Search results for ""canterbury press norwich""

In The Vanishing Song, trans Christian poet Jay Hulme goes in search of what is all but lost in contemporary faith, the ‘beautiful and holy and wild’ way of the saints, and the alluring, perplexing mystery of the places they chose for themselves – forests, caves, rocky outcrops in the sea. Revelling in the untamed nature of creation and the holiness that is to be found there, these poems celebrate and summon the spirit of those who did unhinged things for God, in order that we might recover a sense of uncontrollable wonder and the danger of the divine as well as its beauty. The Vanishing Song is a call of the wild to faith that is adventurous and unafraid.

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Since it was first introduced in the Summer of 2000, Common Praise the new Hymns Ancient & Modern has sold over one hundred thousand copies, and been adopted by parishes in every diocese in England and Wales including eight English cathedrals and in five of the seven dioceses in Scotland. It is also used in numerous schools, colleges, hospitals, residential homes, retreat houses, religious communities, crematoria, missions and military garrison chapels.

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The bestselling writer and popular broadcaster Sam Wells reflects theologically and practically on the essence of discipleship and Christian ministry today. Those in ministry, like Jesus, are called to the task of ‘being with’: with God, with the church, with the created world and those who live in it. Incarnational Ministry explores the concept of ‘being with’ in eight dimensions: presence, attention, mystery, delight, participation, partnership, enjoyment and glory. It challenges readers to deeper discipleship and more vital ministry as they explore what it means to be with the troubled, the hurt, the afflicted and the dying – and all who are embraced by the Church’s incarnational ministry.

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Malcolm Guite’s eagerly awaited second poetry collection includes poems that seek beauty and transfiguration in the everyday; sonnets inspired by Francis and other outstanding saints; poems centred on love, parting and mortality. A further group, ‘Word and World’, searches for the life of the spirit in the midst of modernity and includes an ode to an iPhone, while others wrestle with the problem of evil and the difficulty of prayer. Throughout, the poet seeks to celebrate the world of which he is made, find heaven in the ordinary and echo a little of its music.

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Poetry has always been a central element of Christian spirituality and is increasingly used in worship, in pastoral services and guided meditation. In Sounding the Seasons, Cambridge poet, priest and singer-songwriter Malcolm Guite transforms seventy lectionary readings into lucid, inspiring poems, for use in regular worship, seasonal services, meditative reading or on retreat. Already widely recognised, Malcolm’s writing has been acclaimed by Rowan Williams and Luci Shaw, two leading contemporary religious poets. Seven Advent poems from this collection will appear in the next edition of Penguin’s (US) Best Spiritual Writing edited by Philip Zaleski, alongside the work of writers such as Seamus Heaney and Annie Dillard. A section of practical help and advice for using poetry creatively and effectively in worship is also included.

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This sturdy hardback edition of the bestselling church desk diary provides a whole page per day and a double page spread for Sundays and major feast days, making it ideal for service planning as well as day-to-day working and notetaking. Readings from the Common Worship and BCP lectionaries are listed for each day and on Sundays, Holy Days and major saints’ days, the Common Worship collects, post communion prayers are printed in full. Its many extra features include extensive national and diocesan church information, lists of organisations, table of fees, accounts section, a two-year planner, sunrise and sunset times, plus ample space for recording personal information.

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You won’t get a year’s worth of fun anywhere else for £7.99. The Dave Walker Guide to the Church Calendar is a regular favourite and a lifesaver for stressed church people. Dave’s distinctive and detailed style (he calls them ‘diagrams’), his quiet comic genius and his ability to see humour in the ordinary and the everyday, mean his cartoons can be enjoyed again and again. This 2021 calendar features 12 cartoons from Dave, each one packed with wry humour and spot-on observations on church life.

