A pilgrimage through Advent

Donkey Roads and Camel Treks

GEMMA SIMMONDS
978-1-80039-347-9 BIBLE READING FELLOWSHIP 2025
PAPERBACK 154pp £9.99 BOOKSHOP £8.99

Donkey Roads and Camel Treks is a spiritual guide for Advent. The four weeks of Advent each have a distinct theme: Week 1: Journeying from captivity to Reconciliation; Week 2: The Transforming Power of God’s Presence; Week 3: Hope in Darkness; and Week 4: Transformation. Taken together the 25 daily scripture readings, reflections, questions, and prayers form a unique pilgrimage through Advent.

Underpinning the author’s approach is the sense that this pilgrimage through Advent, despite the best efforts of John the Baptist, is not a straight path. This book has been written by a busy person for busy people; trying to carve out spiritual space during one of the most hectic times of the year to accompany and to be accompanied through this season of waiting and preparation.

Simmonds reminds us that God is content to take the crumbs of faith that we can give Him and ‘transforms them into life changing gifts of faith’. I found this enormously reassuring whilst wrestling with my own failings to spend more time in prayer and reflection in order to draw closer to God. Each year we are given the incredible opportunity ‘to saddle up on our camels or donkeys and begin the journey anew’.

The selected readings are taken predominantly from Isaiah, the Psalms, and the Gospels and are mostly familiar for this season. I found the author’s observations to be particularly relevant, making powerful connections with the present-day world. Simmonds addresses issues such as the conflict in Gaza and the Assisted Dying debate head on. Her reflections succeed in highlighting aspects of the readings that are unexpected and new; for instance, comparing the root of Jesse to the world of Avatar! These thoughts lead into questions for personal reflection which provide further opportunities to explore the themes in the context of our own lives, for example ‘What helps you to make best sense of suffering?’. The short prayer for each day captures its theme and brings it before God.

Helpfully, the book also includes brief suggestions for group study based upon the weekly themes – a wonderful opportunity for communal journeying through Advent.

The strongest recommendation that I can give is that having reviewed this book I will be taking it down from the shelf on the 1 December to saddle up once again for my own advent pilgrimage, following that winding path wherever it leads me.

Anne Williamson, Tunbridge Wells