These book recommendations were first published in the Feb-Mar 2017 edition of Lordsbridge Life.
Beth is interested in forming an informal discussion group after Easter with anyone reading Justin Welby’s book. Get in touch with her direct if you are interested via bethcope@lordsbridge.org
Feast + Fast by Christina Rees (published 2010)
A spiritual and culinary exploration of Christian traditions around fasting and feast in Lent and Easter. A fascinating book, which is both accessible and thought-provoking – and has good recipes!
The Desert: An Anthology for Lent by John Moses
The more I explore silence and contemplation the more I have appreciated the ‘The Desert: An Anthology by John Moses at Lent. Carefully chosen daily passages from authors including Thomas Merton and Henri Nouwen invite us to be attentive to God’s voice in our own desert places, those welcomed and those we find a little more difficult to navigate. It really does feel like preparing the ground for the new life that Easter brings.
The simplicity of the book allows God to speak and gives us permission to wait, which can never be a bad thing..
Meeting God in Paul by Rowan Williams (published 2015)
This is one of Rowan William’s excellent short books, just three chapters. It ‘explores the essentials of [the apostle] Paul’s thought for complete beginners – as well as for those who’ve read Paul’s letters before and would like to revisit them in the company of one of the world’s greatest living theologians’. It has a Lenten reading guide towards the end of the book. Although it is recommended to last throughout Lent I found it to be such a page-turner that I first read it straight through, then returned to it during Lent last year and may well do so again in the future.
Also recommended: Being Christian by Rowan Williams, Meeting God in Mark by Rowan Williams.
Dethroning Mammon: Making Money Serve Grace by Justin Welby
In his first full-length book Justin Welby looks at the subject of money and materialism. Designed for study in the weeks of Lent leading up to Easter, Dethroning Mammon reflects on the impact of our own attitudes, and of the pressures that surround us, on how we handle the power of money, called Mammon in this book. Who will be on the throne of our lives? Who will direct our actions and attitudes? Is it Jesus Christ, who brings truth, hope and freedom? Or is it Mammon, so attractive, so clear, but leading us into paths that tangle, trip and deceive?
