Book Review: The Sing! Hymnal

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My Rating – Must Have

Level – I’ve never reviewed a hymnal before, not sure how to gauge this versus others. If you’ve used a hymnal before, this is pretty much standard. I suppose if you never have, it could be confusing. If you’ve never used a hymnal before and/or find them confusing, let me know in the comments, I’d love to hear about it. Lengthwise, this appears to be a little longer than standard. I’m not sure if that is due to the extra writings or if it has more songs than average as well.

Summary

If you haven’t used a hymnal in a long time, or ever, they aren’t arraigned alphabetically, which would be nice for the congregant. They are arranged in groups, usually topical or seasonal, depending. The Sing! Hymnal has songs arranged in three larger conceptual groupings, with specific subgroups: The Worship Service which includes – Call to Worship, Adoration, God the Creator, The Providence of God, Confession & Lament, Assurance of Salvation, God’s Grace in Salvation, The Person of Christ, the Work of Christ, Prayer, Offertory, Illumination & the Word of God, Communion, Doxology & Benediction; The Christian Life – Hymns for Little Children, Conversion & Faith, Discipleship & Consecration, The Church, Evangelism & Missions, Psalms, Suffer, Comfort & Hope, Thanksgiving, Death & Eternity; and The Life of Christ – Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Palm Sunday & Holy Week, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost, the Return of Christ.

There are also intros, a forward, etc. as well as over 1,000 pages of different indexes, postlude, and short intro/history to a number of hymns.

My Thoughts

This is the first time I’ve reviewed a hymnal so bear with me. Mrs. MMT is a worship leader that puts services and retreat together, and we have four other hymnals at our house – a United Methodist, Southern Baptist, Presbyterian, and another I’m not really sure, either some kind of independent Baptist commission or maybe Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (which was the convention that church we attended belonged to). Interestingly, that one had the newest publication date at 1993, all others were older. So, that kind of gives you an idea of how new publishing in 2025 is. I’m sure there have been some others here and there, but I’m not aware of any publisher as large or influential as Crossway putting one out. In fact, it is almost always denominations printing their own. There are so man independent or loosely affiliated churches out there, that it is probably a good thing there is a non-denominational hymnal out there. I think (hope) it is also part of the growing trend of a little more cohesion, liturgy, and standardization coming back to churches after decades of pushing those away.

As I mentioned earlier, the arraignments aren’t alphabetical, as they are published to help the worship leader or music minister set up the service. It can always be a risk that without some sort of guide or anchor, someone could just pick whatever they want or feel like, or pick songs that are ‘fun to play’ (don’t @ me, I know that have a hymnal doesn’t stop them either). I think it can also be a good reminder that there are 100’s a great songs from which to choose, not just the 12 on the radio right now. Along those lines, we can sing some during particular seasons or parts of the year and then switch to others other times, instead of the same song six weeks in a row.

What is interesting about Sing, is they chose older hymns, those we typically think of has ‘hymns’, as well as newer songs or others written in the last 50 years or so. The choices seem to be outstanding. I appreciate them keeping a number of well known or traditional songs, as well as digging through the new ones and making sure to pull in those with with depth, theology, and quality that will likely keep them around for hundreds of years. There area also scriptures, prayers, benedictions, psalms, and writings scattered throughout the book, but laid out in those sections where they would fit best. For instance a psalm near the call to worship songs, or prayer in advent, or scripture with on of the songs of Comfort & Hope. That appears to be something different, or in addition when compared to other hymnals.

You kind of forget how much info is in hymnals in general. Our UMC copy has writings and liturgies from Wesley, and the PCA one has the Westminster Standards. I really hope this catches on and is used often in churches everywhere. However, it is also a great resource for family worship, or if you want to do other events like a worship night, or an advent group at your house (as we like to do).

