You may be interested in…
-
Learning to Walk in the Dark
Influences & Suggested Reading, The Inner JourneyNew from best-selling author Barbara Brown Taylor, perhaps best known for An Altar in the World, comes Learning to Walk in the Dark. In this hardback book she writes with wisdom, grace and beauty as she seeks to rehabilitate what we have learned to fear - the dark. Here she reflects on how our lives do not only work when everything is brightly lit; twilight and deep darkness have treasures of their own waiting to be discovered. Babara Brown Taylor writes: 'Darkness is shorthand for anything that scares me - either because I am sure that I do not have the resources to survive ti or because I do not want to have to find out. If I had my way, I would eliminate everything from chronic back pain ti the fear of the devil from my life ad the lives of those I love. At least I think I would. The problem is this: when, despite all my best efforts, the lights have gone off in my life, plunging me into the kind of darkness that turns my knees to water, I have not died. The monsters have not dragged me out of bed and taken me back to their lair. Instead, I have learned things in the dark that I could never have learned in the light, things that have saved my life over and over again, so that there is really only one logical conclusion. I need darkness as much as I need light. Learning to Walk in the Dark is a wise spiritual companion and guide for those times in life when we don't have all the answers. Recognising our tendency to associate all that is good with light, and all that is evil and dangerous with darkness, Barbara Brown Taylor asks whether God doesn't work at night too? With her characteristic grace and generosity, she invites us to put aside our fears and anxieties and to discover all that the darkness has to teach us. She takes us to underground caverns, subterranean chapels, basement night clubs and unlit cabins in the woods on moonless nights. Through darkness, we begin to see the world and sense God's presence around us in new ways, guiding us through things seen an unseen, and teaching us to find out footing in times of uncertainty. Like seeds buried in the ground, we will find how darkness is essential for our own growth and flourishing.£12.99 -
Accidental Saints. Finding God in All the Wrong People
Culture & Mission, The Inner JourneyWhat 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 sceptic alike. Told in Nadia’s trademark confessional style, Accidental Saints is the stunning next work from one of today’s most important religious voices.£12.99 -
Sold out
Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation
Seasons of Life, The Inner JourneyA compassionate and compelling meditation on discovering your path in life. With wisdom, compassion and gentle humour, Parker J. Palmer invites us to listen to the inner teacher and follow its leadings toward a sense of meaning and purpose. Telling stories from his own life and the lives of others who have made a difference , he shares insights gained from darkness and depression as well as fulfilment and joy, illuminating a pathway towards vocation for all who seek the true calling of their lives.£16.00 -
Even though the day A5 poster
Celtic Daily Prayer & Liturgy, Music & Creativity, Northumbria Community Resources & TeachingThese words by Alistair Maclean from Hebridean Altars are repeated as part of the Day 20 meditation every month in Celtic Daily Prayer. This calligraphic design by Pam French is also available as an A6 Greetings card and an A6 postcard.£1.50 -
The Awesome Journey: Life’s Pilgrimage
Scripture & PrayerDrawing on a lifetime of Christian pilgrimage, David Adam reflects on biblical encounters with the divine. God's question to Adam, 'Where are you?' is relevant to us all; Abraham's long journey of hearing and obeying (and learning the art of having no agenda) is ours too; Jacob's great discovery – that heaven is found on earth and earth is raise to heaven – helps us to become aware that we often already possess what we think we're searching for. Moses' desert experiences of grief and glory encourage us to press on to the Promised Land; Elijah's powerlessness reminds us that God often call us out of darkness and weakness, and that we may need stillness to hear him. The story of the prodigal son's return is a disarming reminder of the welcome that awaits each one of us; while Paul's call to rejoice inspires us to be present fully to each day. As we continue to move forward, these profound insights – on grief and glory, emptiness and fulfilment, repentance and forgiveness, loving and being loved will transform the way we live and the way we relate to God, here and now.£8.99 -
Cranky Beautiful Faith
Church & Leadership, Culture & Mission, Re-imagining ChurchFormer stand-up comic and unlikely pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber weaves personal narrative, hilarious rants and powerful spiritual insight as she relates her unusual journey of faith, offering a fresh and uncompromising look at the transformative power of grace. As one of today's most provocative Christian leaders, she blends sardonic irreverence and brilliant theology to offer a new portrait of faith - one that is edgy, outrageous and, above all, real. Smart-mouthed and heavily tattooed, Nadia Bolz-Weber didn't consider herself ‘religious leader material’ and didn't expect to find her vocation leading a funeral in a smoky, downtown comedy club. But surrounded by recovering alcoholics, depressives, and comedians, she realized these were her people and maybe she was meant to be their pastor. This compassionate book portrays both church and seekers as deeply flawed yet deeply faithful.£12.99 -
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 -
My times are still in Your hands 210mm square print
Celtic Sites & Saints, Celtic Studies & Spirituality, Creativity, Spiritual GrowthLynda Owen-Hussey, a companion with the Northumbria Community, is a mixed media artist living on the shores of the West Coast of Ireland in County Kerry, close to the birthplace of St Brendan. These days, her work is inspired by the many gifts of the sea she encounters on walks along the shore, often pondering the life of St Brendan and the many monks of old who inhabited this land. In describing this original artwork Lynda says:£12.00Painted whilst on retreat at Nether Springs, the Mother House of the Northumbria Community, this artwork is inspired by a verse in Northumbria Community’s Brendan Liturgy:
I will trust in the darkness and know that my times are still in Your hand.
