Book Review - O Come, O Come, Emmanuel by Jonathan gibson
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel: A Liturgy for Daily Worship from Advent to Epiphany By Jonathan Gibson
It is advent! We are in the liturgical time of the year to prepare for the celebration of Christ’s coming. He came over 2000 years ago and he will come again to reign in glory. I was interested in following an advent book that provided me a routine to practice. When I saw that Crossway was offering O Come, O Come Emmanuel as a possibility to read as part of their review program, I thought I would give it a try. These opinions are my own, and I receive no compensation for this review, though the book was free.
Style of presentation
The book provides a liturgical outline with a few variations each day. It opens with a meditation from a previously published work (not by the author) and a call to worship from scripture. This is followed by the lyrics of a hymn, which I have frequently searched on YouTube and enjoyed hearing and singing along; there is then an Old Testament passage. The liturgy then proceeds to a confession of sin and verses of pardon. A creed and praise then follow. The text then alternates between a selection from the Heidelberg or Westminster Catechism and Athanasian Creed. There is then a prayer for illumination, a scripture reading and praise. The closing portion consists of a prayer for intercession, including time for personal prayers, the Lord’s Prayer, a blessing from scripture and the postlude taken from Psalm 72.
Evaluation
Gibson has done a wonderful job compiling these resources for use on a daily basis from Advent to Epiphany. The liturgy takes about 15 minutes, so is a reasonable amount of time to dedicate to the Lord in addition to a daily quiet time, or in place of. I appreciate the full range of resources, from scripture to song and prayer, from statements of beliefs and repeated scriptures as a postlude.
The catechism and Athanasian creed are not as well integrated into the material, as the catechism is one question and answer, which has no introduction or setting to expand upon the brevity of the section, which is often incomplete by itself. The creed portions from Athanasian repeat sections for a few days before moving to a new portion of the catechism, so it lost its newness quickly and became dry rather than engaging.
4/5 Stars
This is a resource that could be used for families, though it would require some modification for those under the age of 14(roughly). The compilation, as mentioned, is well done with some touching and heartfelt prayers written through the years that have been included. The centrality of scripture is evident throughout. I felt that the catechism portions needed an intro or outro to offer context for the questions and variety for the Athanasian section as well.
