JM 2006 August
Prayer
St Ignatius Loyola
Anima Christi
May all that is you flow into me,
a spirit-of-God filled humanity.
Lord, with you enough has been given.
May your body and blood
be my food and drink –
bread for the depth of our hungering.
Lord, with you enough has been given.
Refrain:
Soul of Christ! Breath of life!
Every need finds its grace in you.
Prayer
Anon
Journeying
Heavenly father, you spent your earthly days traveling on foot. Your greatest journey was on a donkey. But you left behind a trail of hope, and love and peace. Help us to understand that it is not the distance traveled that matters, but the quality of our journeys. In all our travels we pray you that you will go before us, be beside us, and, when the journey ends, welcome us home. Amen.
Article
Yvonne Walker
Julian Meetings and our Spiritual Journey – Talk at Julian Meetings Day in York May 2006
Looking back over twenty-nine years with the Julian Meetings (I attended my first meeting in 1977) and my current ministry of accompanying people one to one on their individual journey whether in spiritual direction, individually guided retreats or weeks of accompanied prayer, I realise how much these two strands are closely woven together. I was particularly aware of this link during the week of accompanied prayer in Norwich as we met at All Hallows retreat house in Rouen Road, next to the Julian cell for half an hour of silent prayer each evening. The journey and the silence are inextricably linked together. It is out of this context that the subject “Julian Meetings and our Spiritual Journey” came to suggest itself to me. I was really struck by the way that the many years of practising·contemplative silence in a group and in my daily prayer time had helped to prepare and develop the tools and skills which are such an important part of the contemplative stance involved in listening to other people sharing their story with us. We may not be aware of it as it is happening, but the regular practice of contemplative prayer does over time help to teach us all kinds of skills such as focus, attention, patience and awareness both in our relationship to God and to those around us in whatever walk of life our journey may take us.
I want to explore questions, not to give you the answers, to encourage reflection and maybe discussion in this afternoon’s session or provide you with some thoughts you might like to take back and share with your Julian Meetings at some later time. I think it is good that as part of our spiritual journey we should live with the questions…, it helps us to reflect, to be aware and to tease out the meaning. Rainer Maria Rilke the poet in his “Letters to a young poet” said “The point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, some day far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answers.” So the questions I would like to explore with you this morning are firstly ‘What are we about? What qualities does silent prayer teach us about our spiritual journey? and what difference does it make in our relationship with others and the world?’ In other words the interconnectedness of how God’s desire for us and our response to God leads us to live out our relationship with God and other people on our journey through life. Contemplation, commitment, communication and connectedness.
I would like to go back in time to the year… when the Advisory Group met for a weekend of discernment to take stock and review what the Julian Meetings were about. The facilitator asked us to reflect prayerfully on the core, the essence of what made JM what it really was, in other words what were we passionate about. When we gathered to share our thoughts, the words from each of us that were put up on the flip chart were “Longing for God, seeking God, yearning, desiring to draw closer to God”; the message was the same from each one of us, we were all saying the same thing even if the actual words used were slightly different. We were totally in agreement that our deepest desire is to be loved by God and as we explored further we came to realize that God’s deepest desire is to love us, what we long for is already ours, our desire is a response to the fact that God first loves us, as we read in 1 John chapter 4 verse 19. “We love because he first loved us.” So it’s good to ask ourselves the same question, what am I really passionate about, what is my deepest desire? This has to be the firm foundation of our prayer and of our spiritual journey living out the reality of God’s love in our daily lives.
