When you walk (by Adrian Plass)

(Amazon UK link)

Around a year ago, at the end of 2021, I decided to use a book of daily Bible readings with commentaries in 2022. So I looked at the shelf where we keep books and booklets with short devotional passages or comments, intended to be read over the course of a month or a year. The one that looked most appealing was ‘When you walk’ by Adrian Plass. The subtitle is ‘365 readings for ordinary followers of Jesus who sometimes find the going a bit tough.’ It sounded ideal, and I hadn’t read it since 2009 so I started on January 1st and have finished it today.

The book is divided into topical sections, although they deliberately don’t correlate with times of the year. Since the book is intended to be started at any point, there are no dates - but I knew I would find it hard to keep track, and wanted to finish it in a year, so I went through, pencilling in dates for all 365 passages. I think some of them must previously have been published in booklet form; readings for passiontide and Holy Week, for instance read as if they were intended for that time of year, but they came up (in my yearly reading) in August. There were readings about the birth of Christ, too, and events leading up to it - in October. That wasn’t a problem. It’s important to read about these things, and perhaps easier to ponder more when they’re unseasonal.

Other sections include some about Biblical characters (such as John the Baptist, Jonah and Job), some covering books or sections of Biblical books (such as the letter from James, the Song of Solomon, even part of Revelation) and some look at themes with quotations from a variety of books in the Bible. I found the one on creativity (in its broadest sense) to be particularly interesting. Each main section then divides  into around ten to fifteen individual days with a couple of paragraphs quoted from the Bible, and a few paragraphs of Adrian Plass’s commentary. Most end with a short prayer.

I’m not sure I learned anything new, but there were several good reminders about different principles, or explorations into the lives of characters whom I hadn’t thought about much. And I always like the author’s style of writing. He’s always honest, somewhat self-deprecating, well aware of his faults and foibles, and yet he knows, absolutely, that God loves him for who he is, and that there’s nothing more worth doing than walking with Jesus. Anecdotes and reminiscences appear alongside questions and insights that are often quite deep, even if written in apparently light-hearted ways.

I didn’t read exactly one page or passage every day. I started out with the best of intentions, but sometimes I forgot… but, as I’d written on the dates, it was easy to ‘catch up’ by reading an extra one. In the summer I went away for six weeks, and since this is a large book I didn’t take it, but read something else on my Kindle. When I returned, I then deliberately read two passages every day (well, most days…) until I reached the correct date.

Of course it doesn’t have to be read as I did - it’s a book to dip into, to explore different topics, perhaps, or to find something appropriate or seasonal. The commentary is mostly designed to make the reader think, and perhaps to ask questions. I’m not sure there’s anything I can actively remember from it, but books like this have a trickle effect, with apparently random ideas or thoughts returning at appropriate moments.

Definitely recommended if you’d like a low-key way of exploring some well-known (and some lesser-known) passages of the Bible. Nothing too complicated, but much to think about. No longer available new, but it can sometimes be found second-hand.

Review copyright 2022 Sue's Book Reviews