Three Thumbs Up For “Discovering Advent”

I’m pleased to have recently read three online reviews of my new e-book, Discovering Advent: How to Experience the Power of Waiting on God at Christmastime.

The first appears at Faith, Fiction, Friends, the blog of Glynn Young. After sharing his own experience of knowing very little about Advent, Glynn writes:

I knew what [Advent] was, but I didn’t fully understand the meaning of the candles or even the colors associated with Advent until I read Discovering Advent by Mark Roberts. Roberts, the scholar in residence at Laity Lodge and minister, teacher and author, has written an introduction to Advent that explains the meaning of the season well beyond “the weeks leading up to Christmas.”

He tells the story of Advent by telling the story of his own personal experience with the season, from largely nothing to an awareness to a growing appreciation for what it means. For readers like me, this sounds like a very familiar journey, one which helps us reach a deeper understanding of what the Advent season is.

The second review is from Introverted Church. Author and blogger, Adam McHugh, is doing an extended series on Advent, something well worth checking out. As a part of this series, he put up some excerpts and a review of Discovering Advent. Here’s a bit from Adam’s post:

Might it be a good thing for you to set aside a special time in the year to focus more on God so that you might grow in your relationship with him?

Might it be good for you to get in touch with just how much you need a Savior? Would it helpful for you to learn to wait on the Lord more consistently and faithfully? Would it be helpful to remember your hope in God and to be refreshed in that hope?

Might it be a valuable thing in your life to prepare yourself for a deeper celebration of the coming of Christ at Christmas? Would you like to experience more of God’s peace and presence during the hectic weeks prior to Christmas? Would your faith be enriched if you were to read, study, and meditate on biblical texts that speak of the first and second “advents” of Christ?

I don’t know about you, but Mark’s questions stir up a longing in me to go deep with the Lord during this season. The Savior is coming, and let’s meet him, even amidst the clamor of the cultural celebration, in the quiet of our hearts.

The third review appears in Lovepats. In “Trying on Advent,” Patricia Spreng writes:

As I was reading through Discovering Advent, it occurred to me that my work in raising and photographing monarch butterflies is another way of looking at Advent which is latin for “coming.” As I raise and photograph the monarch transformation (which I affectionately refer to as a “Trust-formation,”) I wait and hope for the promise of a monarch butterfly. In the same way, I wait and hope and actively engage with the spirit of God in my own transformation or Trust-formation when I choose to abide in him. In the same way, I wait in hopeful anticipation for the second coming of Christ and the fulfillment of his promises. I appreciated that Mark Roberts encourages us to enter into this time of Advent creatively.

Now that’s a connection I had not made before: Advent and monarch butterflies!

Thanks to Glynn, Adam, and Patricia for these reviews. I appreciate your affirmation and encouragement.