You may be interested in…
-
Eyes of the Heart; photography as Christian contemplative practice
Creativity, Spiritual ExercisesEyes of the Heart by Christine Valters Paintner explores photography as a spiritual practice from a Christian perspective. Christine builds on the process of contemplative creativity in her book The Artist’s Rule (also available from the community bookshop) by adapting the monastic practice of lectio divina (sacred reading) into a form of visio divina (sacred seeing). A spiritual director and Benedictine oblate, she guides readers through a new way of spiritual observation – through the lens of a camera – and in receiving images, not simply taking them. She writes that, ‘My hope is that, in exploring the language of photography, you [develop] new portals into the your own experience and awareness of God. Shadow and light, framing, colour, reflections, and mirrors all offer us metaphors for ways of understanding how we might move towards seeing ourselves and God with the eyes of the heart.’ She invites us to use our cameras to help us to release our expectations of what we think we ought to see and learn to discover what is actually there. And then helps us to bring this kind of interaction into our everyday lives.£12.99 -
Christ is the Light: A6 greetings card
Creativity, Spiritual GrowthWords: Christ is the Light, May He illumine your path Christ is the Way, May He direct your life Christ is the Breath, May He feed your soul Background: Mary tells us that...'The words were inspired by the Celtic Christian belief that God, as Father, Son and Spirit, infuse every part of daily life. The journey of life can be directed by Him if we allow it and its twists and turns will be clearer if seen in the light He gives.' Printing and Sizing: This item is 105mmX148mm and is printed on 300gsm gloss card stock. Each card is blank inside, has its title and copyright details on the back and is individually wrapped in cellophane with an envelope.£2.25 -
The Creative Pilgrimage Activity Book
CreativityThis little book has been created to inspire the would-be pilgrim, as a companion for the travelling pilgrim and as an introduction to making a pilgrimage to the Holy Island of Lindisfarne. Included are prayers and activities to help you focus on your journey whether your pilgrimage is part of your inward journey or a physical journey to a sacred place.£3.99 -
Multicoloured Seasons
Advent & Christmas, Creativity, Lent & Easter, Resources for the Christian YearA collection of sixteen images to colour based around the Church Year, two images for each season starting at Advent, then Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost and Harvest with mediations on the reverse of each image.£4.49 -
Sale
Dare to Journey with Henri Nouwen
Daily ReadingsCentring on the writings of Henri Nouwen, this book has 180 extended reflections on 20 themes written as a set of "conversations". Charles Ringma's collection leads the way to a place of intimacy with the God who loves and sustains. Equipped with these resources, people find courage to continue their journey and the strength to serve our world.Original price was: £11.00.£8.99Current price is: £8.99. -
A Silent Action: engagements with Thomas Merton
Spiritual GrowthThomas Merton's life, especially once he had become a writer, was to a great extent one of dialogue with people who were distant, both geographically and historically. In these probing and perceptive studies, Rowan Williams looks closely at the key intellectual and spiritual relationships that emerge in Merton's writings, exploring the impact on him of thinkers as diverse as Hannah Arendt, Karl Barth, William Blake, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Olivier Clement, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Paul Evdokimov, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Vladimir Lossky, John Henry Newman, Boris Pasternak and St John of the Cross.£11.99 -
Love The Lord: A6 greetings card
Creativity, Spiritual Growth£2.25Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. Deuteronomy 6:5 New International Version (NIV)
To love God with all that we are, with our whole self, is an enormous challenge. Our hearts and minds are easily distracted and persuaded; our souls are unfathomable, perhaps our greatest and most faithful lover of God. But to give all, consciously and subconsciously takes a continual recommitment to God's will, a constant re-examining of our relationship with our Creator and, scariest of all, a constant vulnerability to allow God to work in us.
Printing and Sizing:
This item is 105mm x 148mm and is printed on 300gsm gloss card stock. Each card is blank inside, has its title and copyright details on the back and is individually wrapped in cellophane with an envelope.