The quality of this foundation depends on the commitment of our relationship with God. These days the quality of attention in our listening to God and to his world tends to get drowned out by the noise, the busyness and the preoccupations of our daily living. Our response to the stress of modern life should not be putting in more and more effort but simply letting go and letting God. It sounds so simple but it is never easy. It is good sometimes to ask ourselves the question “Why do I pray?” Am I looking for “spiritual benefits”, to feel better, to relax and be at peace? If our desire is for self-improvement or results we are doomed to failure because, as Gerry Hughes puts it “renewal comes not from effort but from attentiveness to God.” So I may wish to ponder, what is my motivation? Can that still small voice inviting me to step aside a while break through the barriers of all the competing demands on my time? Is it enough just to go along to a monthly or weekly meeting, or do I have the passion and desire to spend time each day in silent prayer? Is the quality and commitment of my silent prayer reflected in my daily life? Do I still rush around being stressed out with busyness or can I find moments to pause, spaces to just be and opportunities to gaze and breathe deeply? Finding those “wow” moments in the pressure of activity.
When we do finally reach a certain quality or depth of silence we perhaps find that we struggle with the apparent emptiness of not doing, it is not always comfortable simply just to be. Fear of the empty void and concern that perhaps there really is not anyone there means that we struggle with the need to fill the quiet spaces with something which can reassure us and let us feel wanted. The silence can become dry and barren and however much we would prefer to avoid the desert experiences, we come to realize that personal growth and spiritual depth can be learned from those wilderness times. God can become elusive and we long for a warm glow of response. We may seek the comfort of the Gospel story of the travellers on the Emmaus road, in Luke chapter 24, but we cannot possess or control God any more than we can possess or control our time of prayer. It might not be comfortable in prayer or in life but by acknowledging the mystery of God we grow stronger in faith and learn that God is to be found in mystery as much as in certainty. In our spiritual journey as in our prayer, God nudges us to leave our comfort zone, to take risks, to let go and to befriend change and uncertainty. To find examples we only have to flick through the Old Testament to read about Abraham, Moses and the children of Israel. In the New Testament the stories around the Resurrection appearances are inviting people to move on and step fearlessly into an unknown future. It’s good to reflect on these passages and ask ‘can I live with emptiness and uncertainty? Just how strong is my trust in God?’
I mentioned in my introduction that in my listening ministry I have found an important connection between the need for focus, attention and awareness in contemplative prayer and in many other walks of life. To write this paper I had to take the phone off the hook, turn off radio three and avoid all the distractions which beckoned me to do something else. The same need to focus is very necessary for those people who practice sport. I find that the vocabulary of contemplative prayer often crops up when commentators are talking about the need of undivided attention and focus, of not being distracted, of relaxing and letting go. It reminds me of those times when I am watching sport on TV and I find myself feeling really apprehensive in athletics gatherings where several events are going on at the same time within the arena and a competitor is trying to focus on the high jump while the audience is deafeningly cheering a track race at the same time. I often wonder how they practice their skills of attention and focus in order to blot out the distractions going on around them.
I wonder how many of you listened to the Reith lectures this year given by the musician Daniel Barenboim? I found a lot of connections with the spiritual journey. He talked about “in the beginning silence” he drew our attention to the SILENCE before the opening bar of a piece of music. I was familiar with the need for an orchestra to all come in on the first note together, but really hadn’t paid attention to the need for utter concentration, focus, single-mindedness, attentive waiting in the silence before the first beat is played. All these are adjectives which could describe our attitude as we wait on God in silent prayer. This experience tells us that despite the big egos that there must be in every symphony orchestra, it is not about power or control but about single-minded attention, all waiting together. When that is not present, disharmony, chaos, disorder and confusion are what results from the inability to practice stillness. When we pray together in silence we are just being, we are not thinking about what lies ahead, we are open, we are receptive. It is the stillness of pre-action.
This reminds me of the sacrament of the present moment, living in the NOW. Being attentive to what IS, at this very moment in time. It crops up in a lot of spiritual classics. Something that contemplative prayer teaches us and that we could do well to practice in our daily life too. Eckhart talks about the now moment. The moment of the eternal now, the trouble is we want to interfere rather than just let it happen with God’s grace. Joyce Rupp is one of my favourite spiritual writers, as many of you will know through the fairly frequent book reviews I write in the JM magazine. She has recently written a wonderful book recounting her experience of walking the Camino the pilgrimage to Santiago di Compostella in Spain, it’s called “Walk in a relaxed manner.” She says: “When I am attentive to the Now I am able to be more open and receptive interiorly. God is with me in the present moment.”
