Living the Christian Year - by Bobby Gross (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

Bobby Gross presents chapters on each season of the liturgical year, accompanied by weekly devotions based on the Sunday readings of the lectionary cycle. His book offers a flexible weekly format, designed to let you break the devotions down any way you want to.

Review Quotes

"A solid contribution on the liturgical year for ecclesial or worship-group resources."

"Beautiful in its gentleness and humility, this book is a gift to Christians of all communions and denominations, for it deals with our beginnings and the originating, sacred rhythms from which we all come. Only Bobby Gross could have so gracefully opened the church's liturgical calendar to all who wish to see, and only he could have laid so rich a feast of devotion as this for those who yearn to enter."

"Bobby Gross has written a jewel of a book about the depth and riches of observing the Christian year. Christians in nonliturgical settings will be touched by his understanding, not to mention those who are already living the Christian feasts and seasons in liturgical churches. They, too, will gain insight to match their customary practice. This is a book to dip into and enjoy."

"Culture's daily story of noise, busyness, consumerism and competition is often the loudest shaping voice of our lives. It can influence choices more than a weekly or monthly dose of churchgoing does. Bobby Gross opens the possibility for another voice and another story to shape us on a daily basis. Living the Christian Year invites believers to live by the rhythms of God's redemption story. This lovely book hooks our daily life into the extraordinary beauty and usefulness of the liturgical year--a year spent in following the life of Jesus. I delight in a book that reveals how Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Holy Week, Pentecost and Ordinary Time place our ordinary lives in the context of the most amazing story ever--the story that can guide us at all times and in all places."

"Gross's book comes with no expectation of familiarity with the concept of liturgical time, and he offers helpful background for readers who are newcomes to a church year calendar. A substantial, scripture-based approach to private devotion."

"Many devout Christian believers are unaware of the richness to be found in the Christian calendar year, with its high and low points, its celebrations, its times of self-examination and repentance, and even what is known as 'ordinary time.' Bobby Gross, who began to live the seasons of the Christian year as an adult, celebrates the story of Jesus' life through liturgy. This is a bountiful resource, thought-provoking, informative and motivational, showing how liturgy can help us in our deep need to pursue God and a holy life."

"Only occasionally does a book come along which will become a steady companion in my own journey of discipleship. Bobby Gross has engagingly written that kind of book. It both points the way to a fuller understanding of God's great story in Christ, and simultaneously provides guidance and tools to help me weave my life into God's story as I enter the steady rhythms of the Christian calendar. I have never seen a book quite like this."

"Whether we know and believe it or not, we live in sacred time. The only time that is is created, given, sustained and re-created by God--time that God will one day fulfill. Living the Christian Year beckons us to lay hold of this reality, to richly dwell in the story that holds time together, and as we do so to practice the communion that holds God's people together in grace across time and around the globe. This is the biblical story out of which comes all true worship and justice."

About the Author

Bobby Gross is director of Graduate and Faculty Ministries for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship (IVCF). Bobby serves on the national board of Christians in the Visual Arts (CIVA) and lives in Atlanta, Georgia. Previously, Bobby was a national field director for IVCF, served as an InterVarsity chaplain at the University of Florida, launched campus ministry in South Florida, and was the regional director for New York/New Jersey. Bobby is the author of Living the Christian Year: Time to Inhabit the Story of God. He has also contributed chapters to three other books, including Faith on the Edge (InterVarsity Press) and Signs of Hope in the City (Judson).