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After the deaths of her brother, father and mother, the poet and writer Carla Grosch Miller felt that her world and faith had fallen apart. Numbed by grief and lacking any answers, she swapped going to church for going for long walks where, despite feeling like she was walking away from a way of life, she discovered that the Holy had no intention of leaving her. Lifelines is the fruit of what followed. These searingly honest yet hopeful poems reflect on the mystery at the heart of Christian faith: a seed falls into the earth and dies in order for new life to rise up. But as these poems reflect, the journey through death to resurrection can be arduous and cannot be hurried. This collection is in two parts. Wrestling the Word roots the reality of this journey of transformation in the sacred stories that have shaped Christian life for centuries and that we hear in the Lectionary. Gathering Up Grace attempts to name and claim the presence of the ineffable even amidst the ruins, and ultimately to celebrate the triumph of resilient love.

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As a collection of 66 books spanning thousands of years, the Bible can be daunting in size and scope. In The Heart of It All, Samuel Wells simplifies the Bible's complexity and presents the entire sweep of its narrative in eighteen key themes. Although its contents range from history to poetry, law, narrative, letters and even apocalyptic literature, at the Bible's heart are relationships between God, creation, Jesus, the Church, the Spirit and the Kingdom. Samuel Wells argues that this provides a lens through which the whole Bible can be understood. Rooted in the best of contemporary biblical theology and scholarship, The Heart of It All will deepen understanding of the Bible and increase confidence in reading it. It includes questions for reflection, making this an ideal resource for Lent groups as well as for individual reading.

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The renowned Christian preacher and New York Times bestselling author of An Altar in the World recounts her moving discoveries of finding the sacred in unexpected places while teaching world religions to undergraduates in Baptist-saturated rural Georgia, revealing how God delights in confounding our expectations. Christians are taught that God is everywhere--a tenet that is central to Barbara Brown Taylor's life and faith. In Holy Envy, she continues her spiritual journey, contemplating the myriad ways she encountered God while exploring other faiths with her students in the classroom, and on field trips to diverse places of worship. Both she and her students ponder how the knowledge and insights they have gained raise important questions about belief, and explore how different practices relate to their own faith. Inspired by this intellectual and spiritual quest, Barbara turns once again to the Bible for guidance, to see what secrets lay buried there. Throughout Holy Envy, Barbara weaves together stories from her classroom with reflections on how her own spiritual journey has been challenged and renewed by connecting with people of other traditions--and by meeting God in them. At the heart of her odyssey is her trust that it is God who pushes her beyond her comfortable boundaries and calls us to "disown" our privatised versions of the divine--a change that ultimately deepens her relationship with both the world and with God, and ours.

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A Future that’s Bigger than the Past sets out a vision for renewing the local church that is energising, realistic and practical for small and large congregations alike. In response to prevailing narratives of decline, it reimagines how the church can live its vocation of receiving God’s abundance and sharing it far and wide. It recognises the surprising, exuberant and plentiful things that the Holy Spirit is doing in the world and calls the church to celebrate creation, enjoy culture and share in its flourishing. With a rich theological foundation and borne out of the practical experience of growing local church communities, this ground-breaking book will help churches discover fresh ways to bless the communities they serve.

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All Things Anglican offers a lively and accessible introduction to Anglicanism for anyone wanting to know what makes it distinctive. Whether you are training for Anglican orders, are curious about another denomination or would like to join an Anglican Church, this guide will introduce you to the basics of Anglican identity and the ways of the Church of England. Sections include: - Why do they do things differently down the road? The breadth of Anglican church traditions; - Holy, Holy, Holy – understanding Anglican liturgy; - Reformed and Catholic? – a potted history; - We Believe – a guide to the Creeds; - An Anglican A-Z – a glossary of essential terms.

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Drawing on his extensive experience in pastoral ministry and spiritual direction, Christopher Chapman explores the parallels between personal growth and nurturing a garden. In human life as in the natural world, growth can often be a struggle. God, like a patient gardener, chooses to grapple with what stands in the way of our fruitfulness, but requires our cooperation if we are to come into fullness of life. Earthed in God digs deeply into the riches of scripture and the Christian spiritual tradition to find resources for our growth, flourishing and abundance.

