4 New Christmas Books

4 New Christmas Books to Deepen Your Joy as You Celebrate Jesus

Posted on by Michele Morin

What will you be reading during Advent this year? Will you return to an old favorite devotional book or crack open a classic by Dickens or O. Henry? Do you find that your reading during Advent prepares your heart for deeper joy and a more meaningful celebration?

We are blessed in 2023 with a rich assortment of brand-new books that were written and produced by believers to enhance the worship of their brothers and sisters in this season of life and light. Each book features beautiful writing and has deep roots in Scripture. Every single one is beautifully bound in hardcover and exceedingly giftable, as well as durable enough to survive daily use for this season and for the years to come.

I’ve been looking forward to sharing them with you, so let’s get started!

Advent: The Season of Hope

Advent is a season of waiting in hope. Guided by the church calendar, a true celebration of Advent pushes pause in preparation for rejoicing—but also for yearning, for we all know that while the Kingdom of God has come near with the coming of Christ, we still await the fullness of his grace. We long for the ultimate rescue and restoration of his promised coming in glory.

Tish Harrison Warren helps her readers to sort through the paradoxical already-but-not-yet of Advent with her explanation of the three comings of Christ. We celebrate Emmanuel because of the Incarnation, all the while longing for him to invade our lives in the moment by his Spirit, and then to turn the world right-side-up again when he comes to put an end to political strife, war, and global suffering for all time.

Of course, one can read all about this satisfying theology in a textbook, but it’s so much more nourishing to receive the truth in the context of a winsome invitation to spiritual formation. Rightly understood and faithfully received, Advent becomes a time of preparation, a new beginning, that changes the way we celebrate throughout the liturgical year.

[Advent: The Season of Hope is book three within the Fullness of Time Series]

In Advent: The Season of Hope, @Tish_H_Warren helps her readers to sort through the paradoxical already-but-not-yet of Advent with her explanation of the three comings of Christ. @ivpress

Christmas: The Season of Life and Light

If you are curious about the timing, the traditions, and the origins of the holiday we now call “Christmas,” and if you long for a deeper celebration of Christ this year, Emily Hunter McGowin has heard your heart and responded with the creation of Christmas: The Season of Life and Light. This fourth book within the Fullness of Time Series untangles the nostalgia and commercialism that complicate the holiday, validating the believer’s sense that there’s more to Christmas than what we can find at the mall.

McGowin begins at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, unpacks the theology of the Incarnation, and takes her readers behind the scenes of the Luke 2 nativity scene through Mary’s eyes. A rich and Christ-centered view of Christmas reminds us that we wait in hope, but we are also set free to rejoice in His first coming while “every heart prepares him room” as his beauty shines forth through his redeemed people.

If you long for a deeper celebration of Christ this year, @EmilyMcgowin has heard your heart and responded with the creation of Christmas: The Season of Life and Light @ivpress

Journey to Bethlehem

Leland Ryken brings his considerable skill as an editor to a compilation of classic Christmas devotionals featuring hymns and carols, prose, and poetry. Journey to Bethlehem incorporates the music of the season, the wisdom of ancient writers, and the lyrical poetry of celebration and joy into an anthology of delight. Each of the thirty entries includes Ryken’s 500-word analysis of the text to bring clarity and provide a practical takeaway for the devotional experience.

Because the entries are not dated, the reader is absolutely untethered in how she approaches the book. Those unfamiliar with some of the more traditional Christian writings will appreciate this unveiling of an entire celebratory vista. Others who have sung the carols and read the classic works throughout their lifetime will read them anew as, one by one, they shed new light on the mystery of Christ’s incarnation.

In Journey to Bethlehem, Leland Ryken brings his considerable skill as an editor to a compilation of classic Christmas devotionals featuring hymns and carols, prose, and poetry. @crossway #adventbooks

A Radiant Birth

This is a first for me at Living Our Days, because when I review a book here, you can know for certain that I have read every word (including footnotes!) from cover to cover. However, I am bringing Carole King and the old ketchup commercial into this review—Sing it with me: “Anticipa-ya-tion is makin’ me wait!”

Even though I haven’t ruined the day-by-day experience of reading this book for Advent by plowing through it ahead of time, you can know for certain that I’ve done my homework: I’ve read the intro by Leslie Leyland Fields (along with pretty much everything she’s ever published!), the table of contents, the foreword by Richard Foster, and the bios of the twenty plus contributors from the Chrysostom Society. This alone assures me that there’s enough beauty and truth in A Radiant Birth to carry us with joy through Advent and Christmastide, all the way to Epiphany.

This collection of forty-two readings is bound to become a classic and an annual blessing with the stated purpose of lifting and lightening our holiday load with the beauty of truth. The invitation to “Behold!” is one we can easily miss in December, so I’m looking forward to beautiful words from Eugene Peterson, Philip Yancey, Madeleine L’Engle, Luci Shaw, Marilyn McEntyre, and other favorites to enhance my contemplation of God’s incomprehensible gift.

