A ­better­ Christmas

AN EVEN BETTER CHRISTMAS
By Matt Chandler
The Good Book Company. 64 pages. £2.99
ISBN 978 1 784 982 881

For those feeling the pressure to ‘paint on’ a seasonal smile, when in reality they enter the Christmas season amidst suffering, An Even Better Christmas is fine read.

In this book, Matt Chandler (The Village Church, Flower Mound, Texas) underscores the transience and deceptiveness of a Westernised commercial Christmas. Consequently, he highlights the grittiness of the real Christmas story – a story that is all about God intervening in our world of pain. By paralleling the biographies of Moses and Christ, Chandler highlights that Christmas is the beginning of a better exodus story.

American context

On the whole, the book is excellently written and has some super illustrations. It is thoroughly biblical and very engaging. It would be a splendid book to give to any unbeliever – however, the giver should note that the book is perceptibly American.

Chandler’s very first anecdote is about ‘decorating after Thanksgiving.’ From there, Disney, American Christmas commercials, Charles Heston, and various NBA basketball stars are used as illustrations. This is no bad thing, but it is worth highlighting. My other cautionary note is that at 62 pages it goes beyond the typical Christmas tract length. This is probably the book’s only flaw. It feels slightly too long for the mildly interested unbeliever, but slightly too short for the hardened secular sceptic, who perhaps retorts ‘Why would the God of Christmas even allow for suffering at Christmas?’ Nonetheless, for unbelievers who are genuinely considering Christianity, or for those partial to reading about Christ at Christmas, it’s a decent length.

Witty and punchy

Chandler’s writing is witty and powerful in equal measure. There is also a striking honesty and punchiness about the book. Chandler is not afraid to highlight the fact that, one year, ‘you’re going to pack up your Christmas decorations in January and you won’t be around to set them up in December.’ On that point, his final chapter is very compelling. Here Chandler shares how he was diagnosed with a brain tumour (just before the Christmas of 2009), and how that trial helped him to see the value of the incarnate Christ, who lies beneath the trivial tinsel of our modern festivities.