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In this follow-up to Incarnational Ministry: Being with the Church, Samuel Wells explores what it means for Christians and churches to engage with the world. Drawing on the Gospels, Acts, and personal insights gleaned from more than two decades in ministry, he shows how ‘being with’ others includes experiences of presence, attention, mystery, delight, participation, partnership, enjoyment and glory. His vivid narratives and wise reflections will help Christian readers better understand how to be with all kinds of people outside the church, including: • Being with Seekers • Being with Those of Other Faiths • Being with the Hostile • Being with Neighbours • Being with Government • Being with the Excluded

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Poetry has always been a central element of Christian spirituality and is used in worship, in pastoral services and guided meditation. In Sounding the Seasons, Cambridge poet and priest Malcolm Guite transforms seventy lectionary readings into lucid, inspiring poems, for use in regular worship, seasonal services, meditative reading or on retreat.This second edition includes further sonnets for the Christian year written since the original edition, including a sequence of 19 sonnets on the resurrection appearances recorded in scripture. Immediate, striking, simple yet profound, Malcolm Guite's poetry resonates deeply and widely across the churches of all traditions throughout the English speaking world.

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The Bible is a book of stories par excellence and is wholly realistic about human nature. Hero, Lover, Daughter, Queen retells ten timeless stories of biblical characters who grappled with the reality of the human condition and reached beyond themselves for understanding from within the messy confines of lives like ours. Solomon how to create your legacy; The lover in the Song of Songs - what makes you beautiful? Goliath what makes you strong? The paralytic man where to find true friendship; Jezebel what it's like to be thrown to the dogs; and more. Contemporary issues such as racism, the environment, mental health and wellbeing come under the spotlight in this imaginative book. In these striking stories we are offered a mirror in which to see ourselves more clearly, find wisdom for our own times, make better sense of our own experiences and insights for navigating our way through today's complex world.

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The Quiet Path is a book for the walker, or the armchair traveller, the clear-sighted tourist, or the bewildered wanderer. Blending reflection and poetry, it shows how the simple practice of walking can become a quiet path of wonder, and how a brief pause in a busy day can turn into contemplation. It explores how the ordinary practices of walking and noticing, recognizing and writing can help us discover depth and spirituality in everything we encounter and find a deeper awareness of a Presence in all things. This book is not about the big idea, the motorway, the A-road, the bypass. It's about snickets, byways, bridleways and gentle lines across the map. Every page is a signpost pointing down a quiet path, ready for you to take a walk through the landscape of the heart.

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In the late 1920s, the Church of England was stunned when its first new prayer book since 1662 - a book that had received overwhelming support from bishops, clergy and laity alike - was rejected by the House of Commons. It was almost another sixty years before a new prayer book was attempted and although many of its rites went on to appear in the 1984 Alternative Services Book (and continue today in Common Worship), to many Anglican minds, the 1928 Prayer Book is unsurpassed and it continues in demand, especially among Anglo-Catholics. This facsimile edition will make available to students of liturgy and worship one of the finest written treasures of the Church of England. Although unauthorized for use, this is a resource that many clergy will be glad to have. This is not to be confused with the 1928 US Book of Common Prayer - the authorized prayer book of the Episcopal Church in America for over 50 years.

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Contains 825 items from around the world - both hymns and psalms - and includes indexes to First Lines and authors for easy reference.

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What if the annoying person you try to avoid is actually seconds away from becoming an accidental saint in your life? What if, even in our persistent failings, holy moments are waiting to happen? In Accidental Saints, New York Times bestselling author Nadia Bolz-Weber invites readers into a surprising encounter with what she calls “a religious but not-so-spiritual life.” Tattooed, angry, and profane, this unlikely priest stubbornly, sometimes hilariously, resists the God she feels called to serve. But God keeps showing up in the least likely of people—a church-loving agnostic, a drag queen, and a gun-toting member of the NRA. As she lives and worships alongside these “accidental saints,” Nadia is swept into first-hand encounters with grace—a gift that often feels less like being wrapped in a warm blanket and more like being hit by a blunt instrument. But by this grace, people are transformed in ways they couldn't have been on their own. In a time when many have become disillusioned with Christianity, Accidental Saints demonstrates what happens when ordinary people share bread and wine, struggle with scripture together, and tell each other the truth about their real lives. This unforgettable account of their faltering steps toward wholeness will ring true for believer and skeptic alike. Told in Nadia’s trademark confessional style, Accidental Saints is the stunning next work from one of today’s most important religious voices.

