Who do you say I am?

Author Joanne Grenfell & Adam Atkinson
Publisher Canterbury Press £13.99
Format pbk
ISBN 9781786225696

If a word were stressed in the title of this collection of fourteen ‘Lent and Easter Reflections for a Holy City’ as the subtitle defines it, it should be you. The authors share John’s Gospel’s conviction that Christ is a God of unconditional love: their meditations focus on the challenge of our response to that love, informed by the authors’ experience of living lives of faith in contemporary London. Each meditation on a section of John 12-21 consists of a sonnet and a prayer by Atkinson, a reflection by Grenfell and an intense illustration by Ali Mulroy. Shards of light in these images suggest a holiness already present in the city, and the extraordinary potential for its further transformation. Grenfell’s reflections confront topics like violence, abuse, racism and death, but also celebrate interfaith communities, liberation, transcendence and love. Some dwell more in the biblical text, others more in life experience; all are unflinchingly direct.

Atkinson’s sonnets are densely muscular, sometimes contorting syntax to fit the form, powerfully wrestling with the struggle of ‘what’s been a God-Almighty fight’ in Holy Week, whereas the prayers flow in lucid five-syllable poetic lines of often childlike appeals: ‘Dear Jesus, I ask, / Please listen to these / My supplications.’ The unadorned prose of the NRSV text of John chosen for the volume complements these prayers particularly well. The diversity of the elements of each meditation suggests the book’s capacity to appeal to readers of differing tastes, and this, together with its focus on communities, makes it a strong contender for group study during Holy Week and early Easter. Both individuals and groups, however, will be challenged by the title question and, the authors hope, inspired to voice their answer.

Reviewed by JOHN MOSS

Lent