Gordon Giles

Christmas is a musical destination as well as a spiritual one, yet when we reach the newborn Christ child in the manger, what do we see? What music do we hear in our hearts as we join our songs with those of the angels? In 25 short chapters, each concluding with a specially written prayer, Gordon Giles explores the spiritual and biblical allusions to be found within our best-loved Christmas carols. A Calendar of Carols can be used either as an Advent calendar up to Christmas, or more flexibly over the Christmas season and into January.

Across a year’s worth of weekly reflections, Gordon Giles focuses on objects, scenes, activities and places, drawing out spiritual insights to help us reflect on what we have learned as we venture out again after months of restriction, absence and anxiety. From Easter, through the changing seasons to the following Easter, we are led to consider: What is it like spiritually to stop wearing masks? What does a beach say to us after coronavirus? How has Zoom affected us during lockdown and how do we now relate to technology as a medium of fellowship? Where is Christ amid our restrictions and our releases?

Following on from the success of At Home in Lent, Gordon Giles takes a journey through Advent to Christmas and beyond in the company of familiar seasonal and domestic objects and experiences. Focusing on the everyday stuff we typically associate with this time of year, including some things not so festive, he reflects on their spiritual significance, meaning and message in today’s world. Beginning with chapters on journeying and travel, the book moves though major Advent themes of expectation, waiting, mortality and hope to the joy of incarnation and salvation. Praise for At Home in Lent: 'It is a great idea and an easy read.' The Reader 'Well written and thought provoking, this really is a book for personal devotion which will enable us to make an unusual, though worthwhile, journey.' The Methodist Recorder 'An amiable, slightly talkative companion.' Church Times

Here is an original way of approaching Lent, one that will encourage you to consider your own faith journey in the light of the Easter story. Inspired by Neil MacGregor's Radio 4 programme, 'A History of the World in 100 Objects', Gordon Giles spends each week in a different room gleaning spiritual lessons from everyday household objects. As a result, you might discover that finding God in the normal pattern of life – even in the mundane – transforms how you approach each day. Running as a thread through it all are the seven Rs of Lent: regret, repentance, resolution, recognition, reconciliation, renewal and resurrection.