Search results for ""canterbury press norwich""

The Ascension is a key Christian doctrine that receives very little attention in the textbooks on Christian doctrine most widely used in ministerial training. There are almost no books focusing solely on this topic and this dearth also affects those who preach at the Ascension a major feast day that concludes the Easter season - and also at the Feast of Christ the King which concludes the Christian year and which has a central focus on the Ascension. After more than twenty years of teaching ordinands and readers in training, Moira Astin provides a comprehensive and readable book that also covers the required academic ground for those in training. In straightforward language, it considers: the Ascension in the gospels in Paul's letters and in Hebrews and Revelation its heavenly and earthly meanings theological understandings over the centuries why the Ascension matters today its importance for understanding other key doctrines such as the incarnation and resurrection.

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The contemplative tradition in Christianity traces its origins back to Jesus himself, who frequently withdrew to quiet places to pray, and it has nourished and challenged disciples in every generation since. Journey to the Heart is an in-depth and richly illustrated exploration of Christian spirituality by some of today's leading spiritual writers. From New Testament times to the present day, it reveals the life and teachings of the greatest Christian mystics including: · Jesus, St John and St Paul · The Early Church Fathers – Clement, Origen, Gregory of Nyssa · Desert Mothers and Fathers · the Monastics – Benedict, Francis · the early English mystics – Julian of Norwich, Marjorie Kemp and Walter Hilton · the European tradition – St John of the Cross, Teresa of Avila, Meister Eckhart · the poets – Traherne, George Herbert · modern day mystics – Merton, Bede Griffiths, John Main Winner at the Catholic Press Association Awards: Popular presentation of the Catholic faith 2nd prize

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Dave Walker, cartoonist, cyclist, web editor and former church and youth worker, is the UK’s most shrewd observer of the quirks of church life. His distinctive Guide to the Church cartoons appear weekly in the Church Times, and have made their way into books and calendars, onto mugs, tea-towels and T-shirts. This sixth collection of Dave's cartoons includes, among other things: • how drones, contactless payment and other new technology can come in handy in the local church • how to spot a new curate • the holiday club and how to survive it Now in a horizontal format for easier browsing - and laughing!

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This new hymnal, widely known as CH4, consists of over 850 hymns and psalms and is the latest in a series published successively in 1898, 1927 and 1972. A considerable number of twentieth century items have been introduced from around the world, primarily the USA and New Zealand, but also translations and adaptations of little known material from such countries as Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea, Japan and Zimbabwe. These compliment the tradional and contemporary hymns and tunes from Uk authors and composers.

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This innovative and imaginative resource offers learning and worship activities and whole service outlines to help churches engage with the outside world and increase connectedness with the communities where they are placed, whether rural or urban. Current trends encourage us to reconnect with nature – schools are building outdoor classrooms, 11,000 organizations belong to the Wild Network which encourages children to get outside, while Forest Church, the Eco-congregation and the rewilding spirituality movements reflect this trend in the church. Definitely not just for energetic outdoorsy types, it creatively blends the Christian year with the natural seasons – such as an all-age Advent outdoor adventure, creating an outdoor Easter garden, kite flying at Ascension, building life-size David and Goliath, going on a prayer pilgrimage, autumn leaves and tree ribbons for remembrance, and much more. Also included is practical advice on making the most of your outdoor space, including everyone, health, safety and safeguarding.

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Since the publication of the bestselling Sounding the Seasons, Malcolm Guite has repeatedly been asked for more sonnets. This new collection offers a sequence of 50 sonnets that focus on many passages in the Gospels: the Beatitudes, parables and miracles, teachings on the Kingdom, and the ‘hard sayings’ - Jesus’ challenging demands with which we wrestle. In addition this collection includes: • A sequence of five sonnets on 'The Wilderness', exploring mysterious stories of divine encounter such as Jacob’s wrestling with the angel. • Poetic reflections on music, hospitality and ecology. • Seven short poems celebrating the days of creation. • A biblical index pairing the poems with scripture readings for use in worship.

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One of the most intriguing and engaging voices in contemporary Christianity is that of the Irish poet, Pádraig Ó Tuama and this is his first, long-awaited poetry collection. Hailing from the Ikon community in Belfast and working closely with its founder, the bestselling writer Pete Rollins, Pádraig’s poetry interweaves parable, poetry, art, activism and philosophy into an original and striking expression of faith. Pádraig’s poems are accessible, memorable profound and challenging. They emerge powerfully from a context of struggle and conflict and yet are filled with hope.