It is HERE that this Goodness reaches into my life and beckons to me. The Now provides what I need to respond to God and to life wholeheartedly.”
One of the greatest enemies of this undivided attention in prayer or in life’s journey is our desire to make things happen, to achieve, to get results and be successful. It really can be a battle to keep the distractions of the ego out of the way, which of course means letting go of expectations and the desire to be in control. We really do need to step aside from our own personal agenda. Thomas Merton, the Trappist monk, put this rather well in a letter he wrote to a friend who was joining the Catholic Peace Fellowship to campaign against the Vietnam war. Its published as “Letter to a peacemaker” and was dated 21 February 1965. The context is different but the message rings true: He said this: “Do not depend on the hope of results. When you are doing the sort of work you have taken on, essentially apostolic work, you may have to face the fact that your work will be apparently worthless and even achieve no results at all… As you get used to this idea you start more and more to concentrate not on the results but on the value, the rightness, the truth of the work itself…”
I think you will all resonate with Merton’s words that we need to get used to the idea of not striving to achieve results but we need instead to concentrate on the value, the rightness and the truth of what we are about. This brings praying contemplatively and living contemplatively together. I don’t think they can really be separated.
Merton continues: “All the good that you will do, will come not from you but from the fact that you have allowed yourself, in the obedience of faith, to be used by God’s love. Think of this more and gradually you will be free from the need to prove yourself, and you can be more open to the power that will work through you without your knowing it.”
In the silence our ego and any delusions we might have of self importance are cut down to size by handing over to God the need to prove ourselves. There is no need for us to try to live our lives in a way that would merit a special badge or a gold star, we just don’t need to be seeking “Brownie points.” This is really just another example of letting go and letting God. In his book “Dialogues with silence”, Thomas Merton says to God, “I will try from now on, with Your grace, to make no more fuss about “being a contemplative,” about acquiring that perfection for myself. Instead I will seek only You, not contemplation and not perfection, but You alone. Then maybe I will be able to do the simple things that You would have me do, and do them well… in peace, silence and obscurity, concealed even from my own self, and safe from my poisonous self-esteem.”
When Merton talks about “I will be able to do the simple things” he touches on something very dear to the heart of the Julian Meetings. It has always been a core value of the Advisory Group that there should be minimal organisation and minimal control. Simplicity in the organisation itself and simplicity in what we do when we meet. Equally it is another aspect of contemplative prayer that is important for our spiritual journey: seeing God in the ordinariness of the everyday and enjoying the simple things of life in a world of acquisitive “must have” desires.
When you look at some of the compilation books of Thomas Merton such as “A year with Thomas Merton” or Esther de Waal’s “A Seven Day Journey with Thomas Merton” you will find exquisite photos in black and white of everyday objects, a desk and chair or pots and jugs in the sink. In today’s world of fancy colour graphic effects with digital cameras these black and white pictures speak to me of simplicity and minimalism, what I call “enoughness.” I am reminded of the prayer Anima Christi where it goes “With you by my side enough has been given” and of course Julian’s words “God of your goodness give me yourself for you are enough for me. In you alone do I have all.” From chapter 5 of the Revelations of Divine Love. In her book, Esther de Waal comments about Merton: “He has this gift of taking the most ordinary and natural and commonplace things and seeing them so gently with love and respect, that I think he can help us all to do the same. These photos or any simple everyday object can through silent reflection bring us to a heightened awareness and appreciation of God’s presence in the ordinariness of life.” Merton’s pictures were also taken of the world outside his hermitage, such as the patterns of tree trunks, shapes of rocks or twigs in blossom, showing a closeness to nature and the need to respect God’s gifts in the natural world. This can be quite refreshing and challenging in a world where we are surrounded with more and more hi-tech objects and gadgets of a consumer culture.
