Book Notice: Christopher Wright – To the Cross

Christopher J. H. Wright

To the Cross: Proclaiming the Gospel from the Upper Room to Calvary
Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2017.
Available at Amazon.com

Reviewed by Felicity Clift

The Cross of Christ stands at the heart of the gospel. It is no surprise, then, that the gospel narratives surrounding the crucifixion are familiar in the minds of most believers. But the risk with familiarity is that we fail to feel the impact of these narratives – we have heard it all before.

Christopher Wright’s collection of sermons, presented in To the Cross (2017), are a gift to believers new and old alike. In these five sermons, which cover the narratives ‘from the Upper room to Calvary,’ Wright reawakens an interest in these events, and challenges our spirit to respond to the Christ who died and rose again.

These five sermons are engaging, and the language and length of these chapters make this book a good read for the daily commute, or as a morning or evening devotional to cap the day.

For example, Wright’s sermon on Peter’s Denial is engaging and comforting even while it calls us to own our failings; Insults and Paradise reminds us that Christ’s exercise of God’s power was in Christ’s choice to be powerless; and It is Finished highlights how completely Christ fulfilled the plans of God in history, for our benefit.

Furthermore, these sermons have been complied as a Langham Preaching Resource. Novice preachers – perhaps all preachers – will benefit from this opportunity to see the structuring and pastoral management of these sermons. Christopher Wright has also generously offered some of his own sermon tips as an appendix. These are useful for thinking through how to preach on these scriptures, and for preaching in general, making these published sermons of Christopher Wright a welcome offering.