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This book is intended as a supplement to Common Worship Pastoral Services which provides liturgies for use in ministry to the sick – distribution of communion, emergency baptism, laying on of hands and anointing. Many hospital chaplains find their services are needed in other acute situations and often by people who have no church connection or knowledge of religious language. Here chaplains need to improvise. This practical volume draws on the experience of numerous clergy and chaplains and provides tried and tested liturgies in accessible language for a wider range of occasions. Prayers are included for - occasions surrounding birth: thanksgiving, baby blessing and naming, emergency baptism, prayers for a stillborn child - healing rites: communion, anointing, laying on of hands, confession and reconciliation - marriage in hospital, blessing of a civil union, affirmation of a relationship - prayers for every stage of a hospital stay – on receiving a diagnosis, before an operation, when life support is withdrawn - occasions surrounding the death of infants, children and adults

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Evangelism is a contentious word, conjuring up all sorts of assumptions. It can create suspicion or imply tribalism, or can be seen as a desperate response to falling numbers. For some the term has become irredeemably polluted. But what if we recovered an authentic understanding of evangelism as good news that enables people to know that they are drenched in the love and grace of God? And how do we do that? This is a book for everyone who wants to share the gospel but who cannot relate to what evangelism has become. Its title is taken from Saint-Exupery, ‘If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the people to gather wood, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.’ Drawing on writers like Bonhoeffer, Newbigin and Pope Francis’ landmark Euangelii Gaudium, Chris Russell aims to redeem evangelism from its present predicament. He sets it in a deeper and richer theological context, asks how the church and individual Christians can communicate the love of God in language and action, and explores how the good news is received.

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God’s Church in the World: The Gift of Catholic Mission presents a confident and joyful assertion of the Catholic character of Christian mission and its sacramental nature, exploring the transforming role the Catholic tradition can play in evangelism. A range of outstanding contributors explore the gifts that the Catholic tradition - formed by a conviction that the presence of Christ in the Eucharist intensifies and motivates an awareness of the sacramental presence of Christ in the world – can bring to the church’s engagement with the world. Chapters include: • Mission and the Life of Prayer • Mission and the Sacraments • Catholic Mission in Practice • The Virgin Mary and Mission • Vocation and Mission • The Sacraments as Converting Ordinances • Social Justice and Growth in Anglo-Catholic Churches • Reflections on Scripture and Catholic Mission • Catholic Mission: Historical Perspectives The contributors represent the breadth of Catholic traditions and identities in the Church of England today.

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Jay Hulme is an award-winning transgender poet, performer, educator and speaker. In late 2019, his fascination with old church buildings turned into a life-changing encounter with the God he had never believed in, and he was baptised in the Anglican church. In this new poetry collection, Jay details his journey through faith and baptism during an unprecedented world-wide pandemic. As he finds God in the ruined factories and polluted canals of his home city, Jonah is heckled over etymology, angels appear in tube stations, and Jesus sits atop a multi-story car park. Cathedrals are trans, trans people are cathedrals, and amidst it all God reaches out to meet us exactly where we are. Jay’s poetry explores belief in the modern world and offers a perspective on queer faith that will appeal not only to Christians, but young members of the LGBT+ community who are interested in faith but unsure of where to start.

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Andrew Graystone is an everyday activist who believes in the power of tiny acts to change the world. He is the person whose image went viral when, after the mass shooting in the Christchurch mosque, he stood outside the mosque in his Manchester neighbourhood with a cardboard sign saying ’I’ll watch while you pray’. Faith, Hope and Mischief tells funny, prophetic and powerful stories of tiny acts of rebellion Andrew has carried out, alongside arresting reflections on what it means to live in faith and hope. His stories delight and challenge in equal measure, showing how the kingdom of God turns up in all kinds of ways and how small things make a big difference. His stories encourage readers to take risks, make holy mischief, poke fun at the over-mighty, and believe that despite evidence to the contrary, the world’s story is going to end well. This is a manual of everyday activism, a wellspring of wit and wisdom for days when hope is hard to come by, and an inspiration for anyone who feels powerless to make a difference.

