The Hour is Come: The Passion in real time [9781786223968]

Expand the description and scroll down to view the Preach magazine review.

The gospel accounts change when we come to the final days of Jesus' life and for the first time we are given precise timings when things happen, 'It was night', 'the next morning', 'it was nine o'clock in the morning when they crucified him', 'it was noon', 'it was three o'clock in the afternoon'.

The Hour is Come enables readers to enter into the experience of Jesus, his disciples and all the other players in the Passion narrative by using 'real time' to immerse us in the story.

Ideal for daily reading during Lent, Holy Week and Easter, it offers scripture reflections and prayers that trace the journey to and beyond the cross. It begins on Mothering Sunday, the Fourth Sunday of Lent, with a reminder that Jesus' journey to the cross began in infancy.

The pace is slow at the beginning but during the great 'Three Days' from Maundy Thursday evening until Easter Day, the story unfolds hour by hour as it happens. Then the pace slows again as we move through Easter's fifty days to Pentecost.

This presentation reveals a God so intimately involved with human life that the ticking clock becomes part of how we know Jesus.

PREACH REVIEW:

Have you ever asked yourself, what day of the week the widow dropped her two coins into the temple treasury? Or when the disciples found the man carrying the water jar, who would show them the way to the upper room? In this fascinating book of devotional reflections, Andrew Nunn has put together the well-known events of the last week of Jesus’ life in a fresh and fascinating way. Starting on the Saturday before Palm Sunday and ending at Pentecost. The reflections focus in on key hours in the last week of Jesus’ life, then week by week through the weeks after Easter and ending, finally, with three reflections on Pentecost Sunday.

Although we can’t be sure exactly when each event happened in this last week of Jesus’ life, looking at the events in detail and reflecting on when they might have happened brings a fresh insight to the story. In particular, it allows us to appreciate the growing tension as Jesus’ death comes ever closer and the slow realization, in the hearts of Jesus’ disciples, of what the resurrection meant. Each section is very short – no longer than two pages long – and includes a passage from the Bible, some help into reflection and a prayer. It is a wonderful resource with so much to think about and reflect on. It will be well worth praying with in the lead up to Easter and beyond.

It comes highly recommended from me for anyone who would like to take time to get into the details of the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection.

Review by Paula Gooder for Preach magazine, Issue 30. Dr Paula Gooder is a writer and lecturer in Biblical Studies. She is currently the Chancellor of St Paul’s Cathedral in London.

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AUTHOR: Andrew Nunn is the Dean of Southwark and is much loved by his congregation which has grown internationally during lockdown. This book began as a blog series to his 5,000+ followers. He was Rector General to the inclusive Society of Catholic Priests from 2008-2017, and is a member of General Synod.