A few quick criticisms, and then I’ll wrap up. First, personally, I don’t like using exclamation marks, so having one in the title irrationally bothers me. This is very minor, but 497 hymns? They couldn’t just toss in three more children or Christmas songs? I will say, arraigning the songs by groups can be difficult, because if you are thinking in terms of categories, you may see a song differently than the publishers. I picked three random hymns – It is Well, Be Thou My Vision, and Come Thou Fount and looked them up to see their category. The first is in Death & Eternity, which I guess I can see, but that is not where I would have checked first. The next was in Discipleship & Consecration, that is pretty straight forward. The final one is in the Call to Worship, which I just don’t understand. That might have been one of the last places I would’ve looked. That being said, there is an alphabetical index, somewhat confusing titled ‘Titles & First Lines’ that is the last index in the book. There is another index that is alphabetical called Hymn Tunes, which is earlier in the indexes, but that is just about the music.

Other than a few minor thoughts, I don’t see any issues with this book. Everything about it seems great, including the quality of the material and printing. It is a solid hardcover, nicely and simply designed, with thick, quality paper meant to hold up for a long time of use. The arraignment, layout, type/font, etc. all look wonderful as well. This is a must have for churches, and I’d encourage worship leaders or families and communities groups to consider getting it as well. You can check out their dedicated site for more info – https://www.singhymnal.com/

* I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Book Review: Ruined Sinners to Reclaim

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My Rating – If you are looking for something

Level – Long, at just under 1,000 pages before refences/indixes; Advanced, likely to be used as a reference for sermon prep or writing papers, requires higher level of knowledge of history, theology, etc.

Summary

The rather long subtitle sums it up relatively well. This book looks sin – what it is, it’s impacts on people and actions, and the impacts of original sign – through church history, Biblical understanding, theology, and finally ‘pastoral’ which chapter varied on audience, some where written for pastors, others looked at overall interaction between people and to the church from a modern perspective. The book is actually part two for the Doctrine of Grace series (for which I assume there will be five).

The book has 30 chapters, after a forward by Michael Horton there is an introduction chapter, before beginning Part 1 Church History. Most of the chapters are named with a literary theme, so I’ll mention just the subtitle, which is more informative. Part 1 includes chapters on: Patristic Tradition; Augustin, Pelaguis, and the Question of Original Sin; Pseudo-Augustinian Treatise on Predestination; Luther v. Erasmus; Early Post-Reformation Theology; Synod of Dort; Old Princeton and Imputation; English Particular Baptists. Part 2 reviews sin in the Bible and chapters include: Genesis-2Kings; Wisdom Literature; Prophets; Synoptic Gospels and Acts; Johannine Literature; Pauline Epistles; Pastoral Epistles. Part 3 covers Theology and includes: Comparative Religions and Alternative Philosophies; Biblical Theodicy; Covenant; Imputation; A Protestant Assessment of the Doctrine of Concupiscence; Psychical Effects of Sin; Modern Theology (my note – this refers to late 19th century thinkers); Theology; Sinlessness of Christ. The final chapter covers pastoral/modern issues such as: impact of secularization of understanding sin; elenctics; apologetics; counseling; and preaching.

My Thoughts

This is quite a magisterial work. I’m always genuinely interested as to how publishers decide top put everything into one volume, instead of four shorter works. Not that they would actually be all that short, transposing to typical paperback, I think each new book would be over 300 pages. All that to say, there is a great deal of content in this book. This best of which was likely section 2, on sin throughout the Bible. The entire book is taking the reformed position, and you can clearly see the writers taking that ‘side’, especially in the theology section, but the Bible section works through exegesis, which often makes the strongest argument to most people on the totality of sin. I could also see it being used often when handling theological topics in preaching or even Bible studies on the sections listed. Similarly, the section on pastoral practice has strong chapters, particularly those on secularization and preaching.

