John Blase
In this collection of short readings for Advent, John Blase helps us encounter the Christmas story ... with dirt beneath its fingernails. This is the incarnation as real as it gets, God-with-us in all our fleshly despair and hope. Smell the hay in the Bethlehem stable, soaked with birthing blood. Hear Mary's pants and cries as she pushes the living God from her womb. Look over Joseph's shoulder as he watches his beloved bear the child of Another, the Son he will raise who will raise all humankind. Read [this book] and remind yourself once again of the absurd, unexpected, unfathomable glory of God's arrival in our world.
It was a meandering path that brought me to this book. Carolyn Arends posted a poem written by Blase that I really liked, so I did a little research on who he was. On his website, I saw the other books, etc. he has written and the descriptions of this book really captured my attention and sparked a desire to own it. A few mouse clicks later, it was on its way to my mailbox. And let me tell you, the reading of this book lived up to every high expectation I had.
First Line: The author David James Duncan described the plastic shepherds from those Christmas dioramas of his youth as having "slack-jawed expressions of wonder."
Page 56 / Line 5: Through the heartfelt mercies of our God, God's Sunrise will break in upon us, shining on those in the darkness, those sitting in the shadow of death, then showing us the way, one foot at a time, down the path of peace.
A Good Line from Somewhere in the Middle: [Zachariah speaking of his son, John the Baptizer] He seemed to live in the margins, somewhere between this world and the next.
Last Line: Remember, the Mighty One's favor comes in unexpected ways.
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