You may be interested in…
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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 -
The Celtic Way of Prayer: The Recovery of the Religious Imagination
Celtic Prayer, Celtic Studies, Celtic Studies & Spirituality, Influences & Suggested ReadingWhile it may seem that everything that can be said about Celtic spirituality has been said, this outstanding book has already established itself as a classic and as essential reading. Its beauty and wisdom lingers in the mind and in the heart. First published in 1996, it has sold tens of thousands of copies throughout the world and a new edition is to be welcomed. Esther writes as a historian and as a spiritual guide, avoiding the sentimentality that is so easily associated with Celtic spirituality. She draws on its rich literary and artistic traditions and its earthy realism to make vital and life-giving connections between the Celtic Christian world and the toughness and challenges of our own world. Here is a spirituality that we can live by with honesty, commitment and truthfulness.£14.99 -
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 -
Merton’s Palace of Nowhere
Spiritual Growth, The Inner JourneySpiritual identity is the quest to know who we are, to find meaning in life and to overcome that sense of "is that all there is?" At the heart of this quest are found Thomas Meron's illuminating insights leading from an awareness of the false and illusory self as the way to a realization of the true self. For twenty-five years, Merton's Palace of Nowhere has been the standard for exploring, reflecting on, and understanding this rich vein of Merton's thought.£14.00 -
Alone Together
Core Teaching, Northumbria Community Resources & Teaching, The Inner JourneyThis booklet, written by Trevor Miller, explores what it means for us to say that we journey 'Alone Together'. As one of the founders of Northumbria Community, Trevor shares his understanding of this central concept as he has lived, studied and prayed it over the past 30 or more years. Chapters include:£4.00- A Community understanding of the spiritual journey
- How Alone Together helps us understand the nature of God
- What Alone Together means for us as a Community and our way of being
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A Celtic Liturgy
Celtic Prayer, Celtic Studies & Spirituality, Spiritual Growth, The Inner JourneyThis compact liturgy provides alternative services and prayers for many occasions. It includes: Prayers before Worship; Early Morning Prayer; Morning Prayer; Evening Prayer; Night Prayer; A Service of Marriage; In Praise of Creation; A Funeral Service; A Service of Healing; Prayers of Intercession; A Celtic Calendar of the Lives of the Saints; Selected Psalms, and an Historical Overview. A tried and tested prayer book in an attractive new design.£10.99 -
Contemplative Prayer
Influences & Suggested Reading, Scripture & PrayerThomas Merton's classic study of monastic prayer and contemplation brings a tradition of spirituality alive for the present day. But, as A M Allchin points out in his Introduction to this new edition, Contemplative Prayer also shows us the present day in a new perspective, because we see it in the light of a long and living tradition. Merton stresses that in meditation we should not look for a 'method' or 'system' but cultivate an 'attitude' or 'outlook': faith, openness, attention, reverence, expectation, trust, joy. God is found in the desert of surrender, in giving up any expectation of a particular message and 'waiting on the Word of God in silence'. Merton insists on the humility of faith, which he argues 'will do far more to launch us into the full current of historical reality than the pompous rationalisation of politicians who think they are somehow the directors and manipulators of history'.£11.99 -
Hebridean Altars: The Spirit of an Island Race
Celtic Prayer, Celtic Studies, Celtic Studies & SpiritualityThis book is a beautiful and dramatic collection of Celtic praise, compiled by Church of Scotland minister and Gaelic scholar Alistair Maclean, which was first published in 1937. It comprises over 100 prayers, poems, sayings and praises from the Christian tradition of the author’s native Hebrides.£15.99 -
Sunset on Lindisfarne: Greetings card
Creativity, Spiritual GrowthGreetings card with a beautiful photograph by Lindsay Grant of a spectacular sunset on Lindisfarne. Blank inside for your own message.£2.00 -
The Inner Experience: Notes on Contemplation
Influences & Suggested Reading, The Inner JourneyThe Inner Experience is the first complete, authorised edition of Thomas Merton's final work. It was a manuscript he always intended to revise, but did not until 1968 when he incorporated brief but important 'corrections and additions' to the text. Drawing on his own Christian experience, as well as the Eastern writings and traditions that so significantly influenced him in the last decade of his life, Merton shows the expansive nature of contemplation; that contemplation is not simply a part of life, but the entirety of it. This, his last major work to be published, is vintage and vital Merton.£12.99 -
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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. -
An Introduction to the Wisdom of the Celtic Saints