Probably where the book suffers the most, is where most collected writings suffer, in lack of consistency, and in some cases repetition. For the most part, the chapters functioned as summaries of academic work. However, some read almost at the popular level, especially in the history and Bible sections. I really appreciated this as someone who is not an academic. However, other chapters were so narrow and academically focused that it had me wondering how many angles can dance on the head of a pen. That being said, I’m not entirely sure who the target audience is for this book. If it is to Bible study/Sunday school teachers, then it was too much. However, if it was meant to be for an academic audience, then it would fit. With every chapter being written independently, and probably have word limit ranges, there were instances were people or events were defined multiple times, as the editors likely couldn’t cut too much. This isn’t necessarily bad, especially if the book is meant more for refence, but reading it straight through, gave it a sense of discontinuity. However all chapters were strong on their own, with perhaps the exception of ‘Evangelizing Fallen People’. The chapter was not really about evangelism, and the subtitle related to apologetics, which was the topic, however it was mostly an argument for Van-Tillian Presuppositionalism. I can see where the author would say that relates to sin, but it didn’t quite fit for me.

The section on Theology was very strong, particular the chapter on theology of sin (Incurvatus Est in Se). There are also two chapters on depravity and covenant with Adam that handle covenant and imputation that was strong enough to stand as its own book. There is some interaction with competing theology, with Schleiermacher in the Theology section and Erasmus and Pelagius in the history section. However, those promoted full on heresy. I would have liked some discussion of heterodox theology or those of other Christian traditions, such as Wesley, Finney, Catholic thought, or even ‘prosperity gospel’. However, I understand there are limits.

Overall, if you are looking for a refence book on sin, I’m not sure you could do better to start with this. Breaking it into the four categories chosen will go a long way in helping a study or a sermon.

*I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Books for Christmas and New Year

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There are less than 10 days to Christmas, but if you have two day shipping and still need some gift ideas you can get these in time. Or, if you are wanting to ‘start the New Year right’, I have some devotional recommendations for you. Click on the links below to read my review of each book and get more information.

First, here are three short daily devotionals for you to start off the New Year:

Psalms in 30 Days, probably not better way to start a New Year or new devotion time than the Psalms.

Daily Liturgy, this is a great 40 day devotional that is not tied to any season

O Sacred Head, Now Wounded, This a a Lent devotional, so you’ll have more time to order or read something first.

Or, if reading isn’t really your thing (thanks for visiting was is not basically a book review site) or you don’t have the time right now, or need something to fill a commute; try the Tune My Heart podcast. This is a 30 day liturgy and prayer podcast, all of them are less than 10 minutes and are a great way to start your morning.

If you are looking for something related by not a devotional, try Disciplines of a Godly Man, which is a very popular book and now my most popular post of all time.

If you are looking for some good non-fiction, Why Nations Fail, has been in the news recently as the authors have won this years Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.

Finally, four more books that I haven’t reviewed yet, but are worth mentioning:

Deep: Freediving, Renegade Science, and What the Ocean Tells Us about Ourselves; this is probably my favorite book I’ve read this year. The subtitle is basically accurate, if any of it interest you, get this book. The final chapter is a little long and meandering, but the rest of the book is great.

The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to Sexual Revolution; I’ve been meaning to write a review of this for years, but it is so impactful, I think it’ll be a multi-part review or maybe something different all together. I think very few books explain parts of our current cultural moment like this. Just a head up, it isn’t too long, maybe 400 or so, but it is on the more difficult side for reading. He interacts often with past philosophers and theologians. Don’t let that be a deterrent, just know if you don’t have a lot of familiarity, it can seem like a slog at parts.

Dune; this is one of my all time favorite works of fiction. The second movie is out, both movies are based on the one namesake book. If you liked the movies, you should check out the book. Or you haven’t done either, it’s worth grabbing to see what the hype is about.

A Christmas Carol; also one of my all time favorites, and I had to throw in some sort of Christmas book. I read this just about every year and watch two or three versions of the movie, the Muppets probably being my current favorite. Some of the scenes/dialogue are taking exactly from the book, which is something like 60 pages. So, you can rip through this in an afternoon if you were so inclined.

Hope this helps with last minute Christmas ideas, or books to start in January. I don’t think I’ve made a post quite like this, so let me know if it was useful or not.

