Introduction
I don’t know about you, but sometimes the most difficult thing for me to focus on during this season of the year is the actual reason for the season. Between children wrapping up school for the semester, fall sports coming to an end, travel to visit family, normal church engagement, working on Christmas lists, and a busy work schedule, the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is frequently anything but reflective. Amidst the frenzied busyness surrounding modern Christmas, in this new book, Jonathan Gibson calls us back to patient, thoughtful reflection through daily encounters with Christ in Scripture – moving past momentary worries toward the cosmic longing captured in the cry ‘O Come, O Come Emmanuel’.
The Cambridge-credentialed Dr. Jonathan Gibson is an ordained minister in the International Presbyterian Church (UK), and associate professor of Old Testament at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. This book is a follow-up to the very successful “Be Thou My Vision: A Liturgy for Daily Worship” that I reviewed here. His purpose in this 2023 book is similar to that one: to provide us with biblical, theological, and historical resources that lead God’s people into a more profound experience of the one true God. Specifically in this book, he aims to help us improve our appreciation for the mystery we celebrate at Christmas.
Content Summary
“O Come, O Come Emmanuel” is comprised of two parts: Part 1 is the preparation for daily worship from Advent to Epiphany, and Part 2 is the practice of daily worship from Advent to Epiphany. The book opens with a helpful introductory essay called “Waiting for Jesus” that puts the season of Advent into the context of the scriptural narrative from Genesis through Revelation, as well as in the history of the church. From there he provides a guide to each of the elements of the daily worship in the pages to follow with some suggestions as to how to incorporate these into personal, family, or corporate worship.
Part 2 of the book consists of forty days of set liturgy beginning on November 28 and concluding on January 6. Though Advent traditionally begins on the Sunday between November 27 and December 3 and Epiphany is observed January 6 or the Sunday during that week, Gibson has firmly anchored this book to a November 28 start. Each day following then has a calendar date listed making it easy to know what the day’s reading is if the reader has gotten off track.
Each day’s worship liturgy follows the same order:
Meditation: forty different meditations taken from church history.
Call to Worship: forty different Scripture readings that alternate between Old and New Testament.
Adoration: forty different hymns or psalms (a psalm occurs every seventh day) from church history connected to Advent, Christmas, or Epiphany.
Reading of the Law: seven different Scripture readings repeated weekly to lead to self-examination.
Confession of Sin: forty prayers from church history that allow us to give voice to our sins and failures.
Assurance of Pardon: forty Scripture readings that assure us of the good news of the gospel (alternating between Old Testament and New Testament readings)
Creed: confessing what we believe utilizing a rotation of the Apostles’ Creed, Nicene Creed, and Athanasian Creed (in 3 parts).
Praise: an opportunity to respond using seven variations of the Gloria Patri and the Doxology.
Catechism: one or two daily questions and answers from the Heidelberg Catechism or Westminster Shorter Catechism related to Christ’s coming.
Prayer for Illumination: seven prayers from church history asking God to enlighten our minds and hearts to his Word.
Scripture Reading: select readings from God’s Word starting with Old Testament readings prior to December 22, Nativity readings from December 22 onward, and Epiphany readings up to January 6.
Praise: various liturgical prayers and praises from the Bible and church history according to date including: Magnificat, Benedictus, Nunc Dimittis, Sanctus, Phos Hilaron, Corde Natus, Gloria in Excelsis, and O Holy Night.
Prayer of Intercession: forty different prayers from church history to prompt our own further petitions for ourselves, our church, and our world.
Lord’s Prayer: repeated daily.
Benediction: seven benedictions take from Scripture and repeated each week.
Postlude: doxology based on Psalm 72:17-19 and repeated daily.
Critical Assessment
I received the book long before the Advent season in order to evaluate its usefulness according to its stated purpose. Like his previous book of liturgy, I believe Gibson has given the church a gift with this volume.
The book is very neatly laid out and easy to follow. Even someone unfamiliar with liturgical worship will find they know exactly what they are supposed to be doing as they advance through the daily liturgy. Additionally, the selection of readings is fantastic. In particular, I love the opening meditations that help set my mind in a right frame for worship, the hymns of praise, and the prayers of intercession. Each one delivers a certain freshness to my times of worship and prayer. Finally, I have to comment on the quality of the book’s construction itself. Once again, Crossway has knocked it out of the park. The cloth-covered, sewn binding is a delight to hold in your hands. The quality of the paper, the clarity of the font, the appropriate amount of white space all make for a delightful aesthetic experience. The book comes with three ribbons for marking one’s place, but in this volume I can’t see a need for more than one as there is no flipping pages back and forth as is necessary in some liturgical resources. Still, I’d rather have three ribbons than no ribbons. It is a book made to be used year-after-year to celebrate the coming of Christ.
I do not have any criticisms of the book, only a word of caution. For those of you who want to use this as a resource for family worship, you should probably lower your expectations. If you have young children, they will almost certainly struggle to follow your lead if you use the entirety of each liturgy in your time of worship. Some of you may have difficulty staying focused through the whole liturgy even by yourselves if you are unaccustomed to this style of worship. My advice to you is not to try to cover all the content each day, but choose a few of the sections and season your time of family or personal worship with some excellent content that will deepen your understanding and appreciation of what Christ has done for us.
In conclusion, Gibson has given the church another wonderful resource to facilitate deeper theological reflection and higher doxological response to the greatness of our God. I highly recommend this volume to anyone who desires to soak their heart and mind in the wonders of this season.
Comments are closed.