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Theology, says Brian McLaren, is at its best when it is in conversation with the wild world that flourishes beyond our walls and outside our windows and cities. In God Unbound, McLaren follows his love of nature all the way to the Galapagos Islands. There, he pays close attention to the flora and fauna around him but also to what is happening within him, how the natural world awakens his soul in a way that organized religion cannot. The result is a sparkling and engrossing theology which refuses to remain indoors.

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On a September morning, Bishop Stephen Cottrell said mass in his chapel, kissed his wife goodbye, stepped out of his front door and walked two miles to the nearest station. It was the start of a 700 kilometre pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. Choosing the least travelled route across northern Spain, he craved the solitude of the road and felt the small vulnerabilities of not knowing what each day would bring - where meals or a bed would be found - would be beneficial. As a busy diocesan bishop, he looked forward not so much to arriving at the great destination, but to what the journey itself would reveal to him. This is a spiritual diary of that journey, comprising reflections, prayer poems and evocative images from the road and poetry which Stephen Cottrell has written for many years. Arranged in four sections, each with seven paired reflections and poems, the shape of the book echoes the rhythm of walking and is an intimate and honest account of the profound effect of the age-old tradition of going on pilgrimage.

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With pressure on budgets and soaring energy costs, this small book will be worth its weight in gold to every local church. It offers expert advice that will equip non-professionals to make informed decisions on making their church buildings more sustainable, understand sustainability technologies, help navigate changing permission processes and thus save time and money and serve the Anglican mark of mission to care for creation. Nigel Walter demystifies the topic of sustainability and provides a wealth of practical advice and quick-wins. He includes guidance on:- developing a plan that suits your church; - improving your maintenance practices; - alternative ways to heat your church; - where and how to get professional help ;- navigating the new permission processes. A helpful appendix lists numerous sources of further advice and guidance. Comprehensive in scope, authoritative in content, practical in outlook and written in lively, accessible language, no church should be without a cop

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The Revised English Hymnal stands in a tradition of musical and liturgical excellence reaching back for over 100 years. Building on the fine reputation established by Ralph Vaughan Williams and Percy Dearmer, the editors of the landmark English Hymnal published in 1906, the main principle governing this new collection is that it is intended first and foremost as a usable resource for congregations today, so each item included is suited to use in worship throughout the Christian year. It includes general hymns; hymns for feasts, seasons and saints' days; office hymns for the liturgical year; an enlarged eucharistic section; responsorial psalms; and a new English folk mass setting. In addition a new Appendix will provide cross references across the whole collection of hymns that are suitable for use on occasions or in ways outside the structured sections of the book. Offering some 700 carefully selected hymns and liturgical texts, the Revised English Hymnal is • classically Anglican (a treasury, not a museum) • liturgically focused and organized • theologically informed and doctrinally and consensual • musically and poetically intelligent and energetic • culturally adventurous (internationally and chronologically diverse) • educative and formational • a joy to handle.

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Giles Goddard embodies the story of the Church of England's struggle to be more diverse and inclusive. In Generous Faith, he reflects on his experiences of pushing the boundaries of inclusion to include refugees, those of other faiths, the street homeless, climate activists, and anyone for whom his central London church could be a place of sanctuary and hospitality.Anyone who dreams of a more generous, colourful, courageous and daring faith will find kindred spirits in Giles''s community. Generous Faith tells their story through the pattern of the Christian year with its seasons of preparation, retreat and growth.

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Mapping your spiritual journey is a technique used in spiritual direction, on retreats and pastoral work, as a way of recognising and interpreting God’s presence in the highs and lows of your life experiences. This book offers creative ways to explore your own spiritual journey, helping you to trace your relationship with God from the beginning, whether looking at your entire life or exploring significant moments. It can be done in multiple creative ways – drawing, collages, timelines, maps, collections of objects or photographs, modelling, journaling, making a garden and more. It offers suggestions for ways to reflect on your journey by looking at parallels in the narratives of the Bible and in everyday life and to learn from these how to deepen your understanding of God’s presence and actions in your life. This equips you to look forward and plan your future journey with God with confidence.

