by J.R. Hudberg

A Book Review

#UntoUsaChildIsBorn #NetGalley

What Is This Book?

There is a moment, somewhere around the end of October, when Christmas begins to appear on the horizon. The shops have usually got there long before us, but the Church moves at a different pace. Before Christmas comes Advent, with its invitation not simply to celebrate, but to wait.

Unto Us a Child Is Born is a four-week devotional book built around the traditional Advent themes of hope, peace, joy and love. Its starting point is deceptively simple: these are things almost everyone wants, yet they are often conspicuously absent from our experience.

We talk about peace while living with conflict. We speak of joy while carrying grief. We hope while wondering whether anything will really change. We celebrate love while living in a world marked by rejection and division.

J. R. Hudberg does not attempt to avoid that tension. Instead, the book asks whether the coming of Jesus really does speak to these deep human needs.

That immediately makes this more interesting than a devotional designed simply to generate a warm Christmassy feeling.

How Does It Work?

The structure is particularly thoughtful.

Each of the four weeks concentrates on one Advent theme: hope, peace, joy or love. The first day invites readers to consider their own need for that particular gift. During the following five days, Old Testament experiences of human need are placed alongside Gospel accounts of Jesus meeting people in their need. The final day looks forward to Christ’s return and the ultimate fulfilment of what God has promised.

It gives the book a biblical sweep extending far beyond Bethlehem.

Adam and Eve’s failure is placed alongside the hope of Emmanuel, God with us. Job’s devastating loss is considered alongside the joy surrounding Elizabeth’s long-awaited pregnancy. The conflict between Jacob and Esau is paired with an encounter in which Jesus brings peace. Hagar’s rejection is placed alongside the love Jesus shows to a rejected woman.

Advent therefore becomes about more than preparing to remember Jesus’ birth. It becomes part of the much bigger biblical story of a God entering into humanity’s brokenness.

That, for me, is one of the book’s most attractive features.

What Works?

The strongest idea behind Unto Us a Child Is Born is its refusal to leave Jesus in the manger.

There is always a danger at Christmas of Jesus remaining perpetually a baby. The nativity scene is safe and familiar: stable, manger, shepherds, angels. But Christian faith claims something considerably more challenging. The child in the manger grows up.

By deliberately connecting Advent with Gospel stories from Jesus’ adult ministry, Hudberg asks us to consider what the birth actually means.

What does it mean to say that Christ brings peace? Look at what Jesus does in the presence of chaos.

What does divine love look like? Look at whom Jesus welcomes.

What does hope mean when human beings have failed?

These connections potentially prevent familiar Advent words becoming little more than seasonal decorations.

The movement between Old Testament need, the ministry of Jesus and his promised return also gives Advent its proper sense of waiting. Christians are remembering a coming that has happened while still waiting for something not yet complete.

There is considerable depth contained within that simple idea.

What Gave Me Pause?

Pairing biblical stories can be illuminating, but it also requires care.

Job’s loss, Hagar’s rejection and the conflict between Jacob and Esau are substantial stories in their own right. None exists merely to provide an illustration for an Advent theme.

There is therefore a danger inherent in this kind of devotional approach. If the connections are drawn too neatly, the lives of complex biblical characters can become problems to which Jesus is presented as the simple answer.

Real life rarely resolves itself quite so tidily.

For someone experiencing bereavement, for example, the promise of Christian joy does not remove grief. Peace does not mean that every conflict is resolved. Hope does not mean that everything turns out as we wished.

In fact, Advent may be especially important precisely because it does not ask us to pretend that everything is fine.

The most convincing Christian hope makes room for lament as well as celebration.

Does the Format Work?

A four-week structure feels particularly appropriate for Advent because it allows the reader to travel rather than rush.

That matters at a time of year when rushing can become almost unavoidable.

The weekly movement from personal experience, through Old Testament and Gospel stories, towards the future promises of God also gives the reader a rhythm. This is not simply twenty-eight disconnected inspirational thoughts. There is a journey built into the structure.

I particularly like beginning each week by asking readers to recognise their own need. It prevents the Bible from becoming something we merely observe from a distance.

Before encountering someone else’s longing for peace, perhaps I need to acknowledge my own.

Before reading about someone else’s need for hope, where am I struggling to hope?

Those are good Advent questions.

Would I Actually Use It?

Yes, and I can see several possibilities.

It is clearly suited to individual devotional reading, but the structure could also lend itself well to families or small groups. The themes are familiar enough for people with relatively little biblical knowledge while the connections between different parts of Scripture could provide plenty for more experienced readers to explore.

I also appreciate that it offers an alternative to a sentimental approach to Christmas.

For people approaching December carrying grief, uncertainty, family difficulties or simply exhaustion, a devotional that begins with genuine human need may have considerably more to offer than one insisting that this is the happiest time of the year.

The Verdict

Unto Us a Child Is Born is built around a compelling question: can the familiar promise of Christmas speak into the world as we actually experience it?

Its answer is found not merely in the birth of Jesus but in the whole story of Jesus.

That is its real strength.

The hope of Advent is not that difficult things cease to be difficult when December arrives. Nor is Christian joy dependent upon creating the perfect Christmas. The claim at the heart of this book is much bigger: God has entered human experience in Jesus Christ and meets humanity in its deepest need.

As Advent approaches, that feels like a journey worth making.