8 minute read
Lent
Isabelle Hamley In the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lent Book for 2022, Isabelle Hamley invites us on an exhilarating journey through Scripture to discover how we, as churches, communities and individual Christians, can seek and practice justice even when enmeshed in such a fractured world. Full of practical encouragement, Embracing Justice brilliantly weaves together biblical texts, diverse voices, contemporary stories, and personal and group meditations to reveal liberating and imaginative ways in which we may grow in discipleship - and more fully reflect the justice, mercy and compassion of Christ in our lives.
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Hope in Times of Fear: The Resurrection and the Meaning of Easter Timothy Keller The resurrection of Jesus is at the heart of the Christian faith, bringing God's power - which will some day heal and renew the world - into our lives now. That power is here only partially, but substantially; and this gives Christians a realistic, but irrepressible, hope. It is a hope for change in our lives and in our society; a hope that changes Christians in every way, shaping every aspect of our lives. But it is only together with the cross that we see the particular way resurrection hope shapes us. Hope in Times of Fear unlocks the meaning of both the cross and Jesus' resurrection. Here the central message of the Christian faith is revealed - with unshakable belief, piercing insight and a profound message of hope for the world.
Pb | 272 pgs | HODDER FAITH REF 5455 RRP £10.99 Aslan £8.99 PRE-ORDER: Publishes 7th April
Hearing God in Poetry: Fifty Poems for Lent and Easter Richard Harries From Yehuda Amichai and W. H. Auden to Phyllis Wheatley and Walt Whitman, Hearing God in Poetry invites you to take a closer look at fifty great poems by some of the finest poets in the English language. Some are well known, some deserve to be better known, but all say something distinctive that will lift your spirit. This beautiful Lent book for 2022 offers six poems for every week from Ash Wednesday, leading up to Holy Week, with ten poems specially chosen for Easter. A short reflection from Richard Harries accompanies each poet and the poem, drawing out their spiritual insights and how they communicate God’s presence.
The Hour is Come: The Passion in Real Time Andrew Nunn The Gospel accounts change when we come to the final days of Jesus’ life and for the first time we are given precise timings when things happen, ‘It was night’, ‘the next morning’, ‘it was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him’, ‘it was noon’, ‘it was three o’clock in the afternoon’. The Hour is Come enables readers to enter into the experience of Jesus, his disciples and all the other players in the Passion narrative by using ‘real time’ to immerse us in the story. Ideal for daily reading during Lent, Holy Week and Easter, it offers scripture reflections and prayers that trace the journey to and beyond the cross. This presentation reveals a God so intimately involved with human life that the ticking clock becomes part of how we know Jesus.
New for 2022! The Print of the Nails: The Church Times Holy Week and Easter Collection Each year, the Holy Week and Easter double issue of the Church Times offers a wealth of seasonal reading and resources for worship and preaching. This volume, like its companion Christmas collection, draws together outstanding features from the past twenty years. It includes: * Meditations on the Stations of the Cross by the poet David Scott; * A short story set in Gethsemane by David Hart; * Timothy Radcliffe on the alternative to conflict symbolised by the Last Supper; * Sam Wells on Pilate and what he - and we - could do differently; * Richard Harries on the art of Good Friday; * Peter Stanford on Judas; * Michael Perham on why Easter celebrations should start in the dark; * Stephen Cleobury on the carols of Easter; * Mark Oakley on the poetry of the cross; * Paula Gooder on why the resurrection is central to faith; * Reflections on the season's lectionary readings, and much more besides.
The Way of the Franciscans: A Prayer Journey Through Lent Daniel P. Horan OFM Whereas some religious traditions within Christianity offer a singular approach or spiritual focus, the Franciscan tradition is wonderfully diverse and manifold. The Way of the Franciscans is a lovely Lent book for 2022 that offers a practical introduction to Franciscan spirituality, and the many distinctive and dynamic approaches to prayer, contemplation and action found within it. As well as exploring the history of the different Franciscan spiritual traditions and how they are united in their focus on living according to the Gospels, it offers practical, applicable guidance for making Franciscan spirituality part of your everyday prayer life.
