Birthing the Promise: Advent Reflections and Worship Resources from Many Cultural Realities

A.J. Pell is rector of Christ Church in Hope, B.C., and lecturer in the
Anglican Studies Programme at Regent College in Vancouver.

Birthing the Promise is a series of meditations and small-group worship
activities—for each day from the first Sunday of Advent to the feast
of the Epiphany—offered by 14 authors from within the United Church of
Canada. Unfortunately, the co-editors’ claim that “this resource
offers opportunities for spiritual centredness and response throughout
the harried season” is a questionable one.

For the most part, the writing is awkward (although Nena Cervantes does
provide a few moments of fluidity). Many of the meditations descend into
polemic (e.g., the third Friday and the fourth Wednesday of Advent).
There are several references to the tragic 1989 massacre at Ecole
Polytechnique in Montreal, but only the December 6th meditation makes a
point. Some meditations seem totally unrelated to the scripture readings
on which they are based. Most of the worship outlines require extensive
preparation for a short time of worship, putting them out of the reach
of small groups. All of these faults are symptoms of the book’s chief
failing: it is infected with a self-conscious seriousness that replaces
grace with earnestness, and in doing so takes the heart and soul out of
Christian faith.