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With her customary grace, intelligence and wit, Barbara Brown Taylor wonders why science and faith have become polarized in the popular imagination. She explores what quantum physics, the new biology and chaos theory can teach people of faith and why scientists sound like poets and why physicists use the language of imagination, ambiguity, and mystery that is also found in scripture. In explaining why the church should care about the new insights of science, Taylor suggests ways we might close the gap between spirit and matter, between the sacred and the secular, and celebrate our shared life in the “web of creation” where nothing is without consequence, where all things coexist, where faith and science together seek to discover the same truths about the universe.

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This is a fresh and contemporary rendering of one of the most loved and influential spiritual texts of all time. It brings alive the message and spirituality of this great 14th-century mystic to 21st century readers. At the age of 30, Julian of Norwich, a contemporary of Chaucer, was suffering a severe illness and believed she was on her deathbed. She had a series of intense visions of Jesus and recovered. Julian wrote down the narration of the visions shortly after they occurred and expanded on them 20 to 30 years later in what became the first book written in English by a woman. Her message remains strikingly relevant today: that failure is an opportunity to learn and grow that God's love has nothing to do with retribution and everything to do with compassion in spite of appearances, all is well.

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Whether you love poetry or haven't read it since school, The Splash of Words will help you rediscover poetry’s power to startle, challenge and reframe your vision. Like throwing a pebble into water, a poem causes a ‘splash of words’ whose ripples can transform the way we see the world, ourselves and God. Through thirty selected poems, from the fourteenth century to the present day, Mark Oakley explores poetry’s power to stir our settled ways of viewing the world and faith, shift our perceptions and even transform who we are.

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An enduring classic from award-winning writer Barbara Brown Taylor, and a timeless meditation for all who thirst for a God who often seems to be silent. It considers the limitations of the language we have at our disposal to speak about God; the stupendous responsibility upon anyone who attempts to speak for God, in preaching or pastoral encounter; and the torrents of words coming at us from all directions in contemporary culture that can drown out the messages we really need to hear. In this land of linguistic superabundance, Barbara Brown Taylor argues persuasively for simplicity and economy when speaking of God. She reflects on the eloquence of Jesus’ silences and how we can find ways of bringing tired, old language about God back to vivid, powerful life.

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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 Full Music edition.

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This illustrated workbook arises out of many years of leading retreats, study and quiet days on the theme of the cross in many contexts from an English Cathedral city to a South African township. The symbol of suffering and sacrifice, the cross also stands for the triumph of love over hate, life over death, hope over despair. This includes complete outlines with prayers, readings, guided meditations and instructions for making crosses on the following themes: Crosses from around the world, Holy People, Holy Places & Crosses: Bridget, Francis, Andrew and others, Good Friday Pilgrims: living the cross, Making Crosses: yours and mine, Meditating with Crosses, and Following The Way of the Cross.

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This longstanding annual favourite brings a wide variety of preaching voices together to offer a resource for preaching at the principal and the second service (for which preaching resources are scarce) every Sunday of the coming year, plus on principal feast days and seasonal services. Ideal for preachers wherever the 3-year lectionary is used, it also includes sermons for holy days, major saints’ days and special occasions such as Mothering Sunday, harvest, rogation and Christmas services. Hymn suggestions are provided throughout. It also includes an introductory essay to help build preachers’ skills and confidence, this year by Mark Oakley . If preparation time is short, the sermons are complete and can be used as they are, but they will also act as a springboard or framework for creating your own sermon texts. A boon for hard-pressed clergy, readers and local preachers everywhere.

