LEE GATISS’s The Word Week by Week: Discover the rhythm and tradition of the worldwide Church (Hodder & Stoughton, £18.99 (£17.10); 978-1-399-82097-4) provides commentaries on the Sunday readings of the Revised Common Lectionary for the three-year cycle, drawing on the author’s columns (2013-19) for The Church of England Newspaper. Director of the Church Society, he sets out reasons for following a lectionary, and in a note for users of the Sunday Missal explains the differences that they will find, while he expresses the hope that readers of any denomination will find “edifying and appropriate comment” on any given Sunday. He suggests hymns and provides indexes of scripture and persons mentioned.
Olivia Warburton’s Dreaming of a Green Christmas: Sustainability and creation care for busy people (BRF, £6.99 (£6.30); 978-1-80039-430-8) is a workbook for families including “111 eco-tips” on matters such as cards and lights, food, clothes, and travel. The sections are introduced with a passage of scripture and a reflection on it. Appendices include a list of “sustainability shockers” for self-examination, such as “Opting for single-use plastics because it’s more convenient” and living in an “echo chamber”.
Waiting in Joyful Hope 2025-2026: Daily reflections for Advent and Christmas is an established annual (Liturgical Press, £2.99 (£2.69); 978-0-8146-6872-6 pocket size; £6.99 (£6.29); 978-0-8146-6873-3 large print). Mary DeTurris Poust, a Roman Catholic based in New York, offers reflections, meditations, and prayers to accompany the daily lectionary.
Stephen Poxon has compiled With Dickens at Christmas: Fifty-three Christian reflections for this festive time of year (DLT, £14.99 (£13.50); 978-1-915412-85-0), which accompanies extracts from Dickens’s thought on the subject with a short Bible reading, a devotional reflection, and a Christmas carol, as an offering to enrich Advent, Christmas, and New Year.