Brendan and his companions spent years on the sea as they searched for, and eventually found, the promised land. In Psalm 31, King David in the midst of difficulty places his trust in God recalling that his times are in God’s hands. Likewise we are called to trust God in the dark and difficult desert days we can find ourselves in.
-
Sold out
An Altar in the World
Church & Leadership, Everyday Life, Influences & Suggested Reading, The Inner JourneyIn this highly acclaimed and lyrical book, the best-selling author Barbara Brown Taylor reveals the countless ways we can discover divine depths in the small things we do and see every day. People go to extraordinary lenghts, she writes, to discover this treasure. 'They will spend hours launching prayers into the heavens. They will travel half way around the world to visit a monastery in India...The last place most people will look is right under their feet, in the everyday activities, accidents and encounters of their lives...the reason so many of us cannot see the red X marks the spot is because we're standing on it.' An Altar in the the World shows us how heaven and earth meet in such ordinary occurrences as hanging out the wahing, doing the supermarket shop, feeding an animal, losing our way. It will transfrom our understanding of ourselves and the word we live in and renew our sense of wonder at the extraordinary gift of life.£12.99 -
Sale
As the Rain Hides the Stars CD
Creativity, Spiritual GrowthCeltic inspired worship music. Folky and rootsy songs of faith, love and life from Clare Hunt, Mike Clifford, Tim Thwaites with guest Joe Thwaites. Proceeds from the sale of this CD support the work of Northumbria Community. [playlist ids="8592,8594,8596,8598,8600,8602,8604,8606,8608,8610,8612,8614,8616"]Original price was: £10.00.£8.00Current price is: £8.00. -
God Doesn’t Do Waste: Redeeming the Whole of Life
Everyday Life, The Inner JourneyMeet 'the Bookless Bunch', a very ordinary family who went green. When God challenged him over his attitude to the environment, Dave Bookless did a total rethink. This led to major changes, not only in his family's lifestyle but also eventually in his career: full time involvement in the global A Rocha movement that aims to care for God's fragile world. But in one sense this book isn't about going green at all. It's a personal account of a life lived in relationship. It's about roots and belonging, suffering and healing, identity and meaning, faith and doubt. It's about how in God's economy nothing need be wasted. It's about the messiness that each human being wades through in every area of life, and about a God who can take all that seems most wasteful and useless, and recycle it into something of infinite worth.£8.99 -
Photographic Prayers 2: the Holy Island of Lindisarne through images and words.
