Shannon S. McKee

musings and moments

Some Suggested Resources for Advent

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It’s hard to believe that we’re nearing the Advent season! I’m not sure we can fully calculate the weight and low-grade trauma that these last two years have brought us collectively. I fear the impact will come in waves as we deal with the results of living in isolation and constant fear. But, as we press on and head into this holiday season, I’m looking forward to being intentional about the Advent season and trying to coax my heart into a posture of restful anticipation. On the church calendar, the Advent season is a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of Jesus’ first coming – His birth that we celebrate at Christmas. The word Advent is a version of the Latin word meaning “coming”. Some churches who keep to a more liturgical calendar will celebrate with formal traditions.

At Redemption Chapel, we are more casual with only a few church-wide observances.

But, that doesn’t mean we’re not all preparing our hearts for worshipping Christ! The headlong rush of the tasks and extras that seem to come with this time of the year can make it difficult to pause. But, it’s so important. To that end, I wanted to offer up some resources. Each day during December, I like to light a candle, put on worshipful Christmas music, boil up a pot of tea, and cozy up under my Christmas quilt as I read one of these – ideally in the morning before things get busy. (Ideally.)

Here is my (not-so-exhaustive) list of some recommended resources. I’ve included the Amazon links when you click on the title. But if you can buy them through a local bookstore, even better. Many of those brick and mortar shops will match the Amazon prices or offer some sort of discount, if you ask. Logos Bookstore in Kent is a great resource if you’re local to me here in Northeast Ohio. Wherever you go, make sure you order soon so that you have what you want when Thanksgiving is over and you start to turn your attention to preparing your heart for celebrating Christmas. The last thing you need is to be scrambling at the last minute to decide what you’re going to do. That’s not the vibe we’re going for here {wink}.

Watch for the Light

This is an old favorite for me – it’s not a Bible study where you’ll get in the Word a ton but a book with great reflections from great theological writers. Honestly, it’s hard to go wrong with essays and poems from people like Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Madeleine L’Engle, Martin Luther, and  Henri Nouwen. There are 40 days worth of deep, sometimes jarring reflections.

The Greatest Gift

This one will get you in the Word a bit more and is traces the beautiful love story of Jesus’ coming. Beginning with Jesse, the father of David, The Greatest Gift retraces the epic pageantry of mankind, from Adam to the Messiah, with each day’s reading pointing to the coming promise of Christ. It’s well-done and worshipful. BONUS if you have a young family, she’s done a companion book for doing it with your children.

She Reads Truth Advent 2021

She Reads Truth is a favorite of mine when I’m not in a Bible study with women from church. Honestly, it’s a little bit pricier than I prefer but it really is beautiful and so well thought-thru. This book intentionally includes the Everlasting Light: Advent 2021 reading plan only, with a written introduction and many other helpful elements throughout. Because God’s Word is living and active, the focus of these books is the scripture – not a reflection by a human author. However, written responses to each day’s reading can be found on SheReadsTruth.com and the She Reads Truth app. You can join the community of other women who are online – for further commentary and conversation via the website. As a bonus, they have other helpful tools and kid-friendly options on their site. (Note: This is the only one you have to buy directly from She Reads Truth. There is no way to get it in a bookstore.) 

Unwrapping the Names of Jesus

I bought this one last year but didn’t get to use it. I’ve heard great things about it. Plus, the author is from Northeast Ohio and went to Cedarville where my daughter attends so that’s a fun bonus. From looking through it, I like it because it seems simple but dripping with meaning. Each day provides a name of Jesus and a corresponding scripture, a short reflection, a challenge, a prayer, and options for further study. It also includes some weekly activities you could do with your family.

Come Let Us Adore Him

This one comes highly recommended by a few godly women whom I trust. Paul David Tripp is a fantastic, soulful author. His is a book of daily readings for each day of the month of December. Each day includes a reflection about the incarnation of Jesus, a scripture for pondering, and an optional activity to do with our families.

Shadow & Light: A Journey Into Advent

This is the one I added to my own practice in 2020. It is really wonderful for several reasons but one thing I really appreciated was the explanation of the Advent season and its role in the liturgical church calendar. Since my church tradition is not liturgical, I enjoyed reading the basics of advent to set the tone for my practices of waiting during December. Each week has a reading from the church calendar. Then each day has a reading, a Psalm to pray, a question to ask, a poem or song to listen to, and a art piece to look upon and spur reflection. Author Tsh Oxenrider created a website to go along with the book so that readers can easily find the songs and the artwork.

I hope that helps give you a few ideas for your devotional life as you prepare your heart and mind for worshiping our beautiful Savior… He truly is our awe-inspiring, worship-worthy Messiah King. After studying Him in Matthew this Fall, my eyes will view the Christmas season with an added sense of wonder at this God Man who walked among us.

Have I Ever Introduced You to Emily?

