Advent Notes

While it occurs near the close of the calendar year, Advent marks the commencement of the liturgical one, beginning the Christian calendar afresh with its weeks of hushed expectation. In Reformation of the Heart: Seasonal Meditations of a Gay Christian, Chris Glaser challenges readers to emulate Mary, who prayed, "Let it be with me according to your Word." Glaser's honest daily meditations will help many gay and lesbian Christians understand the Advent season (and other liturgical events) in fresh and comforting ways. (Westminster John Knox, $14.95 paper 312p ISBN 0-664-22306-0; Sept.)

Loyola Press repackages Carol DeChant's charming 1999 memoir, Momma's Enchanted Supper: Stories for the Long Evenings of Advent. DeChant organizes the humorous, poignant family vignettes according to the liturgical season of Advent, a period which "looks to past struggles while calling us to a grace-filled future." ($17.95 240p ISBN 0-8294-1272-7; Sept.)

Christmas Notes

In the full-color coffee-table book How to Be Santa Claus, photographer Nick Kelsh not only tackles the titular question of how to be Santa Claus—which involves merely donning a costume and a jolly demeanor—but the more important question of why. With humor, love and memorable photography, Kelsh helps readers to discover the Santa within. This will put a twinkle in many readers' eyes.(Stewart, Tabori & Chang, $14.95 48p ISBN 1-58479-089-X; Oct.)

This year, at least three different titles explore the origins of well-known Christmas carols. Ace Collins's Stories Behind the Best-Loved Songs of Christmas takes on more than 30 popular songs and hymns, from classics such as "O Holy Night" and "Angels We Have Heard on High" to the contemporary Christian hit "Mary, Did You Know?" Secular numbers such as "Jingle Bells" and "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" also get their due in this attractively designed gift book. (Zondervan, $14.99 192p ISBN 0-310-23926-5; Oct.)

Joni Eareckson Tada, John MacArthur and Robert and Bobbie Wolgemuth—all heavyweights in the Christian market—collaborate on O Come, All Ye Faithful: Hymns of Adoration to Celebrate His Birth, the second volume in Crossway's Great Hymns of Faith series. The dozen hymns discussed here include, refreshingly, the more somber Advent standards "Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus" and "Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence." The book comes with a companion CD of the 12 hymns, some of which are sung by the authors. ($19.99 128p ISBN 1-58134-251-9; Sept.)

A more comprehensive guide is Joy to the World: Sacred Christmas Songs Through the Ages, which discusses 57 hymns and classical works. Authors Albert and Shirley Menendez dispute the popular attribution of "Away in a Manger" to Martin Luther, arguing instead that it originated with a group of Pennsylvania Lutherans in the late 19th century. (Cumberland, $14.95 160p ISBN 1-58182-205-7; Sept.)