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What is the biggest threat facing churches today? Not enough young people? Too little mission and evangelism? Unsustainable buildings? Unappealing styles of worship? Not enough diversity? Whatever the reasons, the church today seems to exist in a state of anxiety, concerned with its self-preservation. In this bold and hopeful book, Martyn Percy argues that a being a broken church is in fact good news, as it is only through the cracks that the overwhelming abundance of God can shine through. This collection of essays and reflections considers what it means to be a precarious church. The term suggests uncertainty and peril, yet it is rooted in the Latin precatio, meaning prayer. It argues that the Church’s vocation is not to be successful or even to survive but to be precarious, liminal, unpredictable and mysterious – a place of encounter with the holy. The questions that should consume us are not, “how shall we remove the risks and alleviate our anxieties?”, but rather “how shall we live in this age of uncertainty?” Every age has had its uncertainties and this inspiring volume explores what faithfulness to each other and to God looks like in an age of anxiety.

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All disciples of Jesus Christ are called to care for one another whether they have a formal role or not, and exercise pastoral care by listening, encouraging, comforting, offering practical help, praying. In times of crisis and in everyday life, good pastoral care people feel known and loved by God, and valued in the church. This short, yet comprehensive guide lays a biblical foundation for good pastoral care, offers a theological approach to understanding people, considers the particular needs of the sick, children and families, and those in difficult circumstances, and outlines the boundaries within which all can be safe. Throughout, examples and questions for reflection will deepen understanding and enrich practice.

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This wise and beautiful book, written in the form of spiritual letters, reflects on the themes of home and being at home: with ourselves, with each other, with the times we are living through, and with God. Nazareth, where Jesus spent his first thirty years, was a physical home but also a spiritual home and the place of nurture, dreaming, formation and becoming. Richard Carter offers a wealth of insight for experiencing how, as Christians, we carry Nazareth, the place of God’s incarnate presence, with us wherever we are and how it becomes a home where the Word is made flesh again in our lives and we find our place of deepest belonging. Rich in biblical reflection, poetic meditation and practical guidance for living in demanding times, Letters from Nazareth abounds in simple yet profound wisdom for our world today.

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Mark Oakley is one of the church’s most outstanding communicators. His writing and preaching alike are shaped by a sense that language is sacramental, and he has a poet’s gift of opening up new worlds and new possibilities simply through words. In a series of fifty beautifully crafted reflections, with characteristic wit, Mark traverses the landscape of the Christian year, with its oases of celebration, its desert stretches of emptiness, its days of abundance and seasons of lament, and its affirmation of the ordinary and the everyday. Rooted in the scriptures that the Church reads through the year, this volume is pure gift for preachers and all who are charged with interpreting these sacred stories in today’s world. For all who wish to understand their own story in the light of God’s bigger story, this will be a book to turn to again and again.

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Raw, intimate, and timely, Nadia Bolz-Weber's latest book offers a full-blown overhaul of our harmful and antiquated ideas about sex, gender, and our bodies. Christians are obsessed with sex. But not in a good way. For nearly two thousand years, this obsession has often turned destructive, inflicting pain, suffering, and guilt on countless people of all persuasions and backgrounds. In Shameless, Bolz-Weber calls for a reformation. To make her case, she offers experiences from her own life and stories from her parishoners alongside biblical theology to explore what the church has taught, and the harm those teachings have caused. Along the way, she re-examines patriarchy, sex, and power with candour but also with hope, because in her heart she believes the "Gospel is powerful enough, transgressive enough, and beautiful enough to heal not only the ones who have been hurt but also those who have done the hurting." This is by far Bolz-Weber's most personal book yet, revealing intimate and emotional details about her life while offering a reading experience that is as entertaining and affirming as it is intellectually robust and liberating. For anyone who has been harmed by the shaming sexual messages so prevalent in religion, this book is for you.

