Fullness of Time series Archives

Advent

Advent: The Season of Hope, (Fullness of Time series), Tish Harrison Warren. IVP Formatio (ISBN: 9781514000182) 2023.

Summary: Explores how we may wait with hope around the three advents of Christ, offering themes, prayers, and helpful practices.

I grew up in a tradition that didn’t focus on Advent. At all. Getting ready for Christmas was about presents, decorating, family plans, Christmas music and going to the Christmas Eve candlelight service at my church where we sang “Silent Night” by the light of hand held candles. That was it.

Only in recent years have I learned about the rhythm of the Christian year that begins with the season of Advent. Or come to appreciate the focus on the comings of Jesus, of his Incarnation and return. As I’ve done so, I find myself longing for a third coming–in my life as I encounter Jesus afresh. I want to meet Jesus afresh as I begin this new year in the life of his people!

I was delighted to find these same yearnings in Tish Harrison Warren’s thoughtfully written little book on Advent. This is where she begins–with our yearnings for the three Advents of Jesus. She describes her own awakening understanding of this season with “its quiet beauty and doleful hymns” that reflects our waiting in “darkness before we celebrate the dawn.”

Then in a chapter on longing, she centers on four themes of Advent: waiting and hope, darkness and light, repentance and rest, and emptiness and filling. Following this, she discusses two prophets of Advent who prepared the way of the Lord–Isaiah and John the Baptist. Scripture readings from these two prophets are a focus of the lectionary readings for this season. Warren focuses on cosmic rescue in Isaiah and cosmic justice in the prophecy of John.

In the fourth chapter, titled “Stirrings,” Warren reflects on four collects, or short prayers from the Book of Common Prayer, used during Advent. Particularly illuminating for me was the fourth, a prayer that God would “stir up his power.” She links it to Mary and the Magnificat, a focus of the scripture readings, with her being overshadowed by the power of the Most High. Mary willingly yielded her self to that power, to be the instrument of God’s deliverance, through her son.

The fifth chapter is on “Approaching,” which offers eight practices for Advent. However, Warren doesn’t legislate these but relates her own practice. Rather than rules, these are invitations. Nor does she have rules about when to decorate or when it’s OK to play Christmas music.

Warren writes, “Part of why we observe Advent is to make Christmas weird again, to allow the shock of the incarnation to take us aback once more.” “The most wonderful time of the year” can only really make sense when we emerge from the darkness. Only in longing for deliverance can the wonder of the babe who is the world’s deliverer make sense.

Summing it all up, Warren offers a thoughtfully written guide to our own Advent journey. So, I will be reading the book again with several friends as I wait with longing and hope.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

Easter (Fullness of Time Series), Wesley Hill. IVP Formatio (ISBN: 9781514000366) 2025.

Summary: Explores the history and significance of Easter, not only as a day but as a season of celebration of the resurrection of Jesus.

“He is risen!” “He is risen indeed”

This call and response captures the incredible news of Easter, that the crucified One lives, that death is defeated, and in Him, we live. Yet, amid our flurry of Easter finery and family gatherings, the words lose their import. There is even a danger that they will become “ho-hum.”

That’s why the reading of Wesley Hill’s Easter was so good for me. Hill explores the history, traditions and significance of our Eastertide celebrations. And did you notice I said “Eastertide”? Easter isn’t one day of celebration after the forty days of Lent. It is a season of fifty days, filled with the appearances of the risen Lord, his restorative and commissioning work with the apostles, his ascension, culminating in Pentecost. In sum, it is a season of celebration and in this slim volume, Wesley Hill walks us through that season.

He begins with the Easter Vigils some churches hold where believers gather in the darkness of waiting. New believers are baptized, and then with the rising of the sun, the proclamation “He is risen!” rings forth to the accompaniment of noisemakers. Let the celebrations begin!

Hill takes us back to the first Easter and to the resurrection appearances, first to Mary and the other women, to most of the gathered disciple, then to Thomas, and finally the lakeside restoration of Peter, the repentant betrayer. He then explores the implication of the resurrection, that “we shall also live with Him.” He reminds us of our baptism, the picture of cleansing, dying, and resurrection as an ongoing reality into which we live. Hill delves into the history of how Easter became one of the “moveable feasts” of the church and all the ways saints have celebrated it. Hill then recounts how the proclamation of the resurrection has turned the world upside down throughout history.

Finally, the concluding chapters reflect on the significance of the Ascension and Pentecost. He notes how we’ve neglected the meaning of the Ascension. In ascending, the risen Lord takes up his rule over all things. Not only that, but as the Incarnate lord, he presents our humanity to the Father, going before us. Then, in Pentecost, we celebrate that Jesus has kept his promise to always be with us. He sends his Holy Spirit to indwell and empower us.

This slim volume makes for perfect devotional reading for Eastertide. Hill combines story with historical and theological reflection. And he invites us into a celebration lasting not one day but fifty. Most of all, he reminds us of how the awesome event of the resurrection turns the world upside down.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.