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Advent is a season of waiting and anticipation in which the waiting itself is strangely rich and fulfilling. Poetry can help us fathom the depths of Advent's many paradoxes: dark and light, emptiness and fulfilment, ancient and ever new. For every day from Advent Sunday to Christmas Day and beyond, the bestselling poet Malcolm Guite chooses a favourite poem from across the Christian spiritual and English literary traditions and offers incisive seasonal reflections on it. In the spirit of the season, he blends the familiar and the new, ranging from from spiritual classics such as Edmund Spenser, John Donne, George Herbert and Christina Rossetti, to contemporary voices Luci Shaw and Scott Cairns. His own acclaimed sequence of sonnets for the great Advent antiphons are also included.

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In this collection of captivating and striking poems, the acclaimed writer Eugene Peterson explores the unexpected nature of the kingdom of God, its reversals and surprises. Arising out of his vocation as a pastor, these poems invite a radical renewal of our imaginations and show us how to embrace and live a holy life. Seventy poems are arranged in three parts: Holy Luck is based on the Beatitudes, a declaration of independence from the usual ways of the world, and an orientation to the wholly different values of the kingdom of God. The Rustling Grass includes poems that uncover the kingdom of God in the ordinary and the everyday. Smooth Stones attends to the grace and mystery awaiting discovery in the times and seasons of our lives and loves.

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Around the year 500 St Benedict wrote a short guide for a small community who wanted to live together the balanced life of body, mind and spirit. The Rule of St Benedict became not only the foundational guide for monastic life in the West, but remains a potent spiritual resource that speaks authentically to countless individuals today. Fr Laurence Freeman OSB has described the text as the most important document for Christian living after the Bible. In this reflective commentary, Esther de Waal recognises the profoundly scriptural emphasis of St Benedict’s writings. She shows how his Rule may be read personally and prayerfully by people such as herself seeking practical encouragement and support in their following of Christ.

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In How to Preach, Samuel Wells goes beyond the arts and disciplines of preparing, crafting and delivering sermons, to explore preaching as an act of worship and prayer. Here, preachers will discover how being attentive to God, to Scripture, to the world, to their hearers, and to themselves can inform and shape their message. They will be renewed in joining the long tradition of witnessing to the revelation of God in every area of human experience. Preaching takes many forms and responds to many different needs and occasions. This broad-ranging volume considers: • the times in which we live: politics, society, freedom, disability and war • the seasons of the church year: Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, Ascension and Pentecost • the variety of biblical texts: Old Testament narratives and poetry, Gospel miracles and parables, the writings of Paul • life’s key moments: baptisms, weddings and funerals. For each topic, there is reflection on the demands and opportunities presented, ways of approach, sermon examples, and memorably wise and uncompromising practical guidelines that will nourish and inspire all who long to embrace the call to preach more faithfully.

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See the Biblical story in an unusual light - from the perspective of a devil who took up arms against heaven under the leadership of Satan. With eternity to ponder why God emerged triumphant from the struggle, this rebel angel has turned to the Bible, the record of God’s dealings with ‘the humans’ to find out why his side was defeated. In twelve chapters, he considers a dozen of God’s significant encounters with humanity - each take placing on a mountain top. From Mount Ararat where Noah’s ark pitched up, to the Mount of Ascension where Jesus returns to heaven, each reveals an aspect of God’s inexplicable and unfathomable love for humans. Beneath their conversational and sardonic surface style, these infernal reflections engage deeply with the reality of a loving God who is made visible and vulnerable in Christ. The Infernal Word began as a series of addresses preached on Good Friday in Canterbury Cathedral. They make ideal seasonal reading for anyone who wishes to explore the story of salvation - although perhaps not if you are a devil.

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A leading poet and a theologian reflect on the Old Testament story of Ruth, a tale that resonates deeply in today's world with its themes of migration, the stranger, mixed cultures and religions, law and leadership, women in public life, kindness, generosity and fear. Ruth's story speaks directly to many of the issues and deep differences that Brexit has exposed and to the polarisation taking place in many societies. Pádraig Ó Tuama and Glenn Jordan bring the redemptive power of Ruth to bear on today's seemingly intractable social and political divisions, reflecting on its challenges and how it can help us be effective in the public square, amplify voices which are silenced, and be communities of faith in our present day. Over the last year, the material that inspired this book has been used with over 6000 people as a public theology initiative from Corrymeela, Ireland's longest-established peace and reconciliation centre. It has been met with an overwhelming response because of its immediacy and relevance, enabling people with opposing views to come together and be heard.

