From Advent to Christmas with George Herbert
By Richard Harries
SPCK, 144 pages, $14.99
Each year around Michaelmas I begin building my Advent/Christmas to-do list, and each year I struggle with one task: finding an Advent devotional for use in my parish. I love encouraging a churchwide Advent devotional; the right book will have sections short enough that a stressed and overscheduled layperson will use it but be theologically rich enough to enhance one’s spiritual encounter of the season — without slipping into saccharine Christmas platitudes.
Enter Wounded I Sing: From Advent to Christmas with George Herbert by Bishop Richard Harries. This succinct, four-week devotional engages the poetry of one of our tradition’s greatest poets, pastors, and spiritual writers, and skillfully illustrates how one of Herbert’s main themes — the Christian disciple’s lifelong struggle to remain fully devoted to Christ in a culture that seems to demand we pay attention to anything and everything else — is just as relevant today as it was in 17th-century England. This theme is particularly poignant in Advent, a time when we continually need to be reminded that Jesus is the “reason for the season.”
Harries shows that Herbert’s poetry is not only relevant but healthy for our modern culture. He draws attention to Herbert’s awareness of his sinfulness, and rightly points out that this is something modern people, including many modern Christians, would like to avoid thinking about. Yet, he writes, “[I]n studying Herbert, whose life was driven by an intense, passionate relationship with God, we may find a helpful corrective to some of our own concerns.” A healthy dose of self-reflection from one of England’s most introspective poets is just right for the Advent season.
The book begins with an introduction to Herbert’s short life and the culture that formed him. Harries’s description is concise but comprehensive and primes the reader to look for specific themes and images in the poems that follow. By describing the culture of wealth, prestige, and academic and professional success in which Herbert was raised, Harries prepares readers to deepen their understanding of the poems that follow as a picture of Herbert’s struggle to devote himself fully to God and not to worldly acclaim.
The book presents 24 of Herbert’s poems, one each for the six weekdays of each week of Advent. I found the poems to be thoughtfully and skillfully selected. I’ve loved Herbert since I first encountered him when I was in high school; the bishop’s selection includes a selection of standards like “Love I-III,” “The Pulley,” and “The Collar,” along with lesser-known poems. Each day presents a new poem, followed by a succinct analysis.
Harries’s commentary was especially incisive and helpful to the reader. His analyses walk the reader through the poems and draw attention to key phrases and images without feeling plodding. He explains the main ideas of each in a conversational and accessible way, often drawing on quotations from contemporaries of Herbert. I think these analyses would be especially helpful to someone unfamiliar with Herbert’s style, or to those who claim they “don’t get poetry.” Harries’s commentary on each poem allowed me, even as a longtime lover of poetry in general and Herbert in particular, to see even well-loved poems with fresh eyes.
Harries organizes the four weeks of Advent around four themes: Christ’s search for us, Christ’s winning the heart, our holding to Christ, and our praise of God, rather than on traditional Advent themes. Death, judgment, heaven, and hell are mentioned only in passing in the introduction, and the patriarchs, prophets, John the Baptist, and Blessed Virgin Mary are not mentioned at all.
The book is divided into four weeks, and the last poem presented is Herbert’s striking take on the Incarnation in “Christmas,” but the book is general enough to be used in other seasons and other contexts. If I were using this book for an Advent teaching or small-group study in my parish, I would consider crafting discussion questions or additional notes to supplement the commentary to connect the poems to the season and, more importantly, to the appointed Scripture.
Similarly, I found myself wishing that the excellent analysis of each poem was followed by a few discussion or reflection questions to enhance its use as a devotional. The commentary on the poems is excellent, and a careful reader can find a way to apply the teaching to life, but questions to reflect upon would make the book easier for personal or small-group devotion.
The fact that the book doesn’t offer discussion questions, however, does not limit its use as an individual or group devotional. On the contrary: the format and content of this little book provides flexibility to be used in a wide variety of settings, in or out of Advent. Herbert is a poet who transcends time and geography, and the poems in this book can be our guide into the heart of Christmas and beyond.