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This major new poetry collection from bestselling poet and priest Malcolm Guite features more than seventy new and previously unpublished works. At the heart of this collection is a sequence of twenty seven sonnets written in response to George Herbert’s exquisite sonnet 'Prayer', each one describing prayer in an arresting metaphor such as ‘the church's banquet’, ‘reversed thunder’, ‘the Milky Way’, ‘the bird of paradise’ and ‘something understood’. In conversation with each of these, Malcolm’s sonnets offer profound insights into the nature of communion with God in all circumstances and conditions. Recognising that all poetry is a pursuit of prayer, After Prayer also includes forty five more widely ranging new poems, including a sonnet sequence on the seven heavens.

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Send my Roots Rain explores ways in which the life-giving water of the Spirit can soak down to the roots of a priest’s life and work. Many priests know what it is to be thirsty: to be overwhelmed by the pressures inherent within their ministry and have little time for themselves or for God. Yet, each priest is also a disciple, whose spiritual, physical and emotional health matters to God, who calls each one by name. Send My Roots Rain explores attitudes, practices and ways of prayer capable of refreshing and sustaining priests and pastors amidst the challenges and stresses of their way of life. Christopher Chapman draws on more than thirty years’ experience of spiritual direction, formational training and leading retreats for priests and ordinands to offer a book full of wisdom that new and experienced priests will turn to again and again.

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The Vowed Life reflects on a paradox in the Church today: one that represents an important challenge to its mission and witness. Vows continue to be made sacramentally in the Church, yet there remains a great longing for a vowed life which would be truly transforming and life-giving. Vows are simultaneously alluring and unappealing: lay memberships of religious orders have escalated, yet very few traditional religious communities have attracted younger members due to their more demanding lifelong commitments. The Vowed Life explores why and how this has come to be, and how the Church urgently needs to respond to this paradoxical challenge. Returning to baptism as the anchor of all other Christian vows, a range of contributors consider whether the longing for forms of life that are profoundly life-changing is a displaced desire for something that should be intrinsic to Christian life. In a Church that prioritises pastoral sensitivity, they ask how those demands could be newly expressed for our culture. In seeking a coherent theology of vows in liturgical practice and sacramental context, they find that fresh attention to ‘the vowed life’ also has much to offer to the Church’s continuing conversations about sex, gender and identity, and to a ‘mixed ecology’ approach to the life of the Church and its mission.

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In our busy, pressured world, the natural world can be a powerful counter-balance, offers wisdom for the challenges, pain and dislocations of life as well as for beauty, wonder and healing. In Soulful Nature, Brian Draper and Howard Green encourage you to get outside and make deeper connections with creation and its creator. They chart walking journeys through rural landscapes and town streets over the course of a year, showing how the natural cycle of the changing seasons can awaken us to the rhythms of our own lives. Each chapter explores a different landscape, zooming in on the small details of the natural world as well as panning out to the wide-screen beauty of time and place. Simple and practical spiritual exercises are provided throughout.

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Enfolded in Christ is a book about priesthood with a difference. Instead of focusing on ministry, it helps priests develop a healthy spiritual life to sustain them through the demands of their calling. John-Francis Friendship draws on extensive experience in pastoral supervision and spiritual direction to help priests cultivate spiritual practices and habits that will nurture a priests's relationship with Christ, sustain holy living and foster personal well-being. In a series of reflections based on the charges in the ordination service, he explores a range of topics including: • Growing in holiness • The call to wholeness • Keeping prayer fresh • Preparing for the Eucharist • Healthy relationships

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Twelve addresses by Anglicans, Roman Catholics and others, expressing favourable and unfavourable responses to the papal encyclical Veritatis Splendor. With contributions by Peter Baelz, Stephen Barton, David Brown, Alec Graham, Ambrose Griffiths, Peter Leighton, Ann Loades, Walter Moberly, Alan Smithson, Robert Song, Alan Suggate and Charles Yeats

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