The Archbishop of York’s Advent Book for 2022 can be used as a study for both individuals and small groups, to help you get the most out of the season. With inspiring and motivating prompts for both prayer and action, Sleepers Wake encourages Christians to see Advent as an opportunity to wake up to the reality of climate change and hear God’s call to renew the earth. If you’re looking for a book to help you explore lament, pain, suffering and darkness in an accessible but theologically-rich way, this is the one. It’s not been written specifically as an Advent devotional, but the six chapters follow the liturgical year – starting with Advent then Christmas, Ordinary Time, Lent, Easter and Ordinary Time – so to read it during Advent would be highly appropriate. I love Rachael Newham‘s warm style, dotted with anecdotes from her own experience, connecting with us in our hard times, and deeply persuading us that lament has an important role to play in life and faith. The questions at the end of each chapter would make a great Advent study for small groups – you could read a chapter each week of Advent and take the rest into January (or start the whole thing in November!). Brightest and Best (Philippa Ruth Wilson, 2022) Looking for a book-themed Christmas advent calendar that has lots of cute gifts to open and enjoy? This 12 Day Bookish Advent Calendar is an excellent choice!

And there’s even some fun candy canes thrown in as a treat for while you read! So this book advent box is perfect if you’re looking to open a surprise book each day throughout the Christmas season.This intriguing compilation from GodSpace features over 60 readings to take you from the start of Celtic Advent (mid-November) right through to Epiphany. The argument is that it’s good to start preparing hearts and minds before the busyness of December takes over, and I appreciate this. Each of the readings is more like a blog post than a Bible commentary: warm, relatable, sprinkled with personal stories and humour – and of course each one has a different flavour, depending on the author who has penned it. There is plenty of Scripture quoted and referred to, and I found myself pondering several interesting ideas as I dipped in. Redeeming Advent (Lucy Rycroft, 2019) Discover 24 of our favourite kids picture books in this incredible bundle! It can also be used as an advent calendar to open every day in December this year!

BRF’s Christmas devotional for 2022 takes you all the way through from Advent to Epiphany, with in-depth daily devotionals (which include the Bible reading presented in full – very handy), introductions to each week of readings, and questions/creative prayer to use in groups. You do need to set aside a bit more time to read this devotional, as the print is small and the daily readings are a little longer than those in other books, but the sacrifice of time will more than make up for itself in terms of the richness of thought, depth of theological understanding, and challenge of personal application contained here. Tales from the Jesse Tree (Amy Scott Robinson, 2014) I was amazed, in my research, to find such a huge variety of different styles: some imaginative, some traditional, some for families, some for groups, some long, some brief, some with illustrations, some with activities. There really is something for everyone in this list. May you find a resource which will draw you into God’s heart this Advent! You can get these calendars in your choice of 12 days or 24 days of gifts, and they come in varying genres and themes and for varying age groups. You can also choose between getting advent calendars with gently-used books inside, or getting ones with all new books! The 24 Days of Bookish Gifts Advent Calendar Box is another option that will bring bookish Christmas cheer to you this year! THESE fine and pertinent meditations on Christian spirituality from the former lead bishop on the environment weave the Advent themes of expectancy, judgement, and hope into the serious urgency of our environmental crisis.And last, if you didn’t see an option you loved on the list above, you can always create your own book advent calendar! If you’re looking for an Advent guide which will widen your experience beyond the gospel retellings, here it is. Like a grown-up version of the Jesse Tree, The Whole Christmas Story does just that: it ponders the whole Christmas story, starting with creation in Genesis and ending with the new heaven and new earth described in Revelation. The format is traditional: Bible passage (helpfully included in full), followed by articulate and warm commentary. Jo Swinney expounds Scripture deeply and wisely, with nuance which stems from a recent tragedy. A worthy companion to your Advent. The Promise and the Light (Katy Morgan, 2021) Nicholas Holtam was Bishop of Salisbury from 2011 to 2021 and the Church of England's lead bishop for the environment, chairing the Environmental Working Group from 2014 to 2021. A Durham geographer before training for ordination, he lives in Brighton and is married to Helen with 4 adult children. Nicholas is the author of The Art of Worship: Paintings, Prayers, and Readings for Meditation and A Room with a View: Ministry with the World at Your Door. Sleepers Wake! is his first Advent book.

