During certain seasons, I long for a book about the unsung holidays—the ones that most people are dimly aware of, but do not actively celebrate. These holidays are often overlooked as being associated with, but inferior to, the “real” holidays. And so, Lent has something to with Easter. Advent has something to do with Christmas. But what?
Come Worship with Me is a beautiful introduction to the days of the church year, as a young mouse invites readers into his church to share in a full year’s worth of celebration. I came across this book (thanks to Aslan’s Library) while struggling to find a book that explained Lent and Holy Week (not just Easter) to our daughters, and was delighted to find that Come Worship With Me goes beyond that by including the greater and lesser events of the whole church year. It’s helpful to have a resource that we can return to each year as these holidays come up, to remind the girls (and ourselves) what we’re celebrating and why.
Our church honors many—but not all—of these days. The church depicted is quite different than ours, and I love the opportunity that that presents to show our daughters how differently Christians can worship, when we rarely have the opportunity to physically visit other churches. And the mouse who narrates the book does so with such child-like wonder and honesty that it’s hard not to be drawn into the joy of his church family.
This is an excellent book for any time of year, but especially now, with Advent almost upon us, it’s a great introduction to the deeper significance of the season: Christmas is not a single day or week or month, but the fruit of a full year’s preparation! And that is a lesson best learned early.
Come Worship With Me
Ruth Boling, Tracy Dahle Carrier (2010)