So maybe I need to ask the question: Is the simplicity, awareness and focus of my prayer reflected in my journey through life?
The final area to look at is our interconnectedness, illustrated by the fact that we meet regularly in groups for our silent prayer. It would not be the same if we all prayed in total isolation. It is the meetings that makes the Julian Meetings. God does not exist in isolation. We are not solitary islands, cut off from each other. The Julian Meetings are just that – meetings of people in fellowship together and together with God. Today with mobile phones and the internet we wonder how in the past we ever managed to keep in touch.
I remember when I was at university I wrote a weekly letter home and received weekly news back. There were no phones in our house but the links were still there although not as instantaneous as today’s technology now permits. We are linked together. By meeting together we express the values of neighbourliness, caring and awareness of each other. It is good that JMs provide some refreshment and many sit and chat or share something of their experience as part of their meeting. The meeting provides space and quiet where we can bring openness of heart, mind and will to receive God’s love. I know personally that going back some twenty-odd years, the path of my spiritual journey was strongly influenced by the away weekends our JM spent together in Norwich and at various other retreat houses making our own retreat in fellowship together.
If I had to choose an icon for the Julian Meetings it would not be one of Julian but the famous Rublev icon of the Trinity where the three figures are seated round a table and the only gap is where the person looking at it is situated. It embraces the onlooker in an amazing way bringing us into the gathering. That is what I believe our meetings do. In the groups we find wholeness and fellowship through connectedness. The connectedness of God is defined in relationship and expressed through the Trinity.
The first thing Jesus did was to gather a band of people around him just as his cousin John had done before. In our prayer and in our spiritual journey we are drawn into an expression of the mutual and reciprocal relationship we have with God and with those around us. In his New Year message the Archbishop of Canterbury spoke of how the terrible disasters of 2005 had brought about a feeling of community and caring among those involved and those looking on. The worldwide reaction has been a great outpouring of human compassion and an unconditional generosity of practical assistance. Out of the depths of this relatedness comes action. We rediscover community and belonging, we only have to look around to see how praying people become involved in Taizé, L’Arche, or Iona for example.
Prompted by the togetherness with God in prayer and in life we cooperate with God, allowing his work to be done in and through us. We share in partnership with God the work of his Kingdom to further his purpose. Our spiritual journey is about involvement in the world, recognising our brothers and sisters in those we meet in daily life, caring for the needs of others and respecting creation.
Contemplative prayer is sometimes accused of being too individualistic, navel gazing, a private self-indulgence, unconcerned with the needs of others. I would suggest instead that contemplative prayer and contemplative living are part of a gradual process of self-offering. We offer ourselves in the stillness to God before we get involved in works of concern for others.
So for the final questions we might consider how our prayer and our life come together in our involvement in God’s kingdom. Is our Julian Meeting hospitable and welcoming? Is there anything our Meeting could do as a group to bring the gift of silent prayer to others?
In these thoughts I have shared with you this morning I hope I have shown how in the tapestry of God’s world the two strands of silent prayer and our journey through life are inextricably woven together. I believe that prayer is a channel for God’s unseen operation in the world and far from avoiding engagement it empowers and strengthens our contemplative living and commitment to service following the example of Christ.
And I hope and pray that you, the Julian Meetings, will continue to bring together those two strands in our lives.
Poem
Anon
Silent love
Come Gently now, our Father waits.
To meet His child, in prayer:
Turn from the throbbing drums of life,
His tranquil peace to share.
Come softly now, with humble joy,
As Spirit drawn t’ward Thine
Awaits with patient, open soul –
Your will – O Love Divine.
Go bravely now, the tryst is o’er:
Assured He holds us dear.
In silence has He touched the soul,
We have no cause to fear.
Prayer
Anon
Seeking
For we can do no more, than seek, suffer, and trust. And it is worked in the souI by the Holy Spirit; and when we find him clearly. This is by spec,al grace at a time he chooses. Seeking with faith, hope and charity pleases our Lord; and finding pleases the soul and fills it full of joy.