-
My Little Dandelion: Prayer Poems of Longing and Hope
Creativity, The Inner JourneyMy Little Dandelion: Prayer Poems of Longing and Hope. An illustrated booklet of 13 meditative poems written and published by Christine Strohmeier. From her afterword: 'These prayer poems are an expression of my own personal journey with God whose love in my life is incredibly precious to me...I hope that as you walk through the prayers and the writing in one way or another you will be drawn deeper into Love.'£6.00 -
The Love Is Activity Book
CreativityThis little book contains meditations, prayers and activities about Love, inspired by the verses in the book of Corinthians. In Paul's first letter to the Christians of Corinth in Greece, he spends a long time instructing, advising, challenging and encouraging the young church there. He hasn't visited for a few years and he knows of the immorality in the wealthy pagan city and the divisions that have emerged within the church. Although he aims not to diminish the message of the cross with 'wisdom and eloquence', he gave us, in chapter thirteen, some of the most powerful and well-known verses of the New Testament.£3.99 -
Christ Centred Living: A6 greetings card
Creativity, Spiritual GrowthWords: None Background: Mary tells us that...'This piece was the result of meditating on what defines a Christ centred life . I wanted to show the fruitfulness that comes from a life rooted in the cross of Christ and the refreshment and cleansing available to us. In the spirals I wanted to express the vibrancy of a Christ-centred life and four aspects of life; birth, death, spirituality and growth. Each arm of the spiral, each aspect of life, is cross hatched and bumpy with patches of light and dark, showing the erratic nature of living. Each arm ends but its outline turns back towards the cross, showing that everything came from God and returns to God.' Printing and Sizing: This item is 105mmX148mm and is printed on 300gsm gloss card stock. Each card is blank inside, has its title and copyright details on the back and is individually wrapped in cellophane with an envelope.£2.25 -
Multicoloured Mysteries
CreativityAn exciting collection of outlines to colour in. Use Multicoloured Mysteries for relaxation or meditation, on holiday or retreat.£5.49 -
Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s New Monasticism: A Central Influence
Core Teaching, Influences & Suggested Reading, Monasticism & New Monasticism, New Monasticism, Northumbria Community Resources & Teaching, Re-imagining ChurchThis booklet, by Trevor Miller, looks at the ways in which Dietrich Bonhoeffer has been an influence on our Community. A Lutheran Pastor in the Confessing Church in Germany in the 1930s, Bonhoeffer’s early exploration of Community and New Monasticism was cut short by the Nazi regime, but his writings have lived on. In this booklet Trevor helps us to make the connections between Bonhoeffer’s life and work and our own journey as a Community.£5.00 -
Life Together
Influences & Suggested Reading, New Monasticism, Re-imagining ChurchDietrich Bonhoeffer, the now famous theologian who was martyred by the Nazis in 1945, wrote this book on the eve of World War II. It resulted from his experience as head of a semiary of the German 'Confessing Church' at Finkenwalde near Stettin. Here many of the pastors who witnessed against Hitler received their inspiration. It was, as Professor John D. Godsey points out in his study of The Theology of Deitrich Bonhoeffer, 'a kind of theological education that was startlingly new in Germany: a communal life in which Jesus Christ's call to discipleship was taken seriously.' Professor Godsey calls Life Together 'simply written, powerfully convincing and unusually quotable...It is an attempt to give practical guidance to those who want to take their lives as Christians seriously.'£14.99 -
Never Thirst Again: A6 greetings card
Creativity, Spiritual Growth£2.25John 4:13-14 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” © NIV 1984
Background: This could be used as a blessing for a Baptism, Confirmation or Ordination. This passage in John holds a powerful message of hope for a world which thirsts for that elusive ‘something’. Whether that ‘something’ is spiritual meaning, true love, happiness, security or day to day needs, God, in the man Jesus, promised that if we allow the Spirit of God into our lives then not only will our needs be met one way or another (since our idea of how to improve matters may not be God’s ways), but we will live forever with Him.
Printing and Sizing:
This item is 105mm x 148mm and is printed on 300gsm gloss card stock. Each card is blank inside, has its title and copyright details on the back and is individually wrapped in cellophane with an envelope.
