The bestselling writer Paula Gooder continues her exploration of the Christian year, with its different seasons and changing moods. Here she explores the season that arguably gets lost more than any other beneath an avalanche of commercialisation and pressure to achieve the perfect celebration. Despite the carol services and nativity plays, the piercing shock of the Christmas story is often muffled - God breaking into human life, weak and vulnerable, coming to the lowest and the least, bypassing the powers of religion and state and single-mindedly bent on a course of rescue that will cost everything. As with the companion volumes in this popular and successful series, Paula explores the lectionary readings for the season as well as the stories and readings we hear at carol services to gain a deeper and richer understanding of God's purposes.

Author Biography

DR PAULA GOODER is an honorary lecturer at the University of Birmingham, Canon Theologian at Birmingham Cathedral, a Reader in the Church of England and a member of General Synod. She is one of the most influential voices in the Church of England today and in great demand as a speaker. She is the author of numerous bestselling books.