Book Review: Daily Liturgy Devotional

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Rating: Must read

Level: About 4-5 pages per day, easily less than 15 minutes depending on your own prayers; mostly easy read, the ‘concise commentary’ is accessibly to all, but some of the prayer book style language may be unfamiliar to many.

Summary

This is a slightly different take on the 30/40/season prayer book, which adds some nice variety while also making it a great reference book for the future. The book is broken into eight thematic sections of five days each – The Gospel, Faith, Love, Hope, Wisdom, Holiness, Perseverance, and Witness. There is also an intro which is relatively helpful (at least explains the few Latin words), but is also the dedication, which is slightly odd, but not really a big deal. The book concludes with footnotes and a further reading section.

Each day includes prayer, a scripture reading, followed with a ‘concise commentary’, a memory verse, prayer prompt, a hymn, and then a space to write thoughts/reflections (according to the author; there are no lined or sectioned areas). On the first of the five days for each section, you will pray the Gloria Patri, Agnus Dei, and Lord’s Prayer. The other four days follow the adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication model. Each section has a recommendation on what to pray as well as a prayer from the Bible or someone in history.

My Thoughts

Two criticisms out of the way first, it slightly bugs me that he didn’t do faith, hope, love. Second, and this is more for Crossway, they need to go ahead and just make an entire modern version of the Book of Common Prayer (I know the ACNA did one in 2019, and it is great, but I’m talking a brand new version, not just revisions). Especially the Psalter, which I’ve heard rumors for years that Crossway was working on. If anyone had the time, money, focus of mission, and theology to do this, it’d be them.

That’s it, those are my critiques. I’ve mentioned it my other reviews of these Family Liturgy’s or Seasonal (church calendar, not meteorological) Liturgy’s and especially the Psalm’s devotionals, this prayer book revival trend for us Evangelical Protestants has been incredible. I like everything about it. Learning common/ancient prayers, the modeling of prayers, the liturgical nature, it is all good.

The devotionals I grew up on, the one line of scripture and then a paragraph of commentary have a time and a place; especially new or immature believers, or those in especially busy times. However, the deeper more engaged, broader focused liturgy’s are what we really need more often. We need more depth, more prayer, more words from those who came before us. There is a reason our Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, and other Protestant brother’s and sister’s never abandoned this model. The rediscovery and growth in prayer book for conservative Protestants has been wonderful. I think this is especially true for those second generation ‘independent’ or ‘non-denom’ mega church style believers.

This book is great in that it has those eight themes to study for a week (five days, but if you are like me, weekends are hectic, and I use this as a week day devotional). The mix of biblical and historical prayers is solid and helps to teach you ways to pray. The strange part was trying to sing the hymns. I tried to sing out loud by myself, but couldn’t often bring myself to do it. If that isn’t an issue for you, great. However, it is a good reminder that this works wonderfully as a family devotion/worship.

If you a new to the prayer book style or have read all of them, this is still one to get. Probably one of the better intros to the style, if you are new. If you are familiar, this a good one, especially with the themes and the slight change to prayer structures. All around, this a must read/have for those looking to expand or continue a serious prayer life. Also, this is being published Dec 2, 2024, so go buy it and start it the first week of the new year, since you will probably have the goal of increasing your devotional in 2025.

*I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Book Review: On the Christian Life

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Rating: Must Read

Level: Very Short (<75 pages), relatively easy (editor uses footnotes for lesser known classical figures)

Summary

Where this book comes from is a little confusing, but it is an excerpt from Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion, which is sold in modern times as two large books. However, Calvin wrote it in four section, with 80 ‘books’, which are essentially chapters. On the Christian Life comes from section three, books/chapters 6 through 10. This is not the first time this portion has been sold separately, variously titled the Little/Gold Book on the (Mature) Christian Life. The contents of the book are meant to be devotional and how we should live lives as Christians. 