This is an extremely readable, humorous, down-to-earth Advent devotional. I love Wilson’s style, as she connects with our humanity, and lifts our eyes to the supernatural. Each day is based around a title or lyric from a carol, with a Scripture reading to start, and a readable, helpful commentary to follow. Days 1-25 help guide you towards celebrating the Christ-child, whilst days 26-31 help you look ahead to the coming year. Highly recommended. Celebrating Christmas (Amy Boucher Pye & Leo Boucher, 2021)David Sims, a church leader and adoptive and additional needs dad of 3, has struggled to find resources to lead his family in faith. This is his solution! And it’s wonderful: a gloriously-illustrated A4 book of fun and creative ways to engage with God’s Word within the home this Advent. Each day comprises a Bible passage (written out in full for ease), short devotional to read, then options to pray, think and do! There are beautifully-lettered phrases, plus plenty of space for journaling or doodling your own thoughts. A wonderful Advent devotion for families! The God of Amazing Gifts (Lizzie Laferton, 2022) This bookish advent calendar comes with 12 individually-wrapped, book-themed gifts that are perfect for any book lover. It is meant to be opened in the last 12 days leading up to Christmas Eve/Christmas, which means you’ll start opening the gifts on December 13th or 14th. Bookworms are sure to enjoy opening each day’s item for a fun surprise leading up to the holidays! More than 30 years ago, Margaret Thatcher’s speech to the UN warned of the damage that we are causing to our environment through pollution and greenhouse gases. Some positive changes have happened since, but not enough nor nearly fast enough. Holtam quotes Gus Speth, arguing that our environmental problems are not primarily biodiversity loss, or climate change, but “selfishness, greed, and apathy”. This is a book to use seriously, prayerfully, and determinedly during Advent. It is an urgent wake-up call to action. Sets of questions at the end of each “week” are ideal for church discussion and individual reflection. There are biblical reflections, and prayers and poems (from Traherne to Rowan Williams). We are reminded of Bach’s music and are offered poignant reflections from a dozen illustrations: including Rembrandt, Constable, Monet, Gerhard Richter, and Earthrise.

I hope my rundown of some of the best Advent Bible studies around has been useful to you as you prepare to keep Christ central to all your activities and busyness this Advent and Christmas. In this short and easy-to-read devotional, Sarah Tummey focuses purely on Old Testament passages. Rather than looking at the gospel story, she skilfully explains how particular prophecies, Psalms and other OT writings came to be fulfilled in the birth of Jesus. This would make an excellent devotional for a newer Christian, a Christian who hasn’t used an Advent devotional before, or anyone who is interested to develop their understanding of the narrative of Scripture. The Coming of the King (J C Ryle/Mary Davis , 2022) To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth is integral to being a Christian today… Advent calls us to wake up, pay attention, stay sober and be alert to God and to what is happening in the world around us. The behaviour of human beings is the major current cause of climate change, and has the potential to become the 6th major event to result in the mass extinction of life on planet earth. We know this, yet we are still in danger of sleepwalking towards catastrophe… we are being called to live as citizens of God’s kingdom in the here and now… we are sensing an opportunity to do things differently, and an Advent-like urgency is needed in making our response… we can run headlong into disaster or we can sleepwalk into it, but we can no longer say that we do not know the impact of the way we are living. It is only in facing the reality that we can find the way forward.’ Climate change is the most important, urgent issue of our day – but while there are technical and political issues, the fundamental problem with the fight against climate change is spiritual.Like Bach’s great Wachet auf! chorale, this walk through the weeks of Advent is both a carefully constructed meditation, and an unsettling call to action.’ NEIL MacGREGOR, BROADCASTER AND FORMER MUSEUM DIRECTOR