Celtic Sites & Saints, Celtic Studies & SpiritualityThis second book from Mary, Mark and Aurian Fleeson contains a further selection of stunning images and words exploring the land and sea around Lindisfarne.£7.99 -
Given for Life
Influences & Suggested Reading, The Inner JourneyA guide to motivational gifts by Andy Raine, one of the founders of the Northumbria Community. 'It is not what you do but the underlying WHY that you do it that betrays who you are.' Are you a 'prophet', 'ruler', mercy', server', teacher', 'exhorter', or 'giver'?£17.99 -
Sale
Into the depths: A Journey of Loss and Vocation
Everyday Life, The Inner JourneyIn January 1984, Sr Mary Margaret Funk, a Benedictine nun from Indiana, paid a visit to Maryknoll missionary nuns working in Bolivia. On what should have been a routine trip to the local town for a convocation ceremony, a flash flood swept away the jeep in which she, three nuns, a priest, and a disabled boy they had adopted were travelling. Only she and the priest survived What happened that night catapulted Sr Meg into twenty-five years of prayer and self-examination. She relentlessly explored her relationship with the transcendent and immanent God, the profundities of her religious tradition, her commitment to spiritual practice, and her very human failings. It was a journey that left her spiritually naked before the terrible love of God; a journey to keep one's heart open to the transforming wounds of suffering. In the great tradition of spiritual confessions from Augustine to Thomas Merton's The Seven-Story Mountain, Into the Depths is a fearlessly honest and simply told account of one woman's struggle to engage at the deeper levels with the most profound questions of faith.Original price was: £12.99.£8.99Current price is: £8.99. -
The Two Saints Way Guide
Celtic Sites & SaintsThe Two Saints Way is a new 92 mile pilgrimage route between the cathedral cities of Chester and Lichfield. Its historic sites, beautiful scenery and hidden treasures provide a perfect opportunity to connect with the past, and find peace in the present. This accompanying 144 page guide, written by the route's creator David Pott, is packed with pictures, facts, and maps that make walking the route easy and informative. 'This superb new guidebook is as clear and colourful as it is full of detail. It will enable users to get the very best out of every section of the route, whetting the appetite of those planning a trip, and serving as a souvenir for those looking back on the experience.' The Very Revd Dr Pete Wilcox Dean of Liverpool Cathedral and formerly Canon Chancellor of Lichfield Cathedral. This guidebook is currently out of print until autumn 2019. In the interim the Two Saints Way team have made available a downloadable PDF version of the guidebook and the link to the website is: https://bit.ly/2EQ8wwQ. There is also a new website available here: www.twosaintsway.co.uk£12.99 -
Sold out
Don’t Forgive Too Soon: Extending the Two Hands that Heal
Influences & Suggested Reading, Spiritual Growth, The Inner JourneyThis is an illustrated book by Matthew Linn, Sheila Fabricant Linn and Dennis Linn. They describe it as follows: 'When we are hurt, we are tempted to either act as a passive doormat or to strike back and escalate the cycle of violence. We can avoid both of these temptations and find creative responses to hurts by moving through the five stages of forgiveness. In so doing, we discover the two hands of nonviolence: one hand that stops the person who hurts us and the other that reaches out, calms that person and offers new life. This book has healing processes so simple that children can use them."£12.99 -
Look at The Birds of the Air: lessons from birds in the Bible
Everyday Life, Scripture & Prayer'Look at the birds of the air', Jesus taught his followers. This book is the result of a lifetime spent following that teaching. It brings to life the role of birds in the Bible; in the lives of individuals like Elijah, in prophecy and poetry, wise sayings and songs of worship. This book is a study guide for Christian reflection on the avian world, as well as a personal account of the joy of watching birds.£12.99 -
Good Goats: Healing our Image of God
Scripture & Prayer, The Inner JourneyThis is an illustrated book by Matthew Linn, Sheila Fabricant Linn and Dennis Linn. They describe it as follows:'We become like the God we adore. Thus, one of the easiest ways to heal ourselves and our society is to heal our image of God, so that we know a God who loves us at least as much as those who love us the most. Discusses whether God throws us into hell or otherwise vengefully punishes us, and the role of free will. Includes a questions and answer section that gives theological and scriptural foundation for the main text.'£13.99 -
Striking Out : Poems and stories from the Camino
Spiritual Growth, The Inner JourneyOn 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.£9.99 -
Becoming a Disciple
Scripture & PrayerIn this little book Daniel Bourguet guides our meditations on three scriptural passages that lead the reader along the pathway ordained by Christ into the depths of his being. Successively, the disciple first follows behind Jesus along the way of perfect love (Mark 1:14-20); then experiences what it is to bear the yoke with Christ and there find rest (Matt 11:28-30); and finally enters the mystery of communion in which he is in Jesus and Jesus abides in him (John 15:1-17). It is a pathway passing from vocation to struggle and then to fellowship, but leading always to joy. In Becoming a Disciple, we see the fruit of Bourget's years of intercession, spiritual direction, and insightful exegesis--all of this at the feet of Christ. Here we see how the Gospels lead us into intimate encounters and authentic discipleship£16.00