Apr 18, 2023 | 2023 - Summer - Free, Book Reviews
Living God’s Future Now
Author Samuel Wells (ed.)
Publisher Canterbury £17.99
Format pbk
ISBN 9781786224156
Subtitled ‘Conversations with contemporary prophets’, this book is, in my view, one of the best things to have been created during the pandemic. With contributions from twenty well-respected twenty-first century Christian thinkers, activists, and preachers, the seventeen chapters give huge opportunities for spiritual growth. The writers encourage us to face the challenges of modern life and they also offer wisdom on many subjects that thoughtful Christians are always interested in: Freedom, Friendship, Dignity, Speech, Redescription, Imagination, Justice, Hope, Community, Evolution, Materiality, Creativity, Faithfulness, Mercy, Identity, Perception, and Transformation. The narrative is full of wisdom and surprises. Sometimes it will put into exactly the right words something the reader knows already. Sometimes it calls out to the reader to stop, think deeply, challenge. Sometimes it inspires us to imagine, to hope, to change the things that need changing. Living God’s Faith Now is recommended for anyone who loves to explore the nature of God and how he works in the world.
Reviewed by VERONICA BRIGHT
Contemporary theology
Apr 18, 2023 | 2023 - Summer - Free, Book Reviews
Messy Church Goes Wild
Author Lucy Moore
Publisher BRF £12.99
Format pbk
ISBN 9781800390096
‘Messy’ conjures up many images. This book takes its lead, not from a slipshod approach or a ‘what’s left after a session with children and creativity’ point of view, but from humility which emerges when we recognise the messiness of our lives. The five core values of Messy Church are: Christ-centred, all-age, hospitality, creativity and celebration. They encourage us to look at what happens when, as messy people, we allow ourselves to ‘go wild’, to interact with our complex world unfettered by preconception, when we come as children ourselves. This truly accessible book is peppered with ideas, scriptural references and thought-provoking ideas from dedicated and passionate experts, as well as case studies from around the world and two fully worked up sessions. We know from our time during the pandemic the importance of noticing the beauty of creation, of being in nature. This book is a gift for those who wish to develop that idea into spiritual acts of worship which will draw in the local community and invigorate their congregations. I am really looking forward to putting these ideas into practice.
Reviewed by JOANNA HAYWOOD
Messy Church
Apr 18, 2023 | 2023 - Summer - Free, Book Reviews
Being With
(Leaders’ Guide)
Author Samuel Wells
Publisher Canterbury £12.99
Format pbk
ISBN 9781786 224394
Being With
(Participants’ Companion)
Author Sally Hitchener
Publisher Canterbury £6.99
Format pbk
ISBN 9781786 224422
This ten-session course can be run on-line or in person. Each ninety-minute session is led by a leader and a storyteller with a standard structure of Welcome (giving participants the opportunity to reflect on their week), Wonderings (using the Godly Play approach developed by Jerome Berryman to enable everyone to enter the conversation at their own level and to be heard), the Talk (5-10 minutes to address the main theme of the session) and Reflection (discussion about the Talk). The leaders’ guide contains the instructions for running the course, the content, commentaries on the talks (for leaders less confident or looking for more background material) and the method for inviting people to take part or to become part of the leadership of the course. There are many examples in the leaders’ guide of how people responded when the course was being trialled and these give insights to its possibilities. As with Alpha, the work of the Holy Spirit is recognised as part of the course. Indeed the point is made that the Holy Spirit is as active in the life of a non-believer, someone of a different faith or the hostile, as in the believer. The material rejects any suggestion of a ‘deficit model.’ Seekers or lapsed believers are not empty vessels to be filled or corrected by the leaders. Rather it adopts an ‘asset model’ because Jesus became what we are. This is summarised in the sentence ‘Grace doesn’t eradicate nature, but perfects.’ Again, this echoes the Godly Play methodology. The participants’ companion is for those who are comfortable with books. There are no pictures and the reading age is slightly above the national average. The course could be run without the accompanying booklet if it created a barrier in some contexts. Other people will find it helpful to remind them of what has been discussed and may use it to record their thoughts. Leaders of any course need to decide what is right in their own context. One advantage of this course is that there is no need for audio-visual technology so it can be run in any comfortable space or via video conferencing – a promising option.
Reviewed by RONA ORME
Exploring Christian Faith
Apr 13, 2023 | 2023 - Spring - Free, 2023 - Summer - Extras
The poet Godfrey Rust writes about the Resurrection: ‘There is surely no more transforming moment in history! I’ve come to think that the heart of Easter was not about restoration from sin and failure, important though that is, but about sacrificial love leading to transformation into life of a kind that would never have been possible without it. God is love above all, and love changes everything – he chose this strange path because the greatest love has to sacrifice and risk everything – not to correct a mistake to get us back to a “perfect Eden” which may never have existed, but to bring about a new heaven and earth of a kind which could never have existed without such an act of sacrificial love. It seems that Mary was the first to see it!’
And here, reproduced with his permission, is his poem Mary:
And if you ask me what a Christian is
I’d say, not one who’s pure in word and deed,
or goes to all the Sunday services,
or says their prayers, or knows the proper creed,
but that one who would gladly give away
all that that they have now or have ever been
to stand between the dark tomb and the day
and know the moment of the Magdalene.
See more of his work at www.wordsout.co.uk
Apr 13, 2023 | 2023 - Spring - Free
At the beginning of March in 1633, sorrow came to the people of Bemerton on the outskirts of Salisbury. Their rector George Herbert, a committed pastor who had not yet reached his 40th birthday, died of consumption.
Today, Herbert is remembered as one of the greatest devotional poets in the English language. Some of his verses (such as ‘Teach me my God and King’) have been set to music as hymn lyrics, but there are many more. Poetry was how Herbert expressed his faith and talked to God. His poems can be used as prayers in much the same way as the Psalms can.
This little poem – with its three stanzas focusing on Creator, Redeemer and Inspirer, has the title ‘Trinity Sunday’. But it is also a poem of penitence and longing to do better with God’s help. So it is equally appropriate for reading during Lent.
Lord, who hast formed me out of mud,
And hast redeemed me through thy blood,
And sanctified me to do good;
Purge all my sins done heretofore:
For I confess my heavy score,
And I will strive to sin no more.
Enrich my heart, mouth, hands in me,
With faith, with hope, with charity;
That I may run, rise, rest with thee.
Herbert’s poems have helped many during times of difficulty and doubt. His earthly life was short, but his legacy is a long one.
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