By Stephen Nichols / Reformation Trust Publishing
Each of us is on a search for peace. During this season, we bake cookies and play music, but such comforts only hint at a much greater peace in the distance. The good news of Christmas is that we can stop searching, because we already know the One who is peace. This new book reminds us of the real meaning of Christmas, a world-changing event that reaches beyond December 25th and affects every life, every day, for all of time. Jesus is our peace (Eph. 2:14a). Meditations, Bible passages, and hymns unite with beautiful illustrations inviting you and your family to enter into the true peace of Christmas.
Dr. Stephen
Nichols has collected a series of meditations and reflections on Christmas
gathered from throughout the history of the Church. This collection does a
wonderful job of placing Christmas into its proper place within the context of
God’s plan of redemption that He is working out in history. Christmas, Nichols
highlights, does not begin in Bethlehem. It begins at creation. It does not end
with the wise men; it ends in heaven. Dr. Nichols has organized all of the writings
around the central theme of “peace” but the book is anything but redundant. He
has done a wonderful job of selecting writings that reflect on various
different aspects of the incarnation and work of redemption so that the reader’s
attention is continually directed to a different aspect of the Christmas
message. The book includes an impressive array of perspectives from Leo I to
Bonhoeffer, from Ambrose to Wesley, from Augustine to Wesley, from Luther to
Piper, and many others.
The result
is a book that has an almost devotional quality. Rather than a systematic
presentation of doctrine beginning with A and working through to Z, the great and
deep truths of Christmas are examined like a precious stone that is turned all
different directions so that the light might glimmer and refract off of each surface
and angle. It more closely represents a classic liturgy than a modern study. In
fact, the book ends with an adaptation of portions of historical liturgical
readings and songs for use in either church or home.
Although
the book will no doubt be beneficial to any Christian who wishes to gain deeper
insight into the Christmas story, I think its main benefit may be as a resource
to preachers looking to expand the scope and depth of their Christmas or Advent
sermons. The meditations in the book are so rich that I found myself repeatedly
wanting to preach on the underlying scriptural passages so I could share the
themes and truths highlighted in the book. I think many preachers will
similarly be encouraged to dig a bit deeper into a number of scriptural passages
with their congregations.
While I
have always celebrated Christmas, I have never been a fan of how it is usually done.
I recall teaching my children when they were younger that there were two
distinctly different holidays that were celebrated at the end of the year and
that unfortunately sometimes people (even in church) get them a bit mixed up.
What Dr. Nichols has done in this book, however, is to call our attention to
the true wonder of Christmas that should characterize the Christian celebration
of the birth of Jesus. That wonder should be with us every single day of the
year.
* I received a free copy of this book from Reformation Trust Publishing as part of their book review program. Reviews are not required to be positive and the opinions I have expressed are my own.
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