Article
Gerald May MD
The Gift of Grace
If I could, I would take charge of my life and make it turn out just right. I can’t. I have tried and failed repeatedly.
Fully functional people are organised, disciplined and able to get what they want out of life. Organisation is out of the question for me; the very idea of discipline makes me feel guilty. I have broken virtually every resolution I ever made, and as for getting what I want out of life, what I want most is love, and love comes only as a gift. All I can ‘do’ is be willingly, actively open to receiving the gift.
I know love is a gift because I have experienced more love in my life than I could ever have deserved or earned. I cannot take credit for any of it. It is all grace. I have no doubt that a loving presence has abided with me over the years, mysteriously weaving love’s presence through my aspirations and failures.
Still, I cannot shake the feeling that I should have done it all by myself. Some tight, addicted voice inside me keeps saying, ‘you should be on top of things, in control; it is a cop-out to depend on grace.’ The voice is old and empty; I know it is not from my living heart. But it is powerful. For every failure in my life, I feel either guilt or shame, and sometimes both. And it is all right.
It is better than all right, for it has been more my failures than my successes that have opened me to love. When I find myself being over concerned with efficiency, I turn my attention to the mysterious, amazing grace that has seen me through all my dysfunctions. Sometimes f turn there because I need help. Sometimes I turn in gratitude. But mostly, my turning towards grace is a simple wordless act of love.
Meditation adapted for the Recovery Devotional Bible NIV from The Awakened Heart: Living Beyond Addiction by Gerald May. The Recovery Devotional Bible is published by Hodder & Stoughton and is quoted with permission.
JM abroad
Jan Ord
Julian Retreat in USA, Chicago area
Beginning on Friday evening, October 14, 2005, after supper, and concluding Saturday evening, St Barnabas Episcopal Church in Glen Ellyn, Illinois (20 miles due west of the city of Chicago), hosted its first annual Julian retreat. Since November, 2000, St Barnabas has hosted a monthly Julian Meeting. It’s customary for the Julian Meetings to offer an annual retreat to those who meet for the monthly Meeting, and to also invite anyone else in the community to join them for an intentional time of “drawing apart.” So this Julian Retreat was long overdue.
Thirty five people attended, about twenty of whom regularly attend St Barnabas, and the rest were from various churches and faith communities not too far away: Lutheran, Geneva, five Episcopal, non-denominational, Assemblies of God, Presbyterian, and Roman Catholic, so nicely ecumenical.
The Retreat was loosely structured with brief times of teaching, sharing, sitting in silent contemplation, listening to the scriptures (Lectio Divina), and praying aloud or silently as a community. The focus of the teaching and sharing was on the love of God for us, as expressed in the fourteenth century book, ‘The Cloud of Unknowing’ (author unknown), which draws us to God. “The eternal love of God…could not bear to let you go on living so common a life far from Him. And so with exquisite kindness, He awakened desire within you, and binding it fast with the leash of love’s longing, drew you closer to Himself.” God awaits us, as we are drawn closer and closer, into His loving presence. “Can you not see Him waiting for you?” is the question put to us by the author of The Cloud.
In addition to a spiritual feast, a physical feast of the senses abounded: beautiful music, glorious sunshine, glowing trees in their autumn splendour surrounding the church, vases of late-summer flowers (even a vase filled with scented foliage for the enjoyment of those who dared to “squeeze and sniff” the leaves!), and a variety of taste-tempting snacks and several marvelous meals served in the “makeshift,” unfinished narthex (our building was under construction), giving everyone ample opportunity to fellowship with each other, and to be refreshed. After the evening meal on Saturday, all were invited to another first for St Barnabas: a Taizé worship service.
