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The Rising; Living the Mysteries of Lent, Easter & Pentecost

Reviewed by Chris Skilton.

Many people use a ‘Lent Book’ as a resource for our journey through the season, but here is a book which takes us from Ash Wednesday to Pentecost. It is very helpful to follow through these major events in the church’s year in the company of the same person. She writes that “The layers of our lives are sewn together by the stitching of the Christian year” (p.11) There is a chapter for each week, usually based on the Gospel reading from the Common Lectionary. Each one has a refreshing mix of reflection on the Biblical passage, use of spiritual classics (Catherine of Siena, Gregory of Nyasa, Clement of Alexandria, for instance, are quoted to good effect), poetry (Donne, Hopkins, Herbert) and personal experience. Some of the nuances of these were lost on me because of their American provenance - I can’t visualize flocks of sand cranebills ‘dancing’! However, Wright is able to move easily and naturally between each of these in well-written chapters that contain plenty of pauses for thought and reflection.

There are rich turns of phrase and ideas to pursue. She describes our Easter experience as where we are “met at the far limits of our resources with limitlessness”(p.118); on John 20: 23 she writes that “Forgiveness reconfigures relationships so that they might begin at a new starting point” (p.132). Some chapters will inevitably strike readers as more effective than others. I valued the one for Holy Saturday about what it meant for Jesus to descend into hell: the piece on Ascension about feet and dancing seemed more contrived.

This book could be used for personal devotion through this period; small groups could profitably read it together and preachers will find countless striking images and ideas to help preach on the passages. I thoroughly recommend this excellent book for ministers and congregations alike.