The editor has chosen to keep the chapter numbers, instead of ‘translating’ them as well, so the book starts on Chapter 6 – The Life of the Christian, 7 – The Sum of Christian Life, in Which we Discuss the Denial of Ourselves, 8 – Bearing the Cross, 9 – Meditation on the Future Life, 10 – How We Must Use the Present Life and Its Means of Support. This book also includes the editors introduction which explains a little more about Calvin and the history of this book. The table of contents also list ‘How We Obtain Grace’ as if there is Calvin’s intro, but that is just a title page and comes form the name of Section three. However, ‘The Life of the Christian’ (Chapter 6, or the first pages of this book) functions somewhat like an intro from Calvin. 

My Thoughts

This may just be a pet peeve of mine, but I really don’t like keeping the chapter number as they are in the larger book. Surely I’m overthinking it, but having lead Bible/book studies for a long time, having names not match chronology seems confusing. While I’m nit-picking, small books like this often work better in leather (real or fake), especially to be read devotionally. Purely a preference of mine, but figured I’d through it out there in case Crossway reads this. 

This is a really a great intro to Calvin. For a man famous for publishing/writing, we really don’t have much from him. Technically, we wrote commentaries on (almost?) all of the Bible, but those don’t get much popular press. He wrote the Institutes which many people know, but few read. This makes him sound scholarly, as he was, but he was also a pastor with a heart for devotion, and that comes out in this book. A short, cheap, easy to read book is a good way for anyone to learn about any author. The Institutes are far more accessible than you may think, and this excerpt does a good job showcasing that. 

It is a newer translation, which I found very readable. I believe Crossway published this first, because a wholesale new translation is forthcoming. The editor has also added helpful footnotes for modern audiences, as well as keeping Calvin’s original ones. There were a few interesting translation choices, where they would footnote a word and then explain the original in a footnote, and it seemed to me that the original should have stayed or even made more sense sometimes. That being said, I don’t know all the context, and the newer word probably conveyed the original meaning better. Just thought it was interesting, as most translating is. 

As far as the content, the chapter on self denial is worth the book on it’s own. I can’t imagine something that present day American Christians need to hear more. As with the rest of society, we deny ourselves nothing and attempt to fulfil all our want in the pursuit of happiness. Bearing the cross is a good reminder that there are Christian who suffer in the world. The final two chapters blur together somewhat in my reading, but again I think it is something lost on Christians today, that focus on the future. As in, New Creation/New Life, not a few years in the future. It is difficult to not think of only the hear and now. 

This little book has been essential reading for a few hundred years now. I think it is something every Christian should read. 

 

*I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. 

 

Book Review: Biblical Typology

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Rating: If you are looking for something

Level: Short at just over 200 pages; medium to difficult, knowledge of literature helpful, written somewhat academically.

Summary

Typology might be an uncommon word for most people, but you may have heard that there are ‘types and shadows’ in the Old Testament that point to or are about Christ. In fact, that is the first part of the sub-title: How the Old Testament Points to Christ, (which the book does, but the ‘His Church, and the Consummation’ less so). This is the act of looking all people or events in the Old Testament, and seeing if they relate to Christ or his work. 

The book is broken into seven part, with multiple chapters in each: Introducing the Challenge of the Old Testament – Understanding the Old Testament, Interpreting Noah’s Flood, The Bronze Serpent; A Framework for Typological Interpretation – Basic Theology for Typology, The Shape of Our Response to the Bible; Introducing the Practice of Typological Interpretation – Introducing Clowney’s Triangle, The Tabernacle and Its Furniture, Clowney’s Triangle for the Episodes in Genesis, Underlying Principles for Clowney’s Triangle; Deeping Our Understanding of Typological Meaning – Symbolism and Theophany, The Nature of Meaning, Three Complementary Perspectives on Meaning, The Theme of Mediation, Comparing Types with Other Relations Between Meanings, Analogies, Symbols, Types, and Prophecies as Perspectives, Allegorization; Enrichment of Clowney’s Triangle – Enhancements to Clowney’s Triangle, Multifaceted Meaning, Boundaries for Typological Interpretation, Maxims for Typological Interpretation; The Practice of Typological Interpretation; Types in Mosaic Administration, Types in Redemptive Plots, Types in Creation, Types in the Earthly Life of Jesus; Interpretation of Analogies – Analogies as Similar to Types, Using the Triangle for Analogy, Analogies for the Attributes of God, Analogies for the Trinity, The Extent of Analogies. 