-
The Artist’s Rule: nurturing your creative soul with monastic wisdom
Creativity, Monasticism & New Monasticism, Spiritual Exercises, Spiritual Growth, The Inner Journey, Traditional Monasticism, nature, solitude, artists, creativity The Artist's Rule: Nurturing Your Creative Soul with Monastic Wisdom by Christine Valters Paintner, author of Water, Wind, Earth, and Fire, invites readers to discover and develop their creative gifts in a spirit of prayer and reflection. This twelve-week course draws on the insights and practices of Benedictine spirituality to explore the interplay between contemplation and creativity. Sumarised in the phrase 'pray and work,' The Rule of St. Benedict provides the inspiration for Christine Valters Paintner's newest exploration of the mutually nourishing relationship between contemplative practices and creative expression. Artists of all stripes and stations in life - poets or painters, potters or photographers - will discover how traditions of Benedictine, Celtic, and desert spirituality can offer new sources of inspiration for their work. Themes like 'Sacred Tools and Sacred Space', 'Creative Solitude and Community,' and 'Nature as a Source of Revelation and Inspiration' are enriched by Paintner's perceptive discussion and enhanced by insightful quotations from well-known artists and writers. Ideally formatted for faith sharing groups and parish retreats, this guide offers suggestions for grounding both the creative and the spiritual life through three basic practices: walking, lectio divina, and journaling. The Artist's Rule is supplemented with online resources, including guided meditation podcasts, video lessons, and discussions.£14.99 -
Sold out
The Cost of Discipleship
Influences & Suggested ReadingWhat can the call to discipleship, the adherence to the word of Jesus, mean today to the businessman, the soldier, the labourer, or the aristocrat? What did Jesus mean to say to us? What is His will for us today? Drawing on the Sermon on the Mount, Dietrich Bonhoeffer answers these timeless questions by providing a seminal reading of the dichotomy between 'cheap grace' and 'costly grace'. 'Cheap grace', Bonhoeffer wrote, 'is the grace we bestow on ourselves...grace without discipleship...Costly grace is the Gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must know...It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it give the man the only true life.' The Cost of Discipleshipis a compelling statement of the demands of sacrifice and ethical consistency from a man whose life and thought were exemplary articulations of a new type of leadership inspired by the Gospel, and imbued with the spirit of Christian humanism and a creative sense of civic duty.£21.99 -
Sabbath Time: A hermitage journey of retreat, return, communion
Seasons of Life, The Inner Journey'A serious health breakdown in my thirties, where I spent over six months in recovery, made me aware of the need for greater balance in my life. Yet since then, I have continued to do too much, say “yes” instead of “no” too often, and I have struggled to set aside time for rest, prayer and reflection. But finally, after a year of thought and planning, I decided to take a whole six months off...' From the Author Preface Description Being left alone to embark on a reflective journey is a great gift – particularly in our age, where remaining connected is such a driving expectation. Charles decided to take a whole six months off and to spend much of this time in a hermitage on friends’ property. To enter a space of disconnection is both a scary and an exhilarating experience. And to 'down' tools and be still without an agenda of expectations is wonderfully open and freeing. It is also walking into mystery. Who knows what might happen? About the Author Charles Ringma has taught in universities, colleges and seminaries in Asia, Australia and N. America. And he has worked in urban and overseas mission for several decades. He is Emeritus Professor of Regent College, Vancouver, is a Franciscan Tertiary (tssf) and companion of Northumbria Community, Brisbane. Besides working for justice, he plants rain forest trees, grows vegetables and pens books on Christian spirituality.£7.99 -
Remember Me: A6 greetings card
Creativity, Spiritual GrowthBackground: Artist Mary Fleeson tells us that... " ‘Remember’ is a celebration of Christ’s words to His disciples, 23For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 1 Corinthians 11:23-25, NIV The image includes the empty tomb and the angel standing outside with Jesus and Mary in the garden, the road to Emmaus, a bright star – to remind us of His birth and the light He brought to a fallen world and Jesus carrying the cross as a symbol of carrying the sin of the world. The rich knotwork pattern behind is the backdrop to the royal story of The King of the Universe. The large knot reminds us of our life journey and how God wants us to be immersed, surrounded and sharing in His journey." This item is 105 x 148mm and is printed on 300gsm card stock. Each card is blank inside, has its title and copyright details on the back and is individually wrapped in cellophane with an envelope.£2.25 -
Watchman: A6 greetings card
Creativity, Spiritual GrowthWords: My soul waits for the Lord, More than those who watch for the morning, More than those who watch for the morning. Out of the depths I have cried to you, O Lord hear my voice. With my whole heart I want to praise you, O Lord hear my voice. If You Lord should mark iniquities Who could stand? Who could stand? I will wait for the Lord, my soul waits And in His word do I hope. Background: Based on Psalm 130 these words were written by Larry & Pearl Brick for a song called ‘I Will Wait’ on their 1989 album ‘See-through Servant’. Northumbria Community use the song in their Evening Prayer liturgy. Printing and Sizing: This item is 105mmX148mm and is printed on 300gsm gloss card stock. Each card is blank inside, has its title and copyright details on the back and is individually wrapped in cellophane with an envelope.£2.25