Pb | 128 pgs | SPCK REF 5380 RRP £9.99 Aslan £8.49 Hope and the Nearness of God: The 2022 Lent Book
Teresa White In these days of pandemic, war and political turbulence, hope can seem to be in short supply. But hope is one of the theological virtues and it is far more profound than mere optimism. Today, pessimism and despair seem all too prevalent. What can we do about the poor and starving, about those who seem to be locked in interminable conflict and families weighed down by the consequences of breakdown? Sister Teresa White's book is an antidote to all this and it is written with beautiful simplicity and directness. She draws on inspiration from writers as diverse as Julian of Norwich and Karl Rahner, Elizabeth Barrett-Browning and Henri Nouwen, but throughout the book there is strong scriptural underpinning which the author uses to great effect.
Pb | 224 pgs | BLOOMSBURY CONTINUUM REF 5404 RRP £9.99 Aslan £8.99
Sharing the Easter Story: From Reading to Living the Gospel Sally Welch In this year’s BRF Lent book Sally Welch explores two questions: What is the Easter story really about, and how do we share it? Through each week of Lent, a different aspect of the Easter story is examined: repenting, changing, hoping, trusting, forgiving, loving and sacrificing. Within each week, the days are focused on what we need to do in order to share the story: listening, understanding, reflecting, living, telling, sharing and becoming. Each day offers a Bible passage, followed by a reflection and prayer activity.
Thy Will Be Done: The 2021 Lent Book
Stephen Cherry At a time of change, uncertainty and widespread anxiety, we need to discover again the freshness of our most familiar spiritual resources. Stephen Cherry's Lent book does exactly this by inviting the reader to immerse themselves in the most central, important and iconic of Christian prayers - the Lord's Prayer. Mining the tradition for wisdom and insight, and finding inspiration in the theologians of the past such as St. Paul, Gregory of Nyssa and John Calvin, but also more contemporary voices such as Evelyn Underhill, Simone Weil and Michelle Obama, Thy Will Be Done presents the comforts and challenges of the prayer in 36 short chapters.
Holy Habits: Following Jesus Andrew Roberts Explore the Holy Habits through the life of Jesus. This resource provides seven weeks of material for church groups to use during Lent. Each session includes the printed Bible passage, a suggestion for a simple symbolic worship centre, music suggestions, reflection, poem, questions, prayer and take-home ideas. Additional material for Holy Week provides daily reflections that can be used as the basis of a gathered act of worship, or for personal devotion.
Pb | 80 pgs | BRF REF 3910 RRP £6.99 Aslan £5.99
Cross-Examined: The Life-Changing Power of the Death of Jesus Mark Meynell The crucifixion of Jesus: a dreadful mistake? A tragic failure? Irrelevant? Absurd? An embarrassment? The cross of Christ is, in fact, at the centre of God's plan for men and women. This book explains why. With freshness and clarity, Mark Meynell explores the Bible's teaching, to show how God Himself 'cross-examines' us in the death of Jesus. At the cross, God exposes our deepest need, meets it fully and enables us to live transformed lives. This revised and expanded edition includes new chapters on union with Christ and leadership.
Pb | 228 pgs | IVP REF 4100 RRP £9.99 Aslan £6.99
Come & See: Learning From the Life of Peter Stephen Cottrell When we look at the life of Peter - fisherman, disciple, leader of the church - we find somebody who responded wholeheartedly to the call to 'come and see'. Come and meet Jesus, come and follow him, come and find your life being transformed. This book focuses on Peter, not because he is the best-known of Jesus' friends, nor the most loyal, but because he shows us what being a disciple of Jesus is actually like. Like us, he takes a step of faith and then flounders, and needs the saving touch of God to continue becoming the person he was created to be. Come and See provides a pattern of Bible reading, reflection and prayer. Twenty-eight readings, arranged in four sections, offer short passages from the story of Peter, plus comment and questions for personal response or group discussion.
Pb | 160 pgs | BRF REF 3743 RRP £7.99 Aslan £7.49