This also an intro and conclusion chapter, as well as five very helpful appendices (about 50 pages worth). 

My Thoughts

I struggled with this book. I was excited to get it, because the treatment of certain portions of the Old Testament is one of the more complicated issues we face during Bible Study. However, I’m not sure this book is a big help. While it is jammed with a lot of information, it is often disjointed at times. For instances, the first part of the book rolls through a few Old Testament events (such as the flood) and then discusses five ways to interpret or use these readings (or not use, as Poythress points out some churches just avoid the OT altogether). These are helpful, and critique some of the most common ways people (incorrectly) view the Old Testament – by moralizing the ‘stories’ or searching for ‘secret’ interpretations. 

So that first part is going well, discussing wrong interpretations, wrong views, how to develop holistic views, and what people have done in history. Then the part ends, and the second part briefly overview the theological impact of typology, and then part three (on interpretation) moves completely away from these (and the book never returns) and goes into Clowney’s Triangle. Edmond Clowney was a pastor and theologian, and past president of Westminster Seminary (where Poythress teachers). His triangle is an interpretation method that looks at original meaning, then moves how it points to Christ, and finalizes an application. I have never heard of this before, and honestly it might be the best treatment of application for a preacher you can find. I don’t know if Clowney himself ever wrote a book on this method, but someone else should. 

The book then jumps to technical aspects of language, back to the triangle, then to ‘practice’ (somewhat relating back to the first part of the book), then ends with analogies. Each part was interesting, and could be helpful, but it also felt like each part could be it’s own book. Certainly parts one and three could be much further developed. At times, it seemed like the author (or editor) wasn’t sure whether this was a narrative overview of interpretation or if this book should have been a heavy textbook that could be four times as long. Maybe that would make it a reference book? One you pull off the shelf when you need help with a sermon, but not one to read through? Honestly, it was hard to tell. 

In defense of the book, it might have meant to be a intro/survey of the issues. I wouldn’t be surprised if find out Poythress had the intention of using this as the intro book for a class on Biblical Typology, while explaining more in lectures and assigning supplementary reading. However for the average reader, this isn’t the best. Or even a community group leader/teacher for Bible study, this could be used as a reference on types, especially the first part (or the last, on analogies). I do think the chapter on the triangle is extremely helpful and would be valuable for any preacher or more formal Bible teacher (as in, someone who teaches dozens or larger groups, not small Bible study groups that are more discussion based). If that is you, then this book is for you, if you are looking for something. 

 

*I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. 

 

 

Book Review: O Sacred Head, Now Wounded

/ J.K. / 1 Comment

Rating: Must Have

Level: Easy (though helpful to have familiarity with liturgy); Long (400+), but each day is less than 10 pages

Summary

This is the third book by Gibson and Crossway of a liturgy for daily worship. The first, being a general 31 day guide called Be Thou My Vision, the second one, like this one is focused on a part of the church calendar, O Come, O Come, Emanuel (see my review here), which went roughly from Advent to Epiphany. I have to admit, I was confused by the dates of this book. The subtitle is A Liturgy for Daily Worship from Pascha to Pentecost. I thought this would be a good Monday to post, as Pascha is (I thought) another name for Easter and Pentecost is the 50th day after Easter. However, this is actually a Lent (timeframe) devotional, though Gibson writes “this [book] is not intended to be associated with the traditions of Lent..” I find this an odd and confusing choice.

This book is neither a 40 (or 46, as Sundays don’t count towards Lent) day Lenten Devotional, not is it a 50 day Easter (Pascha) to Pentecost devotional. Instead, it is a 48 day devotional that starts on Ash Wednesday, proceeds 42 days, and then has special service days – Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, Resurrection Sunday (Easter/Pascha), Ascension Sunday (the Sunday after Ascension Day, which is 40 days after Easter),and Pentecost Sunday.