December is coming, and I can hardly wait to begin!

Featuring contributions from The Chrysostom Society, A Radiant Birth will enhance your contemplation of God’s incomprehensible gift. @ivpress @leslielfields #adventbooks

Enter the Drawing! I Hope You Win!

And… I have an extra copy of A Radiant Birth to give away to one reader. Let’s make this quick and simple so I can get it into the mail in time for the first Sunday of Advent! If you want to be entered into the drawing, leave a comment below with your email address and your favorite Advent or Christmas tradition. (United States addresses only, please!) I’ll draw the winner’s name and notify them by email on Saturday, November 25.

May your celebration of Thanksgiving Day tomorrow be peaceful and full of joy!

Holding You in the Light,

What will you be reading during Advent this year? I’m reviewing four new books featuring beautiful writing and deep roots in Scripture! (And there’s a giveaway!)

Free Encouragement in Your Inbox…

On the third Thursday of every month, I send a newsletter with biblical encouragement straight to my subscribers’ email inboxes. Frequently, I share free resources, and the newsletter is where everything lands first. I’m committed to the truth that women can become confident followers of God and students of his Word, and it’s my goal to help you along that path.

To add this free resource to your pursuit of biblical literacy, simply CLICK HERE. There, on Substack’s website, you’ll find a prompt that looks just like this image for Living Our Days with Michele Morin. Over on that site, simply enter your email and then click on the purple “SUBSCRIBE” button.

You’ll receive a welcome letter to confirm your subscription and monthly encouragement in your email inbox.

I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees. If you should decide to purchase any of the books or products I’ve shared, simply click on the image, and you’ll be taken directly to the seller. If you decide to buy, I’ll receive a few pennies at no extra cost to you.

Photo by Alisa Anton on Unsplash

Many thanks to InterVarsity Press and Crossway Publishers for providing copies of these books to facilitate my reviews, which are, of course, offered freely and with honesty.

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Published by Michele Morin

Michele Morin is a Bible teacher, writer, reader, and gardener committed to the truth that women can become confident Christ-followers and students of God's Word. She has been married to an unreasonably patient husband for thirty-plus years, and together they have four married sons and a growing fleet of adorable grandchildren. Michele loves hot tea and well-crafted sentences, poems that stop her in her tracks, and days at the ocean with the whole family. She laments biblical illiteracy and advocates for the prudent use of “little minutes.” She blogs at Living Our Days, and you can connect with her on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter.

20 thoughts on “4 New Christmas Books to Deepen Your Joy as You Celebrate Jesus”

  2. Those all sound wonderful and I haven’t read any of them. I will be reading Good New Great Joy by The Daily Grace Co. and In the Manger by Max Lucado.

    Liked by 1 person

  6. Love the list of writers you mentioned are included in A Radiant Birth. My go to advent devotional has been The Greatest Gift by Ann Voskamp but would like to check out the new ones you shared here

    Liked by 1 person

  7. These all sound good. Reading Advent devotionals is one of my favorite personal traditions, to help keep my mind focused on the meaning of the season. One of my favorites is Heaven and Nature Sing: 25 Advent Reflections to Bring Joy to the World by Hannah Anderson, just released last year.

    One of my favorite family traditions is decorating for Christmas all together. Our local kids come over and help. We get it done in just a few hours, whereas it would take me several days on my own. Plus we experience all the reminiscing over the decorations as we bring them out.

    Liked by 1 person

  8. I would love to win a copy. It sounds like a book well worth reading! Lately, we haven’t had a lot of traditions around the holidays, but we do enjoy lighting an Advent candle. I also enjoy our church’s Advent readings on the Sundays of Advent. My email is wrightgayl@gmail.com Blessings to you, Michele! xo

    Liked by 1 person

  9. This new advent book looks beautiful! I was raised in a church that did not recognize the “advent season” but once I began including specific advent devotionals in my time with the Lord, my heart became hugely blessed every Christmas.

    Grateful for your ministry this Thanksgiving!

    Liked by 1 person

  10. This new advent book looks beautiful! I was raised in church that did not recognize the advent season. When I began including specific advent devotional resources in my time with the Lord, I became hugely blessed each Christmas.

    Grateful for your ministry this Thanksgiving!

    Liked by 1 person

  11. Thank you, Michele, for doing the hard work so we can enjoy choosing an Advent book! My favorite Advent tradition is using an Advent wreath with candles. While I focus on weekly meditations, I enjoy the candlelight each evening as a reminder of the waiting in the dark for a Savior. Please enter me in the drawing dmbucher104@outlook.com

    Like

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