, will always be relative to the individual reader but in my opinion, many of the questions in this ‘Go Deeper’ section lie in the shallow, rather than in the deep end of reflection and spiritual self-examination. However, the questions asked by the authors are clear, relevant and often challenging and merit thought and responses. This is a well-structured and very readable book which I feel sure will be a meaningful contribution for both Advent and throughout the year.

I would like to share one quote from the book because it is challenging and could be used as our spiritual introit into Advent. It is by Peter McVerry: ‘The peace promised by God does not come from accepting the world as it is… The Christian community was established by Jesus in order to show a broken world how to live as a new creation … The Christian community, by the way we live, love, care and share with each other, is called to say “No” to our world as it is and to say, “Yes” to the world as it should be.’

Reviewed by RICHARD APPLETON

Advent

In a Star-lit Stable

Author Imogen Clout
Publisher FeedaRead.com Publishing, £6.99
Format pbk
ISBN 9781785101533 (2014)

The author of this collection of 12 short Christmas plays is a Reader in the diocese of Sheffield and she has been writing plays for her church to perform at Christmas since 1998. This means that the plays are tried and tested and they come with notes about performance space and costume. I liked the fact that many are adaptable so that many people (especially small children) can be included if available, but that a large cast is not necessary. The pieces are genuinely funny and energetic and are interwoven into specimen services. You could of course adapt the readings and hymns to suit your own taste and the musical talent available. Some of the plays are quite ambitious and would take a fair amount of rehearsal. Of this type, the one that appealed to me most was ‘There’s Always Room’ in which Mary and Joseph were disguised as homeless beggars sitting on the steps of the church asking for money as the congregation arrive. The shepherds appear as rather drunken young men causing a disturbance in the car park outside and the Magi are seated in the congregation dressed as Muslims. Other ideas include the cast dressed as conventional crib figures who come to life between the readings, and a squads of angels planning military style operations to bring the good news to earth that go wrong in various ways. Provided you do not charge an entrance fee for your service, all the plays reproduced are free of copyright charges.

Reviewed by KIRSTY ANDERSON

Advent