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Richard Carter swapped a life of simplicity with an Anglican religious order in the Solomon Islands for parish ministry in one of London's busiest churches, St Martin-in-the-Fields. Seeing a need for monastic values in the centre of the city, he founded the Nazareth Community. Its members gather from everyday life to seek God in contemplation, to acknowledge their dependence on God’s grace and to learn to live openly and generously with all. Part story, part spiritual meditation, The City is My Monastery offers spiritual wisdom for daily life rooted in the Nazareth Community’s seven guiding principles: Silence, Service, Scripture, Sacrament, Sharing, Sabbath Time and Staying.

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The Five Quintets is a mammoth poetic adventure undertaken by the celebrated poet Micheal O’Siadhail, representing the culmination of an extraordinary life’s work. The project is vast in scope, attempting nothing less than an exploration of the predicaments of Western modernity. Drawing on inspiration from T S Eliot’s Four Quartets, The Five Quintets brings the premise of Dante’s Divine Comedy into the current day. As Dante explored humanity though mythical characters, O’Siadhail focuses on the humanity of the creators of today’s dreams of perfection: scientists, artists, economists, politicians, politics, and philosophers and theologians from the past speak with each other in this extraordinarily imaginative work. The result is an unparalleled book of instruction for a troubled age. The Five Quintets retrieves and exhibits human gifts our own age may have lost to create a work ‘whose pulse draws us to love. A book of poetry in the category of the epic, the encyclopedic, and the sacred.’ (Peter Ochs, Professor of Judaic Studies, Virginia).

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The Mystery of Faith explores the essentials of Christian belief and the ancient spiritual practices that enable us to live and flourish in the light of God’s grace. It is written for those who are new to the Christian faith, are curious about it, want to understand their faith better or make more meaningful connections between faith and life. Using the structure of the Apostles Creed it offers clear explanations of core beliefs through the God we encounter in creation, in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit who makes God known in our world and in our lives today. John-Francis Friendship draws on the riches of the Christian tradition and his own experience of Religious life to introduce practices that guide our daily living as God’s people: prayer, scripture, the sacraments, worship, the company of saints. Throughout, questions for reflection and discussion make this an ideal resource for faith formation for individual and groups.

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Spiritual direction is a burgeoning ministry in today’s church where the emphasis is on joining in with what God is already doing in the world – an approach that presupposes spiritual discernment. This guide explores spiritual direction from biblical and theological perspectives and aims both to inform teaching and equip practitioners with greater reflective skills. Written by two experienced teachers and practitioners, it includes: • God and Spiritual Direction – divine presence and absence, discerning God, relationship and the Trinity, images of the Holy Spirit; • Humanity and God – being made in the image of God, sin, addiction, desire, freedom, psychology in direction; • The Bible and Spiritual Direction – scripture as a source and authority for direction; uses and abuses of the Bible in direction; • Spiritual Direction across the Christian traditions; • Spiritual Direction and the Church – boundaries, accountability and safeguarding.

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This collection of exquisite meditations is vintage Michael Mayne. Originally given as a series of retreat addresses, it focuses on timeless aspects of spiritual experience and means of growth: • Discovering the gifts of silence • Redemption at work in human life • Seeing with the heart • Cultivating a true and proper self-regard All who enjoy Michael Mayne’s writing will delight in these previously unpublished reflections.

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Hymns A&M was first published in 1861. The new standard edition was introduced in 1983 containing 533 hymns including 333 from the 1950 Revised Edition plus 100 Hymns for Today and More Hymns for Today.

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Daily Prayer with the Corrymeela Community draws on the spiritual practices of Northern Ireland's longest established peace and reconciliation organisation. For over fifty years, it has been bringing fractured communities together and resourcing others in the work of healing conflict. At the heart of its life is a simple pattern of daily worship. This prayer book captures the essence of the Corrymeela prayer experience to help you incorporate its spirituality into your practice of prayer. Structured over 31 days, it offers a daily Bible reading with accompanying prayer by Pádraig Ó Tuama. as well as an introduction to the spirituality that sustains Corrymeela’s remarkable work.

