Tim Chester is a prolific author as well as the pastor of Grace Church Boroughbridge in North Yorkshire. He writes for a range of publishers including IVP, CFP and The Good Book Company. Included in his oeuvre are three Advent devotional books, The One True Light, The One True Gift, and The One True Story. He has also written two Lent devotionals, The Glory of the Cross and The Beauty of the Cross. Now he has added a third Lent devotional book; An Ocean of Grace; A Journey to Easter with Great Voices from the Past.
To say Tim has written this book is slightly misleading. What he has done is produce a set of Lent meditations, devotions and prayers drawing on the writings of people ‘across the centuries of church history, all with a focus on the death and resurrection of Jesus’. In his introduction he says he wants to help the readers fix their eyes on Jesus and cites Hebrews 12:1 where we are said to be surrounded by ‘a great cloud of witnesses’.
The book covers the whole of Lent from Ash Wednesday through to Easter Sunday split into six weekly sections each with a theme. Each day there is a heading, a Bible verse followed by a short introduction explaining the selection and then a two-to-three-page meditation by a person from the past. Of the readings themselves Tim says, ‘In editing these readings, archaic language has been removed (with the exception of poetry and hymns), while retaining the distinctive “voice” of the original author’. The recommendation is that they are read out loud and then reread more slowly, pausing for prayers of confession and praise.
We are all familiar with the quotations of some of the saints from the past such as Augustine, Julian of Norwich or Blaise Pascal, but who are the figures from the past he quotes? Some names are familiar such as George Herbert and John Calvin. Some are from the period of the Church Fathers such as Gregory of Nicea and Venantius Fortunatus. Charles Spurgeon is the most recent. There are a number of puritan writers such as Thomas Watson and Samuel Rutherford who many readers will have heard of, along with other less familiar names from this period such as William Symington, John Murcot and Issac Ambrose. An internet search brought up more detail of their lives. There are three women in the list: the theologian Anne Dutton, a correspondent of Wesley and Whitefield, the hymn writer Anne Steele and Catherine Parr, the sixth and surviving wife of Henry VIII. An extract from her book The Lamentations of a Sinner is included. This work is the central theme in C.J. Sansom’s excellent historical novel Lamentation.
Known or unknown these writers have rich devotional insights which will encourage readers to consider their own spiritual life in relation to the work of Christ. In most cases they use language in a way which is alien to the modern world. We wouldn’t put it like that but it seems largely the point of the book; to hear old truth expressed in old words pulls us up short. We have to slow down and think about what is read – reading aloud helps do that. While there is doctrine there the appeal is more to heart than head. Western Christians can be very cerebral, and the emotions only peripherally engaged. This rather different Lent book helps to engage heart as well as head.
If I were to select a couple of favourites they would be the piece by Cyprian (c.220-258) selected for the Sunday of the third week of Lent. Cyprian contrasts what Christ endured with what we receive.
‘...You crown martyrs with eternal flowers;
yet for us you were crowned with thorns.
You give victory palm branches to those who overcome;
yet for us you were struck on the face with palms.
You clothe us with immortality;
yet for us you were stripped of your earthly garments...’
The other would be the second reading for Easter Day which is the poem by Henry Vaughan (1621-1695) Easter Hymn.
‘Death and darkness, get you packing,
Nothing now to man is lacking,
All your triumphs now are ended,
And what Adam marred is mended.
Graves are beds now for the weary,
Death a nap, to wake more merry;…’
A Lent book with a difference and while intended for personal use it could also serve as a rich resource for those leading small groups or congregational worship over Lent, Holy Week or Easter.
Book reviewed by John Watkins
Other books by Tim Chester mentioned in this blog...
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