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Have you ever had one of those experiences where you read a line from a book or heard a speaker say something and it just resonated? Like you felt like they were saying the thing you’ve been trying to say but couldn’t quite put to words? And when they said it, your heart sort of leaped? And then you became certain that if you ever got to meet said person in real life, that you’d be bosom friends? As in the Anne of Green Gables kind of bosom friends?

That’s how I feel about Emily P. Freeman. I started reading her stuff years ago. It must have been back when blogging was just getting popular. I think I even heard her speak at a blog conference during that period. Something about the way she expresses things just resonates with me. I like her insight, her way with words, her humility, and her warmth. I like that she weaves words together well but that she’s not extra wordy. That she is studied but not stuffy. I like that she knows Jesus as Lord, of course, but also as friend. I think there’s a real intimacy in her relationship with Him that is attractive. I also like that she knows she has valuable stuff to offer the world but that she doesn’t take herself too seriously. Many are the podcast episodes in which she pokes fun at herself.

The best way to sum it up is probably to say that, when I read her blog or one of her books or listen to her podcast, I leave refreshed. Like I just took in a bit of fresh air.

Her podcast (The Next Right Thing) this week about COVID-19 was about naming the things we’re feeling during this time. In my humble opinion is was a perfect message for this unsettling season – better than any encouragement I could give you myself. I’d love it if you go over and give it a listen. Her podcasts release every Tuesday and are always short (10 to 15 minutes). They are both reflective and practical. I think you’ll find this week’s well worth your time… and, let’s be honest, what else are you doing? You could use the break from binge watching Netflix, right?

Let me just wet your whistle with this thought from her yesterday…

In this time of uncertainty, it’s okay to grieve the endings even though others may have it a lot worse. This is a time to name the places where we are beginning, middling and ending, and then to allow others the space to do the same… This is not the time to look too far into the future or try to predict outcomes. This is not a time to think in terms of months or weeks or even days. This is a time to name what remains unnamed within us and then to ask ourselves, what is our next right thing in the next 10 minutes? – Emily P. Freeman

I love her permission to name the things. And her wisdom on how best to do that.

If you find that you enjoy her tone and perspective as much as I do, her book The Next Right Thing is free right now in ebook form if you have Amazon Prime.

Here’s the link to the podcast episode that I quoted above : The Next Right Thing Podcast, Episode 120. You can also subscribe to it in all the usual ways if you’d rather listen to it on your phone. I listen to it “on the regular”.

How to Choose a Commentary for Personal Bible Study

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I was recently asked some good questions about how I study the Bible and how I prepare to teach books of the Bible. Part of that question involved the tools I use – like commentaries. I thought I’d take a sec to offer a few thoughts about commentaries in general and which ones I use.

A Disclaimer

Let me start by saying that a commentary is NOT necessary to your personal study of the Bible. A Bible commentary can be used to SUPPLEMENT your personal study. It should not be used INSTEAD of personal study. Since the commentary itself is not Scripture, it’s important for the studier to weigh what she reads against other sources, as well as her own Spirit-led pondering. A good commentary represents hundreds and hundreds of hours of painstaking study and research in the original languages. It is certainly to be cherished as the considered opinion/interpretation of scholarly, Jesus-loving men and women. But, it is NOT infallible like the Scripture itself.

Of course, you’re not infallible either so getting the input of others can be helpful. Especially when you read something that is confusing at first glance. Sitting down with your pastor or spiritual mentor can be a form of commentary. That is healthy and good. I’m definitely NOT against commentaries. I just want to always encourage us toward personal study first. God’s Word was intended for the common, everyday person. His desire was to share His heart and reveal His grand story to us. Not to hide things from us or further confuse us! He didn’t make it so tricky that we can’t catch it’s basic meaning by opening it up and just reading it. So, first, try to read it on your own. Sit with your question for a day or three. Pray about it. Speak it aloud when you’re alone in the car. Journal about it. Bounce it off of a friend or group of friends. AFTER you have done that hard work yourself, feel free to go consult a good commentary.

Now, I realize that some of you may be asking, what the heck is a commentary?

To answer that, I’m going to borrow from the gotquestions.org website: “A Bible commentary is a series of notes explaining the meaning of passages of Scripture. A commentary may explain the language used in a section of text. Or it may discuss the historical background. Almost all commentaries attempt to explain the passage in terms of some system of theology. In other words, the commentary is an explanation of how the Bible fits together and what it means. Since a Bible commentary is written by human authors, it will reflect the beliefs and perspective of those writers.”

If you have a study Bible, those little notes in the margins are a form of commentary because they further explain the original text. You can also buy a separate, more in-depth commentary that covers certain sections of the Bible.

How do I decide which commentaries I’ll use?

Commentaries are usually categorized according to their purpose:  technical (for in-depth exegetical study), pastoral (for sermon prep), and devotional (for personal study). There are no points for picking a technical commentary to look smart or scholarly. They’re usually more expensive and most of us just don’t need to go that heady. Rather, the majority of us probably need the devotional or pastoral commentary, not the technical one. I often pick a pastoral one, since I’m preparing to teach.

