Customer Reviews

Touching Wonder: Recapturing the Awe of Christmas

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It's easy to complain about the consumerism of Christmas. We Christians get all up-in-arms when holiday decorations hit the stores the day after Halloween, when Saint Nicholas is better known as Santa Claus, and when more money is spent on Black Friday at shopping malls than is spent the rest of the year on missions projects. But perhaps a better way to counter the culture is by engaging more in the Christmas narrative. This isn't so easy to do. Although we find nostalgia singing the same carols every year, sometimes the lyrics come out automatically without us really pondering their meaning. Sometimes when we ramble off the Christmas story it sounds as plastic as the figurines in our nativity sets.

John Blase's new book, Touching Wonder, is an antidote for going through another "Christmas as normal" season. Blase retells the stories surrounding Jesus' birth, starting with Zechariah being struck dumb in the temple when he finds out he is going to be a late-life father and ending twelve chapters latter with Anna and Simeon viewing the Christ child after his parents bring baby Jesus to the temple to be dedicated.

The stories are told from the perspective of the participants, their hopes, fears and feelings expressed with descriptions that will bring you to tears. The Incarnation is truly full of wonder and Blase has artfully crafted these stories to pull the reader into the raw and the reality of Jesus' birth. Each chapter is preceded with a passage of scripture (using Eugene Peterson's, "The Message") and is followed by an application prayer from the heart of the author. The book also has some simple, yet beautiful sketches that fit the stories.

Not only do I plan to read "Touching Wonder" during this Advent with my family, I also plan to send this book to several friends. Recapturing the awe of Christmas is truly a gift worth giving!

After all, Christmas is because of the Christ child, the birth, the life, eventually eternal life. This book is a simple, easily read, way to refresh yourself this and every year of the true meaning of the Christmas holiday season.

It may not be a best-seller, nor one that you'll buy by the dozen to send as Christmas cards, but it is basic, easily appreciated, the story of the nativity as seen through the eyes of those that were there--so to speak. Each chapter takes a portion of the Biblical story, from The Message, and then follows it with a bit of first hand reporting, of a sort, appearing to be coming from the character involved in the selected verses that tell a portion of the birth story. Their common, human-like depiction of the event, as seen through their eyes, depicts the scene with a more earthly awareness than is often found in Christmas versions of the Nativity story.

It is the intent of the author, as I understand his own words, that "Touching Wonder" is to get us all in touch with the wonder of Christmas, the splendor of the event, but at the earthly level that it actually did happen. Birth in a stable. Common shepherds heralded. A mother who felt the birth pains. A husband concerned for his mate. Earthy, yet designed by the Master of Heaven.

Christmas is a great story for all to believe. This book shares it simply.

Touching Wonder: Recapturing the Awe of Christmas by author John Blase, is the perfect book to read during the Advent Season. In this hardcover book of 128 pages, Blase has taken the stories of Christmas, from Zechariah meeting the angel Gabriel in the Temple, to Jesus birth and more, and compiled them into short readings that will add to your daily prayer time.

Concentrating on the first two chapters of the gospel of Luke, Mr. Blase has created a book that I know I will read again and again. I might be a little biased though, as it reminded me of my own book Come to Me, which I based on Luke's Gospel as well.

After each story, a prayer to God from the author is included, allowing the reader to contemplate what they have learned and offer back their own prayers of thanksgiving.

If you are looking to recapture that "awe" feeling this Christmas, then I would encourage you to pick up this book before Advent begins, as it will enhance your daily prayer and study times.

In wondrous words, John Blase returns us to the dusty days of another century...a time just as full of wondering and waiting as our dusty days here and now are. Walk back into a time and story so familiar that most of us are dulled to its freshness. Give yourself the gift of Advent...waiting again for the Holy One to appear. In this brief book, you will find volumes so deep that you will know, as a tear rolls down your cheek, that you have found a holy offering. Return to the truth of the Christ-birth. Return to the common people encountering an Uncommon God. Walk back to the past, to find, in the here and now, the birth that changed all of life for all who will come, and touch Wonder. John Blase is a master storyteller, wooing us to look afresh, listen with undulled ears, smell the humble places, taste the yearnings long forgotten, and, once more, touch wonder. Such a book brings us again face-to-face with Christ, with Christmas as it once was and can yet again be...God-with-us in the Baby joyously given as the best of gifts.

It is an amazing book! A must read-you will have a whole new perspective on the birth of Jesus!

It is a great read to usher in the spirit of the Christmas Event. The interesting perspectives of each of the characters presented brought me into a more intimate-personal relationship with that glorious event.

This Christmas story of Joseph, Mary, and the birth of Jesus is told here unlike I have ever read before. The author elaborates from scripture with a real life perspective of how the Bible characters must of really felt as they lived out the story.

John's book is slim, but it's pack with excellent writing and a profound look at the players surrounding the Incarnation. As I read, I found myself seeing the divine drama into which unsuspecting and ordinary people were drawn.

This book will be on my regular Advent reading list. This would make for an excellent gift book as well.

Thank you, John for giving us the gift of this book.

John Blase describes the many characters in the reading of Jesus' birth and brings them to life in his narration. He extols their doubts, fears, concerns, excitement, apprehension, rage, and hope-from `Speechless' Zachariah all the way to `Jerusalem's Freedom' Anna, the prophetess. You won't want to miss the rich characters he describes in between.

What I like, in addition to his rendition of the story, are his personal prayers at the end of each character's portion. They bring the story into your own personal life to apply, as well as his own, challenging us all to make changes. It's not your ordinary `Christmas Story' book!

I would appreciate the use of a different version of the Scriptures, but the book otherwise is a new, personal insight into Christmas.

A free copy was supplied by Audra of The B&B Media Group for me to review. I review books for the purpose of encouraging others to read good fiction and non-fiction Christian books.

Good stuff, so glad to see any book coming out to celebrate Advent! It is a quick and easy read, just a few pages a day. I appreciate them using the Message version to put the story in a new light.