Unfortunately I didn’t connect with this book.
In the introduction he reflects a little on how COVID would be creating a different Advent yet the reflections, other than the odd mention, didn’t really seem to respond to the experience of being “at Home” which is meant to be its organising theme.
Each day we have a reasonable chunk of scripture but in most cases the reflection that follow makes no discernable link to that passage – I was often left puzzled about why the two had been paired together.
There is also a real puritanical kill-joy spirit to many of the reflections, many of our festive traditions are no particular link to the Christian message of Christmas, and certainly their expression within the hyper-commercialisation of the season is generally unhealthy. But there can be much joy to be had, in the charm of decorations, in good food, and in friendship shared – and in a time such as this such simple pleasures should be enjoyed when we can not anathematised.
And finally, during a reflection on the Magi he notes that some believe them to have been Zoroastrain – a religion that he describes as “now almost completely defunct” - Wikipedia suggests there maybe around 120,000 Zoroastrains today, a very small number on the Global scale, but to deem them “defunct” seems, at best, an ill-chosen turn of phrase.