When the Retreat was planned in February, it was expected that the new educational wing of St Barnabas would be finished, but by the end of the summer it was obvious that that would not be the case. The Retreat was held in the sanctuary itself, with the “lantern” area above the altar in darkness. As the participants sat in silence, dusk slowly descended upon them. But the physical surroundings were not paramount; St Barnabas has always lent itself, whether under construction or not, to nurturing one’s inner spiritual life. The point of the time was to bask in the presence of the Lord in community, and that can be done regardless of the outer surroundings. It is hoped that this Retreat will be an annual event.
Article
George Dobinson
Incense in Meditation
Incense has fallen out of favour in many churches except in certain High Church and Cathedral services. The lingering fragrance of incense after a service carries with it something of the devotion and peace it had created and this is evoked when one enters the church. A similar association with spirituality can be made by burning incense for meditation. It is regrettable that in some non-conformist circles this brings suspicions of ‘popery’… Yet incense has been used since ancient times in the East and in Christendom. There are many references to this in the Bible, for example, Numbers (7:14) Deuteronomy (33:10) and in Jewish ritual in the eucharistic offerings of oil, fruit and vine. By the command of God Moses built an altar on which to burn incense (Exodus 30:10). It is mentioned in the New Testament {Luke 1:10) and in the book of Revelation (8:3–15). It occurs in the liturgies of St James and St Mark as far back as the fifth century at the Sacred Mysteries which indicates its use in early Christianity. In the seventh century incense accompanied bishops to the altar and was used on Good Friday. Almost all Eastern liturgies include it in the Mass at the Offertory and in the Roman church at the Gospel of the Mass. Incense symbolises prayers rising to God and is a mark of purification.
Incense was common in pagan worship being mentioned by Ovid (Metamorphoses 6:-14) and by Virgil (Aeneid 1:-146); according to Herodotus it was used by the Assyrians and Babylonians. On Egyptian monumental tablets kings are. depicted swinging censers.
By introducing . incense into Julian Meetings a link with an ancient Christian tradition can be made and also with one which continues today in Buddhist, Sufi and other forms of meditation. Its widespread prevalence suggests it has a subtle calming and uplifting effect which can help one to centre down.
Meditation
Mary Stevenson
Footprints in the sand
One night a man had a dream.
He dreamed he was walking along the beach with the Lord.
Across the sky flashed scenes from his life.
For each scene, he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand:
one belonging to him,
and the other to the Lord.
When the last scene of his life flashed before him,
he looked back at the footprints in the sand.
He noticed that many times along the path of his life there was only one set of footprints.
He also noticed that it happened
at the very lowest and saddest times in his life.
This really bothered him
and he questioned the Lord about it.
“Lord, You said that once I decided to follow you,
You’d walk with me all the way.
But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times
in my life,
there is only one set of footprints.
I don’t understand why when I needed you most you would leave me.”
The Lord replied,
“My son, My precious child,
I love you and I would never leave you.
During your times of trial and suffering,
when you see only one set of footprints,
it was then that I Carried You.”
Used with permission
Book review
Francis Ballinger
Robert Durback • A Retreat with Henri Nouwen
DLT £6.95 2003 ISBN 0-232-52529-3
Retreats seem to fulfil three purposes, enabling us to look inward towards ourselves, upwards to God, and outwards to other people. This book helps to do all three. It takes the form of a seven-day retreat, with introduction and epilogue. Two Bible passages, the Baptism of Jesus and the Prodigal Son, form the basis of this series of reflections. We are reminded of Jesus being called the Beloved, and that we ourselves need to recognise that we are the Beloved, and from that learn to treat other people as if they are also the Beloved, becoming like the father in the prodigal son story.
A theme that also runs through this book is that we need to relate as people rather than work as and with machines. Communicating with other people needs to be our highest priority, but before we can do that we need to know ourselves, be open and honest with ourselves and so with other people.
Each day we have a selection from Nouwen’s writing with introduction, opening and closing payers and points for reflection.