After a preface and acknowledgements, the books starts with an intro (titled Remembering Jesus), where Gibson makes something of a defense of ‘holy’ days, or having special days of remembrance. It is a really interesting chapter, and if you are in the reformed community, you know that there is a pretty sizeable split with strong feelings on both sides of ‘holy days’. 

The following chapter is a very useful (especially if you aren’t used to Liturgy) ‘how-to’ on using the format, which includes: meditation, call to worship, adoration, reading the Law, confession of sin, assurance of pardon, creed, praise, catechism, prayer for illumination, scripture reading, praise, prayer of intercession (and then further petition/prayer), Lord’s Prayer, benediction, and finally a postlude (doxology).  

There are also appendixes for tunes to various parts of the worship, Bible reading plan, and Author, Hymn, & Liturgy index.

My Thoughts

I still find the subtitle odd and do not understand why they would give it such a name. As noted above, Gibson doesn’t want this to be a traditional Lenten style devotional, but it would seem to me that explaining the difference in the book while giving a clearer title would be more helpful. Another confusing aspect is at one point he refers to this season as the ‘Pascal Season’, which coincides with Lent. This is again odd, as most English speaker use Easter not Pascha, and Easter Season (or Eastertide) is the time from Easter to Ascension Day. It is truly a perplexing decision. That being said, it is another wonderful book. I couldn’t come up with much new to say about how it works, so see below for what I wrote about O Come, O Come, Emanual: 

Honestly, if you attempt any personal or family worship this is a must have. I am a big fan of the structured (liturgical) worship, especially for family devotion. It really doesn’t make it easy to lead or do with your family or community. Really my only (minor) quibble with this is that with 16 parts, it might be just a little too long. However, if you are doing this with a family with young children or you find yourself short on time, there are always parts you can cut. That being said, some sections are only a line or a paragraph long; this shouldn’t take an hour or any extended time. 

If you are unfamiliar with liturgy or structured daily worship this is an outstanding way to get into it. Unless you are from a pretty free-flowing Baptist/non-denom/mega-church background you will probably recognize parts (if not all) of these sections. If you are Anglican, you can see the clear influence of the BCP (which is probably the best book that exist for personal and family worship). 

I know some people don’t like the repetitive nature of some parts of guides like these, saying and can be rote or unfeeling, but really that is up to you. If you don’t take it seriously, or just mindlessly repeat things, then yes, the downside is that it can be meaningless. However, the upsides are a daily reminder of how to worship God, what He has done for us, what so much of the church today and most have always believed and recited, and of course – scripture reading. This is more important than every in church life, especially if you do this as a family/community and use it to help shape and guide children in their beliefs. This is true of any structured worship, but I think is even more important for this time of year, when we are pulled away in so many directions, with so many competing interesting. As I said above, if you are looking for personal/family devotion/worship, this is a must have. 

*I received a free copy of this book from Crossway, in exchange for an honest review. 

Tune My Heart Podcast

/ J.K. / 1 Comment

As you probably know, Lent starts this Ash Wednesday. I wrote some thoughts on Lent about 6 years ago. I think my views have matured a little more sense then, but I still don’t entirely participate in Lent. Again, mostly because I don’t know how. I am waiting for Jonathan Gibson, who wrote the Advent to Epiphany guide and has an Easter through Pentecost guide come out soon (check back next Monday for my review), to write one on Lent, hopefully next year. It has been a few months sense I’ve read through the Psalms, so I’ll probably use that Lent as a reason to jump back in.

All that to say, if you are looking for something to do, I have a suggestion – check out the Tune My Heart podcast, which you can find it on Spotify, or any other app of choice (as always: rate, review, subscribe). Tune My Heart is a 30 day, daily worship and prayer liturgy. It is based on the Book of Common Prayer, so if you are Anglican (or one of they other churches who use it) it’ll be familiar and easy to enjoy. If you don’t know the BCP, you’ll enjoy this as something new and different.

