A Year with Michael Green, edited by Stephen Poxon 

Stimulating and recommended daily devotional anchored in the saving purpose of God through Jesus to develop prayerful reflection and quiet thought

A Year with Michael Green
Edited by Stephen Poxon
Authentic 
1SBN978-1-788903-310-0
Reviewed by Martin M’Caw

 
 
Rather than plough through all 365 days with Michael Green I decided to review days linked to family members; 31 spread across the year. This is no textbook, but a daily devotional anchored in the saving purpose of God through Jesus to develop prayerful reflection and quiet thought. Each day has an extract from Green’s writings married to a verse of scripture with a prayer to aid our Christian living.
 
‘In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit’ is the verse for 13 May. Green makes a challenging comment that some contemporary stress on the Holy Spirit denigrates Jesus to the lower reaches of Christian life because its heights belong to the Holy Spirit. Such an imbalance is part of our humanity and may reflect something that has particularly struck us.  Jesus’ words are a salutary reminder that nothing less than a fully Trinitarian Christianity can stand which leads us to the prayer for the day ‘Help me Lord to keep my balance.  Keep my heart and mind free from unwise prejudice, however sincere that might be’: a prayer for life as well as our Christological understanding.
 
For 8 July the verse is ‘One Lord Jesus Christ’1 Corinthians 8:6.  Two paragraphs on the centrality of Christ for faith and life lead into the prayer 'Jesus be my focus.’  14 September has one paragraph based on Ephesians 6:18 ‘Be alert and always keep on praying’. Green writes ‘our prayers tend to be mechanical or at best self-centered and prayer in the Holy Spirit allows the Spirit to pour into our souls the overflowing life of intercession’.  That thought leads into the prayer ‘Gracious Holy Spirit I warmly invite you to overhaul my prayer life…’  We could all do with that.
 
13 November focuses on suffering Christians down the centuries.  The verse is ‘Love is as strong as death’ Song of Songs 8:6.  Following Christ can be exceedingly costly, but death cannot separate the believer from God. Green reckons the 20th century has seen more Christian martyrs than the previous 19. Jesus’ way is not self-assertion but self-sacrifice and remains the only hope for the world, otherwise the lust for power becomes all-consuming and things go from bad to worse.  The prayer is ‘I have to believe love wins…this might be a hard-fought victory…made up of blood and nails, thorns bloodshed and self-denial, but the outcome is secure.’
 
7 December centres on John 6:51. ‘I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live for ever’. The hope for the future has nothing to do with human perfectibility, the evolution of morals or the eradication of social ills. 

The prayer for the day becomes more the thought for the day. ‘The people’s future is wrapped up in Christ’s own. What could be a more secure wrapping: in Christ all will be well. Keep me eating of the bread of life, and keep me well wrapped I pray’.
 
I found each day a stimulating exercise with encouraging thoughts and uplifting prayers:  a book I strongly recommend.

 

The Revd Dr Martin M’Caw, Retired Baptist Minister and Wing Chaplain to No.2 Welsh Wing RAF Cadets also retired