When I go to teach a book of the Bible, I buy 2-3 individual commentaries.  To choose them, I consult three sources:

  1. I ask our pastors at Redemption Chapel. Listen, if I don’t trust these men and their direction on trusted sources, then I shouldn’t be going to this church. We have three godly pastors at our church. They love God’s Word and seek to diligently handle it accurately, so their input on commentaries is invaluable.
  2. I check Tim Challies’ blog. He is a pastor who has curated a list of every book of the Bible and has recommended 4 or 5 commentaries for all 66 books of the Bible. He also explains which ones are more technical and which ones are more “readable” for someone (like me) who isn’t a scholar in the original languages of the Bible (Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic).
  3. I check the bestcommentaries.com website for recommendations. This helpful website is a little like Challies’ site in that it rates commentaries and provides commentary rankings for each book of the Bible. It’s more extensive and has less prose than Challies’ lists. It also has lists, or “featured libraries,” from pastors and authors.

As a general rule, these sets offer reputable devotional commentaries: NIV Application Commentary, New Bible Commentary, The Bible Speaks Today, God’s Word For You series, and The New Testament for Everyone.

If you’re in doubt, by all means reach out to a mentor or spiritual leader in your life. If you’re a woman at Redemption Chapel, I’m happy to review a resource for you and give you my two cents. I’ll be honest, you truly can’t trust everything you read. Just because it sold well on Amazon doesn’t mean it handles God’s Word accurately! And since commentaries can be expensive, you definitely want to do your homework before you buy something. If you live local, my friend Ann at Logos Bookstore in Kent is always happy to help you order something and often offers a 20% off coupon or two in her quarterly newsletter.

I hope that helps. Happy studying, friends. I pray you will never grow weary of applying yourself to the study of God’s Word.

Books worth Considering

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Next week (November 12th thru the 17th) at the Lifeway store in Fairlawn, OH, Redemption Chapel gets an extra 20% off nearly everything in the store. This led our RC women’s Bible study teaching team to consider some of favorite books for recommendation. I thought I’d share it here as a resource from four women who love God, His Word, and His people. It’s not exhaustive by any means but it’s a solid list of books that we really love. (Several of them appeared on more than one of our lists.) The four of us are a little nerdy about books. We probably have issues. So, take it with grain. We like other fiction and/or non-Christian books too but these are the ones you’re most likely to find at Lifeway. Anyway, it’s something to consider if you’re thinking about heading over there to take advantage of the 20% off. (Don’t forget to think Christmas gifts, while you’re at it! And Bibles. Twenty percent off a new Bible is a good deal.)

 

For Advent:

  • Unwrapping the Greatest Gift: A Family Celebration of Christmas by Ann Voskamp
  • The Greatest Gift: Unwrapping the Full Love Story of Christmas by Ann Voskamp
  • Watch for the Light: Readings for Advent and Christmas
  • Come, Let Us Adore Him: A Daily Advent Devotional by Paul David Tripp
  • The Dawning of Indestructible Joy: Daily Readings for Advent by John Piper

For Children:

  • The New City Catechism for Kids (edited by Tim Keller)
  • My ABC Bible Verses by Susan Hunt
  • Egermeier’s Bible Story Book
  •  The Biggest Story by Kevin DeYoung
  • The Jesus Storybook Bible
  • The Beginner Bible 
  • The Story of Me book series by Stan and Brenna Jones (age appropriate books about God’s design for sex)
  • God Made All of Me (a book to help children protect their bodies) by Justin and Lindsey Holcomb
  • God’s Very Good Idea by Trillia Newbell

General for Adults:

  • The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom
  • Shadow of the Almighty by Elisabeth Elliot
  • None Like Him by Jen Wilkin
  • The Holiness of God by R.C. Sproul
  • Knowledge of the Holy by A.W. Tozer
  • Women of the Word by Jen Wilkin
  • Visual Theology by Tim Challies and Josh Byers
  • The Search for Significance by Robert McGee
  • A Shelter in the Time of Storm (meditations on God and trouble) by Paul David Tripp
  • Reason for God by Tim Keller
  • Crazy Love by Francis Chan (Subtitled Overwhelmed by a Relentless God)
  • Made to Crave by Lysa Terkeurst
  • The Gospel Comes With A House Key by Rosaria Butterfield
  • Soul Keeping by John Ortberg
  • Changes that Heal by Henry Cloud
  • Epic by John Eldredge
  • The Furious Longing of God by Brennan Manning

Motherhood: 

  • Loving the Little Years (Motherhood in the trenches) by Rachel Jankovic
  • The Mission of Motherhood by Sally Clarkson
  • Missional Motherhood by Gloria Furman
  • Becoming Mom Strong by Heidi St. John

Marriage:

  • What Did you Expect by Paul David Tripp
  • Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas
  • Finding the Hero in Your Husband by Juli Slattery
  • Intimiate Issues by Linda Dillow and Lorraine Pintus

Also, don’t forget to consider the resource page on the Redemption Chapel website. Our staff team has recommended some great books on that site.