A Journey of Repentance Renewal and Return

In this nonfiction debut Hasselbach takes readers through the liturgical celebration of Lent which stretches from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday. The period is typically seen by Christian celebrants as a time of reflection and personal denial-What are you giving up for Lent? is the typical question. The author takes a broad and scripturally informed view of the subject issuing a call to action to Christian readers: First we must do a fiercely honest examination of our lives-before we repent we must know we are sinners. The book breaks down Lent by day with each section providing plenty of space for readers to write their own reflections. This is a work that can be used extensively by readers shaped to their own personal interpretations of the season. The volumes strongest feature by far is Hasselbachs own insights into not only Lent specifically but also the Christian faith more generally. If Jesuss resurrection was for him alone it would be amazing but not significant for us all these years later one passage goes. It would have changed him but not us. When Jesus tells us to become like little children he is instructing us to acknowledge that we are one with the poor the suffering the broken and the lost reads another. That means we must accept those whom others reject. These and other observations about the nature of Christianity crop up throughout the book and are uniformly intriguing. Even readers who have little interest in performing an active Lent will still find the bulk of this work invigoratingly thought-provoking. And the volumes usefulness during Lent itself is self-evident.