This book could be used over seven days at home, or as the basis for a retreat. I found it challenging, enlightening, but also comforting. It inspired me to see something about myself that I have never thought about before. Above all it allowed me to recognise myself as the Beloved, and look at regaining a life which enables others to learn that they are the Beloved.
Part of the book could be selected to form an introduction to periods of meditation and it also repays individual reading. This is a book that I would recommend to anyone.
(For those interested there is a website http://www.HenriNouwen.org where you can get a daily/weekly meditation, and spiritual direction, as well as information and articles by/about Henri Nouwen)
Book review
Gail Ballinger
Julia McGuinness • Creative Praying in Groups
SPCK 2005 £9.99 ISBN 0-281-05733-8
This is an excellent resource for small groups of all kinds. It helps people who feel anxiety about praying aloud in a group by suggesting all sorts of ways of approaching group prayer which don’t necessarily include words. By using all our senses and imagination the author encourages the group to be more creative in prayer. Here are over eighty guided prayer times which make use of body language, symbols, natural materials, music, craft, silence and meditation. Some but not most would be suitable for lead-ins to a Julian Meeting. It would be a valuable resource for a quiet day. The author is a member of her local Julian Meeting for which she acts as co-ordinator and contact person.
Book review
Judith Lloyd-Thomas
Helen Jaeger • As Night Falls: a bedside companion
Lion Hudson 2005 £9.99 ISBN 0 7459 5172 4
This attractively produced hard-back book is the fruit of an illness which followed the author’s visit to India and lasted for over a year. In the course of that year Helen Jaeger “learned the importance of stillness, patience and grace.” Believing she had been transformed by her experience, she devised ten paths, “vehicles of the divine in our lives”, for readers to walk slowly along with her. Each path has the same format with titles such as stillness, patience and attention, and each page opening has a fine colour photograph of predominantly the natural world.
Path 3 entitled ‘Focus’ begins with the author’s reflections on a falconry display and is followed by short Bible readings on race-running with a guided meditation thereon. Next comes an imaginative meditation, then a prayer, a poem by the author and two pages of ‘Inspirations’ – quotations ranging from Seneca to Una Kroll via an African proverb which I am sure Dame Ellen MacArthur would endorse: “Smooth seas do not make skilful sailors.” I found the Inspirations section of each path the most rewarding, though others may well react differently. Incidentally the 9/12 Americana typeface was not particularly comfortable for my ageing eyes.
It is a generous collection of prayers and meditations which I found rather brisk for a bedside companion. The author’s aim is to take us on a gentle evening stroll – she wisely advises the reader “travel slowly and savour what you find.”
Book review
Gail Ballinger
David Runcorn • Spirituality Workbook: a guide for explorers, pilgrims and seekers
SPCK 2005 £10.99 ISBN 0-281-05645-5
The author describes this book as ‘a book for explorers and all who want their spiritual lives to go deeper.’ While it doesn’t aim to be comprehensive it is certainly wide-ranging. There are five sections, each made up of several chapters: Then and now – the gift of history for the spiritual journey; Life together – the central place of community and shared life for spiritual formation; Becoming who I am – identity, personhood and spirituality; In the midst of life – spirituality in a real world; When you pray – ways and understandings. Each chapter ends with practical application in exercises for ‘thought, prayer and activity.’ I found the chapter ‘ln the breaking of bread’ (in Life together) particularly welcome and appreciated its sensitive handling. ‘The joy of being wrong’ (in When you pray) has much to offer on the subject of confession and forgiveness. Charismatic, contemplative and liturgical prayer are all represented. The author is good at drawing on the experience of different Christian traditions. When he gives examples he chooses them from a variety of sources which will be meaningful to people of different backgrounds.
I found in this book much that is new to stimulate exploration and foster spiritual growth. The author handles his subject well and gives us a clearly written and ‘user friendly’ account. It is a book to aid our pilgrimage over a period of time.