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Spiritual direction has been an intrinsic part of the Christian tradition since the earliest days of the church when desert mothers and fathers were sought out for their wisdom and guidance. Today, the popularity of retreats and renewed interest in monastic spirituality has put spiritual direction in the spotlight. It is shedding its rather exotic, mystical associations and is increasingly regarded as a core component of Christian ministry. This guide aims to equip clergy and laity engaged in this task, or in training for it. It includes, Part One: What is spiritual direction? This is an exploration of biblical, historical and contemporary models of spiritual direction. What makes a good spiritual director? Part Two covers listening and responding to God, prayer, paying attention, discernment, interpreting religious experience, recognising God in the every day, journalling, and holy leisure. Part Three covers listening and responding to others, listening to stories and experience, looking for signs of grace, pain or crises. Part Four covers listening and responding to ourselves, and Part Five covers spiritual direction in the local church.

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A new edition of this contemporary spirtitual classic in which the ancient and gentle wisdom of the Rule of St Benedict is explored in realtion to the demands of modern living and the importance of balance between prayer, work and study.

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An account of Martin Luther King's part in the campaign for civil rights in the USA.

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For every day from Shrove Tuesday to Easter Day, the bestselling poet Malcolm Guite chooses a favourite poem from across the Christian spiritual and English literary traditions and offers incisive seasonal reflections on it. Lent is a time to reorient ourselves, clarify our minds, slow down, recover from distraction and focus on the values of God’s kingdom. Poetry, with its power to awaken the mind, is an ideal companion for such a time. This collection enables us to turn aside from everyday routine and experience moments of transfigured vision as we journey through the desert landscape of Lent and find refreshment along the way. Following each poem with a helpful prose reflection, Malcolm Guite has selected from classical and contemporary poets, from Dante, John Donne and George Herbert to Seamus Heaney, Rowan Williams and Gillian Clarke, and his own acclaimed poetry.

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The world’s most famous hymn book has undergone a complete revision and now offers the broadest ever range of traditional hymns and the best from today’s composers and hymn/song writers. 150 years since its first publication and after sales of 170 million copies, this brand new edition contains over 840 items, ranging from the Psalms to John Bell, Bernadette Farrell and Stuart Townend. The guiding principles behind this collection are: • congregational singability • biblical and theological richness • musical excellence • liturgical versatility • relevance to today’s worship styles and to today’s concerns New features include added provision for all the seasons of the Church year, new items for carol services and other popular occasions where the repertoire is in need of refreshing, more choices for all-age worship, fresh translations of some ancient hymnody, beautiful new tunes, short songs and chants – alleluias, kyries, blessings etc. and music from the world church. A full range of indexes (including biblical and thematic) and a helpful guide to choosing hymns for every occasion will help to make Ancient & Modern the premier hymn collection of choice. This is the Melody edition.

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Pilgrim at Tinker Creek has continued to change people's lives for over thirty years. A passionate and poetic reflection on the mystery of creation with its beauty on the one hand and cruelty on the other, it has become a modern American literary classic in the tradition of Thoreau. Living in solitude in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Roanoke, Virginia, and observing the changing seasons, the flora and fauna, the author reflects on the nature of creation and of the God who set it in motion. Whether the images are cruel or lovely, the language is memorably beautiful and poetic, and insistently celebratory. Just pay attention, Dillard urges throughout, and you will find yourself 'sailing headlong and breathless under the gale force of the spirit'.

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Barbara Brown Taylor is one of America's most renowned and beloved spiritual writers and author of the acclaimed An Altar in the World. Here she reflects on keeping faith and the relentless demands that characterise life for so many today. In this moving and memorable book she writes of her life and work as a priest and the burden of being one of the most celebrated preachers in America. She recalls with grace and wit what led her to priestly ministry, the privilege of exploring the mysteries of God with others, her growing fame, the crisis it provoked and the unexpected blessings that followed. Having been part of a team in a large urban church for ten years, she sought a parish of her own and it was love at first sight when she was invited to view a small rural parish in Georgia. Little did she imagine that here Jesus's words about losing one's life in order to find it would have such impact. She tells of the rapid growth of the church, the crowds who travelled miles to hear her preach, the tensions that arose - and the call to lay it all aside in order to rediscover the authentic heart of her faith.

