From the Forerunner Bookstore: Mourning for the Bridegroom (Reviewed)
“The suspension between the two comings of Christ was not meant for our disillusionment but was ordained both for the salvation of many and for the full maturity of the Bride of Christ, the delay drawing forth our desperate desire for Him. He will come—but when He comes, will He find faith on the earth?” (Candler, 7)
The above is a quote straight from the pages of Dana Candler’s newest book, Mourning for the Bridegroom. The reality of the paradox between hopeful desire and painful mourning that we, as friends of the bridegroom experience, is one of the predominant themes of Dana’s journey to discover fullness now while waiting for the consummation of the wedding promised by Christ to His Bride.
Dana highlights some of the struggles and challenges that we experience as Jesus’ friends, reaching for Him in the delay of His second coming. Dana clearly and comprehensively addresses dullness of heart, offense, cultural paradigms, and false expectation. In her meditative style, she dwells upon the blessing of God’s ordained design through His invitation to us to live as strangers and pilgrims in this earth, eagerly awaiting what He has promised through His written Word and through His Son.
Dana captures the essence of contemplative longing by reminding us that Jesus is not a religion, a doctrine, a set of beliefs, or an intellectual idea but a real person and that our mourning is to be rooted in this joy and hope—joy of His promises and hope in His reappearing.
This book should be read prayerfully and contemplatively. With the potential to awaken that mystical hunger for encountering the Living Word and for laying all else aside for the sake of knowing Christ, it is a reminder to return to our “first love” and to press on in the knowledge of God.
I recommend this book as a great resource for reengaging in wholehearted pursuit of the One who so passionately and wholeheartedly pursued us. This is a book that can be read over and over simply because it is, in its purest form, a prayer to be prayed incessantly until He returns!
Available at the Forerunner Bookstore. Click here to purchase.