Book review
Yvonne Walker
John Pritchard • Living Easter through the year
SPCK 2005 £9.99 ISBN 0-281-05709-5
In this very practical book John Pritchard, Bishop of Jarrow, offers insights, resources and ideas for living the mystery of the resurrection long after the actual celebration of Easter is past. This is an excellent creative resource for all those who lead worship, groups or quiet days as it provides suggestions for ways of celebrating the Resurrection with activities, liturgies and a month of daily Bible reflections called “Hungry for Life.” The final section presents two small group courses which can be used for house groups or adapted for a quiet day or church weekend. The first course is based on the Gospel accounts of the resurrection while the second encourages engagement with the theme of resurrection through art, music, poetry and film. John Pritchard’s book “How to pray” has also been highly recommended and is listed on the JM prayer book list.
Book review
Yvonne Walker
Rod Garner • Like a Bottle in the Smoke: meditations on mystery
Inspire (Methodist Publishing House) £6.99 2006 ISBN 1-85852-307-9
Drawing on the Bible as a source of wisdom and poetic imagination, Rod Garner has brought together 45 short reflections on Bible texts. They are refreshingly up to date covering a wide range of sources from topical news items to poetry, prose and films. The author suggests that they should be read slowly and taken one at a time without rushing on to the next. The unifying theme is mystery with sections including Glory, Jest and Riddle, Annunciations, The Mystery of Christ and the Holiness of Beauty.
This is an ideal bedside companion as well as a useful resource for worship leaders.
The intriguing title comes from one of the reflections in the book, it is Psalm 119:83 “For I have become like a bottle in the smoke.”
Book review
Janet Robinson
J Brent Bill • Holy Silence: the Gift of Quaker Spirituality
Paraclete Press £9.99 2005 ISBN 1-55725-420-6
This is a gentle and personal book by a revered American Quaker who speaks informally of his own quest to find renewal and depth in silence and of the difficulties of doing so in a noisy and fragmented world.
While emphasising the power of silence in assisting us to relate to God, he also explains something of the traditions of the Society of Friends and of its long experience in searching for insight and spiritual understanding in this way.
The Quietude Queries which intersperse the text in Chapters 2–5 are exercises intended to encourage readers to take time out for quiet reflection and increase their practice of silence in their life of prayer.
Book review
Yvonne Walker
Margaret Silf • The Way of Wisdom
Lion £8.99 2006 ISBN 978-0 7459-5210-9
This is much more than an anthology of wisdom writings collected from a world-wide variety of resources. Margaret Silf invites the reader to ponder and explore their own wisdom, connecting to experiences from their life’s journey. It is a reflective process,·so this book is to be taken slowly, browsing and praying over the quotations from such people as Mother Julian, Bede Griffiths, Matthew Fox, Jim Cotter, Henri Nouwen, and Kahlil Gibran to name but a few. Among the themes are Wisdom from Nature, Life and the Desert.
This book will appeal to all those seeking a deeper meaning to their life and exploring their own heart’s wisdom. It is an excellent resource for personal prayer, and also contains passages which could be used for group lead-in to prayer. In her introduction Margaret Silf writes:
“The way of wisdom is for roaming and browsing. It can never be fenced in, nor will it ever be fully known, mapped or defined, and this is the joy of it. There is always more and more to discover and to share.”
This book is an admirable companion for this journey of discovery.
Article
Yvonne Walker
New Spirituality Book Shop
It is heartening to hear of a new specialist book shop opening. If you ever have some time to spare in London, catch the tube to Bank and take the Lombard Street exit. A few hundred yards along Lombard Street you will come across the church of St Edmund the King, where the pews have been removed to accommodate a new spirituality book shop. Comfortable arm chairs invite you to browse among the books, cards and CDs. Tea and coffee are also on offer. You will find all your favourite authors, such as Henri Nouwen, Thomas Merton, Gerard Hughes, Joyce Rupp and Margaret Silf as well as a full range of classics of spiritual writing and poetry too. Being part of the London Centre for Spirituality, the book shop holds occasional meetings as part of a new book group – a relaxed, social event to talk about a selected book.