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A new edition of the popular ‘office’ hymn book, Hymns for Prayer and Praise provides carefully-selected hymns for the daily monastic office, the Calendar of Saints and the seasons of the Christian year. First published in 1996, this new edition has been updated in light of Common Worship: Daily Prayer. A ‘chant’ and ‘melody’ form are provided for each hymn, allowing the material to be used in both community and congregational contexts. Available in both Full Music and Melody editions, Hymns for Prayer and Praise draws on ancient patterns of worship to meet present day needs.

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Christmas and Easter, Advent and Lent, each focus on the central beliefs of Christian faith – that in the Incarnation, God comes among us, and that in the Resurrection, death is defeated and creation is renewed. In this collection of seasonal reflections, Samuel Wells unpacks the substance of these key Christian doctrines, and explores their practical implications for living as Christians in the world: - Laid in a Manger: Reflections on the Nativity - The Word was Made Flesh: Reflections on Christmas - The Image of the Invisible God: Reflections on the Incarnation - Early on the First Day of the Week: Reflections on Easter Morning - I have Seen the Lord: Reflections on the Risen Christ An ideal resource for leading seasonal services or preaching at key festivals, this collection will keep giving from Advent Sunday to Easter Day.

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Church Beyond Walls tells inspiring, informative and occasionally funny stories of how a group of people took Christian spirituality outside of church buildings to engage a world increasingly uninterested in religion, God and faith. From imaginative and wide-ranging experiments, it draws out principles to inspire local churches to express their faith in their communities, and it shares liturgical and other resources developed for these occasions. Based in Brighton and known as BEYOND, for over ten years this group of dreamers, artists and provocateurs have experimented with public art, created light shows and walking meditations, partnered with retailers to create spiritual shop window trails, celebrated the festivals of the church in secular spaces, used folk traditions and more to introduce people to the Christian faith. Their goal and the aim of this book is to help local churches create opportunities for epiphanies: moments when the divine can break into human experience.

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From cover to cover, this book is full of imaginative, read-to-use liturgies, prayers and service outlines for the Christian year from one of the most creative and poetic voices in the church today. This collection includes themed complete worship outlines for: - Pentecost: finding a language of love in a world of strangers and restoring community; - Trinity: knowing that we belong and are loved; - Ordinary Time: journeying in faith, venturing out, encountering storms, not losing heart, replenishing our resources; - Transfiguration: seeing heaven in the everyday; - Harvest: fruitfulness in unexpected places; - All Saints and All Souls: expressing our grief, joyful remembrance, finding light in the darkness.

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Roger Wagner is one of the most significant Christian artists and poets working today. This collection combines his poems and paintings in pairs to explore specific places and familiar biblical narratives, inviting us to see them from new and unexpected angles. Roger's poems and pictures range over a wide terrain. Some are located in particular places in Oxfordshire and Suffolk and in particular moments of spiritual autobiography. Others take their starting point from biblical stories or moments in church history. Together, they show that to grasp spiritual truths we often need to approach them from different directions at the same time.

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Includes general hymns; hymns for feasts, seasons and saints' days; office hymns for the liturgical year; an enlarged eucharistic section; responsorial psalms, and a new English folk mass setting.

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A new and imaginative approach to the Bible as the archetypal saga of how God works among and within people at different stages of their growth toward spiritual maturity, showing how the Christian faith is (in Lesslie Newbigin's words) "the clue to all history — the history of the world, and the history of my own soul." The Bible is explored in the light both of depth psychology and of some years' experience of living and working in the Holy Land, where it all began, and where the biblical drama is still going on. Mission and discipleship are seen to be inextricably intertwined: something of great relevance in the Decade of Evangelism. This book will be welcomed particularly by those who work in the field of counselling and anyone concerned with growth in discipleship and with mission.

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Many are familiar with the Orthodox Jesus prayer', but there is much more to discover about its tradition of contemplation as a grounding both for the interior spiritual life, and for compassionate action in the world. A popular yet informed introduction to one of Christianity's oldest and most enduring spiritual traditions.

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Includes general hymns; hymns for feasts, seasons and saints' days; office hymns for the liturgical year; an enlarged eucharistic section; responsorial psalms and a new English folk mass setting.

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The Church of Scotland's popular hymn book, Church Hymnary 4 was published in 2005. Now, to extend its reach and appeal, a supplement is offered consisting of 215 recent and new hymns, songs and chants from across the church's music traditions, from liturgical to charismatic.

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