November 20, 2020

Come and See

More than 25 years ago, I started using Forward Movement’s Forward Day by Day (FDBD) publication as a Lenten discipline. I found starting the day by reading the Scriptures and reflecting on the meditations so meaningful that I kept it up. In those days, I read from the little printed booklets distributed at my church. When I found a meditation I loved, I gently tore out the page and taped it into my prayer journal. Today, I visit Forward Day by Day online. Now when I am particularly moved or enlightened by a meditation, I “copy and paste” it into my digital prayer journal.

How delighted I am to learn that Forward Movement has published a collection of past meditations in book form entitled Come and See: Reflections of the Life of Jesus. Curated by long-time Forward Day by Day reader Sanford Smith, Come and See includes some of the best Forward Day by Day meditations from the past three decades.

Rather than being presented in alignment with the liturgical year, the meditations are arranged chronologically, from Jesus’ birth to resurrection. This enriches scripture context, offering opportunity for reflection about how Jesus was perceived, how his ministry developed, and how his messages were received or rejected – then and now.

Mr. Smith’s choices include meditations of challenge. FDBD writers through the years have called us again and again to go deeper with our faith, to be honest about our pain and prejudice, to respond to God in gratitude rather than protecting earthly comforts.

I have a feeling many of the meditations in Come and See: Reflections of the Life of Jesus are taped inside my old prayer journals. Now with this book, I can encounter their faith forming messages again (without digging through my archives). I can also gift them to others. And so can you by clicking here which will take you to the ordering page on Forward Movement’s website.