The series is 30 episodes long and Lent is 40 days (plus 6 Sundays), so you have built in time in case you miss days. Each episode is less than 10 minutes which can fit into your morning commute, if you are still one of those people (like me) that has to commute every day, or easy enough to wake up a few minute earlier for. Check out the Welcome intro below for more information, then go find it and subscribe wherever you get your podcast.

Book Review: Journey to Bethlehem

/ J.K. / Leave a comment

Rating: Put it on your list

Level: Easy, Short (5ish minutes a day/30 days)

Summary

In some ways, this is a typical 30-day devotional, with a section to read, then reflection, etc. However, I think Ryken has done something unique in his choices. It is easy to find a 30-50 day devotional that has writings from numerous authors in the past, but Ryken has only reserved 10 of the days to pure thoughts of others, the remainder of the days are reflections on hymns or poems. 

The book is broken into three sections, the first being Hymns, then what he calls ‘Classic Prose Devotionals’, and finally Poems. Each day follows the same format – the text (e.g. Joy to the World, an excerpt from On The Incarnation, The Magnificat), then a commentary/reflection, then a brief ‘devotional takeaway’, before a final note and word of scripture. There is also a short intro into each of the three sections. Finally, what he calls ‘notes’ which is essentially a bibliography, if you want to find more info, as well as two indexes – one for the people in the book, another referenced scripture. 

My Thoughts

I’ll start with the only thing I didn’t like, and that was the choice of categories. Choosing Hymns and then Poems, is too similar to me (he acknowledges as much in his into to Hymns, stating, ‘Every Hymn begins its life as a poem.’ That is very minor and nit-picky, maybe I just like symmetry too much, but I wonder if the book would have been better off as just hymns/songs/poems. 

Other than that, the book is great, it should be on everyone’ s list/rotation to read around Advent/Christmas. Ryken is a great write, and maybe an even better editor. I really appreciate the summary takeaway and then ending with scripture. His choices for each day are interesting and spread out (there are so many options), but there are plenty you will be familiar with, while adding some that may be new.

I knew six of the Hymns (and four are probably one everyone sang at a Christmas Eve service), the Prose included big names (Calvin, Luther, Augustine) but then other maybe not everyone has heard of (Bernard of Clairvaux, Spurgeon, Athanasius). Interestingly, he added the Nicene Creed to this section, which I really enjoyed. Similarly, the Poems included works of Chesterton, Milton, and Eliot, but I didn’t know any of the others. Except he put the Magnificat in this section, which was a good and interesting point to make. If you aren’t familiar with that name, it is the historic name for the section in Luke 1:46-55w here Mary responds to Gabriel after being told she will give birth to Jesus (it also kind of answer the question Mary Did You Know?, but I’m not trying to start a fight a Christmas). 

Overall, I highly recommend this book, the devotions are short enough to fit into a busy time and his choices of authors and especially hymns/poems makes it interesting and different enough compared to the so many other great and traditional ones out there. So, if you didn’t get to a devotional reading this past December or you did and are looking for something different next year, this is a book to put on your list. 

*I received a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review

Free E-Book: Disciplines of a Godly Man

/ J.K. / 3 Comments

The Gospel Coalition is offering a free digital copy of Disciples of a Godly Man with an updated study guide. You should be able to download using this link, but it doesn’t say anywhere how long the promotion will last. The ask for your name and email, and you can opt out of the additional newsletters/promotions (though, then you’d miss out on free books sometimes).

I don’t often post links to free books (actually, I don’t often post at all anymore), but Disciplines of a Godly Man is my most read post of all time (and the most so far this year, as of Jan 4, so people are trying to start the year off right). In fact, if you search ‘reviews of Disciplines of a Godly Man’ I’m on of the top real results, even above The Gospel Coalition’s review (probably why they are giving it out for free, they feel threaten by the MMT). Anyway, go read my review, and then get the free book or by the hard copy, it really is a great book.