5 Books to Read for Lenten Devotion
Now the King’s cake has been eaten, the Mardis Gras beads have been discarded, and we’ve come to the season of dust and ashes. On Tuesday, Renea gave us some great reminders about the purpose of Ash Wednesday and Lent, with some wonderful writing on the subject from Frederick Buechner. Her post got me thinking about other books that would aid in this year’s Lenten devotion. There are a lot of great choices out there. Here are 5 of my top picks:
Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster
In this Christian classic, Richard Foster explores the “classic” Christian disciplines such as fasting, prayer, and meditation. His writing is succinct and approachable, making it an excellent primer for Lenten devotional practice.
A Hunger for God by John Piper
During Lent, you’ll hear a lot of people talk about fasting — both from food and from other things. Fasting can seem like a strange practice these days. What separates it from dieting? What keeps it from becoming legalistic? In A Hunger for God, Piper shifts the focus from what people give up during a fast to what they gain — namely, a closer relationship with God.
Between Midnight and Dawn compiled by Sarah Arthur
This is the book I’m enjoying this Lenten season. Between Midnight and Dawn starts with Ash Wednesday and runs all the way through Eastertide, combining weekly prayer and scripture passages with selections from great literature that build on each week’s themes. The devotional experience is rich and unique, as the literary selections help the reader to forge surprising connections and fresh interpretations of age-old ideas.
The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer
While not on an explicitly Lenten topic, The Pursuit of God is a great choice for Lent because of its unrelenting focus on knowing God personally. His chapter called “The Blessedness of Possessing Nothing” is also a helpful reminder of the correct attitude for Lent — and any other time of year for the Christian who wishes to know God more fully.
The Dark Night of the Soul by St. John of the Cross
This classic meditation on suffering and doubt is the perfect companion for the season of the church year that ends culminates in Christ’s own suffering on the cross.
There you have it — my picks for Lenten reading. What books would you recommend for this time of the church year?
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About The Author
Dr. Christine Hand Jones
Christine Hand Jones is a singer-songwriter, a college English professor, and the Director of Music Ministry at Highland Baptist Church. She has a PhD in Literary Studies from the University of Texas at Dallas, which she earned, in large measure, by listening to the collected works of Bob Dylan and writing about what she heard. When she's not playing music or fascinating her students with stunning lectures over comma splices, Christine can be found drinking coffee, playing devoted cat mom to Desmond and Molly, and roaming the shelves of Half-Price Books.
This is a wonderful mix of “traditional” Lenten reading (reading specifically written for and intended to be read during Lent), classic evangelical reading (a wonderful way of blending liturgical and non-liturgical traditions, showing their inherent similarities), and a mystic reading (evocation over elucidation)!
I recently came across The Word in the Wilderness: A Poem a Day for Lent and Easter by Malcolm Guite who also has a similar poem-a-day book for Advent through Epiphany and a book of sonnets for the whole year/Church Calendar called Sounding the Seasons: Seventy Sonnets for the Christian Year.
And Christianity Today just put out their list of ‘non-Christian-bookstore’ books for Lent. Any list including Hopkins is good enough for me! 😉