Bill Reimer has been running the bookstore at Regent College in Vancouver, Canada, for more than a quarter of a century. It’s been said that the Regent Bookstore is one of the last great bookstores in North America. For both the serious academic on the hunt for something particular, or a layperson who is looking to expand their shelf and mind, Bill has made the Regent Bookstore a rare treasure trove. Along with that, Bill has facilitated bringing to Regent a truly magnificent selection of speakers and lecturers over the years. The point is that Bill Reimer knows books. And we are so pleased to bring you some of his Christmas favorites.
A Small Miracle, by Peter Collington (Penguin, 2011).
In this wordless book, a destitute old woman somewhere in Central Europe wakes up in her caravan home, checks her pantry to find it empty, then plunges out into the cold wearing a threadbare coat and carrying her accordion. She plays her music on the sidewalk as Christmas shoppers sweep past her, scurrying home with arms full of presents and groceries. A hit-and-run thief on a bicycle steals the little money that she has received from pawning her accordion. A second confrontation with the thief comes outside a church that he has just robbed and vandalized. The woman deftly grabs the stolen charity pail from his grasp and then locks herself in the church. She restores the crèche figures that were left scattered on the floor. Leaving the church she collapses in the snow, unconscious. It is at this point that the holy family, shepherds, and wise men come to life and go out in the storm to seek and find the “lost.” The ending of the story is one full of surprise and wonder.
The Grand Miracle: Daily Reflections for the Season of Advent edited by Jennifer Woodruff Tait and Marjorie Lamp Mead (Christian History Institute, 2019).
Reflections from a group of writers who have been influenced by that group of literary Christians known rather loosely as the Inklings. From the beginning we are reminded that all people “matter” and that this truth, according to G.K. Chesterton, “is the hardest thing in theology to believe.” The wonder and implications of the Incarnation is recapitulated throughout: as Lewis says, “[Our God] goes down to come up and bring the whole ruined world up with Him.” Following is another lovely quote from Ralph Wood reflecting on a Chesterton quotation. “Advent calls us to let God pulverize the poor wheat of our sinful and errant lives, turning it into the flour that becomes nourishing bread for others. Without a penitent Advent, Christmas is an empty jollity, a grinding of ourselves back into dust, into nothing.”
Papa Panov’s Special Day by Rubin Saillens, translated by Leo Tolstoy (Lion Publishing, 2016).
In a nineteenth century Russian village an elderly white-haired shoemaker longingly looks out the window of his shop, wondering if the baby Jesus might appear to him on this Christmas Eve. That night in a dream Jesus appears to him and tells him that he will visit his shop on Christmas Day! Throughout the day the shoemaker invites in a string of passersby for coffee or soup: a street sweeper, neighbors, beggars, and a young mother and her baby to whom he presents a special pair of tiny shoes. When darkness settles, the shoemaker sits down in his chair disappointed that Jesus had not visited him. He drifts into sleep and hears a voice of reassurance, “I was hungry and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in.” This is one of our family’s favorite Christmas stories.
Wounded in Spirit: Advent Art and Meditations by David Bannon (Paraclete Press, 2018).
A handsome volume that features a classic painting for each day of Advent, beginning on December 1st and running through Christmas Day. Hardly an “inspirational” book, the central theme of the art and reflections is one of suffering, death, and even suicide, but also of solace and even transformation. Each meditation is accompanied by quotations from a range of writers as well as an original translation of a poem by the nineteenth-century German poet, Friedrich Rukert. Artists include Cranach, Carravaggio, Massys, Durer, and Brugghen, whose striking painting The Repentant Peter is represented.
Watch for the Light: Readings for Advent and Christmas (Plough, 2001).
A steady Advent seller for the past two decades, we are in debt to the Bruderhof for this Advent collection that ranges from the poetry of Sylvia Plath, to reflections by theologians Karl Barth and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, to meditations from further back like those of Bernard of Clairvaux, and then much further back to John Chrysostom. From the forward:
God came into the feeding trough of an animal. But it was not only as a baby that he lay there. This child was the same man who was crucified on Golgotha, and who rose again. Within the manger lies the cross— and the hope of redemption and resurrection.