Celtic Sites & Saints, Celtic Studies, Celtic Studies & Spirituality, Core Teaching, Influences & Suggested Reading, Northumbria Community Resources & TeachingEdward C Sellner has recently published a revised and expanded edition of his important work Wisdom of the Celtic Saints, which presents the stories of 27 of the most important of the Celtic saints from Ireland, Scotland, northern England, Wales, Cornwall and Brittany. However, this is currently only available in hardback form and the author has permitted the Northumbria Community to publish his excellent introduction to his book in this booklet form, making it more widely accessible.£4.00 -
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 -
Celtic Parables: Stories, Poems and Prayers
Celtic Prayer, Celtic Studies, Celtic Studies & Spirituality, Scripture & Prayer, Spiritual GrowthNever mock what others say. Perhaps their words are full of nonsense. Perhaps they are trying to puff themselves up. Perhaps they like hearing the sound of their voices. Perhaps they are trying to deceive their hearers. Perhaps they are foolish and dim. Perhaps they are more clever than wise. Yet amidst the useless clay You may find jewels beyond price. The word of God is in every heart, And can speak through every voice. Never mock (p.104) This collection of stories, meditations, poems and prayers evokes the authentic spirit of Celtic Christianity. Capturing the atmosphere of parables passed down through generations, it shows the human warmth, respect for the natural world and robust, down-to-earth qualities for which Celtic spirituality is so greatly valued. With its rich treasury of material – most of it previously unavailable in modern editions – Celtic Parables offers a fresh lively introduction to the Celtic world. It will appeal to all those fascinated by our Celtic heritage and the way it speaks directly to us today.£10.99 -
The Seven Storey Mountain
Influences & Suggested Reading, Traditional MonasticismThe complete and unedited edition of Thomas Merton's famous autobiography, one of the greatest works of spiritual pilgrimage ever written. Thomas Merton (1915 - 1968) was a Trappist monk, writer, peace and civil rights activist.£21.00 -
Availability and Vulnerability: A way for living
Core Teaching, Northumbria Community Resources & TeachingThe Rule of the Northumbria Community with an introduction by Trevor Miller, one of the leaders of the Community. A new Way for Living that offers hope in the changed and changing culture of today's world.£4.00 -
Songs of the Isles: Selections from Carmina Gadelica
Celtic Prayer, Celtic Studies & Spirituality, Scripture & Prayer, Spiritual GrowthThe isles in the title of this book are the Hebrides which lie between the west of Scotland and the north of Ireland, and the songs are the prayers an blessings which originated there between the sixth and ninth centuries. They remained a purely oral tradition until a hundred years ago when Alexander Carmichael collected and published them as Carmina Gadelica, the source book that led to the revival of Celtic spirituality today. These prayers and songs capture the remarkable spiritual vision of a people keeping faith through good and ill, ekeing out an existence in a world that was often harsh and inhospitable. They rejoice at the birth of a child o a good harvest, glory in natural beauty, lament in suffering, cry out for help or protection, and invoke God's blessing on even the most humble tasks. Until now we have only known them in the Victorian language of Carmichael's collection, bu in Kathleen Jones' fresh translation, thir poetic simplicity and power is fully revealed and we hear authentic Celtci voices speaking with conviction about life and death, hearth and home, land and sea, and the journey of the soul beneath the protecting power of heaven.£14.99 -
Advent and Christmas Wisdom with Thomas Merton
Advent & Christmas, Resources for the Christian YearAdvent and Christmas are special times for all Christians. The spiritual longing of the Advent season can only be satisfied by the joy and celebration of a Christmas focused on Jesus' birth in our hearts. Advent and Christmas Wisdom with Thomas Merton give readers the opportunity to experience Advent and Christmas in a way that unwraps the spiritual joy, allowing it to shine brighter that all the tinsel and trappings that can blind our eyes to the deeper meaning of the season. This book is arranged for use on every day of the Advent and Christmas seasons. Each day's reflection begins with a scriptural quotation, continues with a thought from the writings of Thomas Merton, and concludes with a prayer for the day. Merton's writing capture the familiar themes of the season: the Incarnation, anticipation, angels, giving, and many others - each drawing us closer to the joy of welcoming the Saviour into our lives. An appendix includes a suggested plan for using each day's meditation as part of a morning or evening prayer.£11.99 -
Help me to journey beyond the familiar 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 the Northumbria Community’s Brendan Liturgy:
Lord, I will trust You, help me to journey beyond the familiar and into the unknown.
Brendan’s journey begins as his heart is stirred by a vision that takes him beyond his present circumstances and surroundings. In Genesis 12 we find Abram, who like Brendan, followed the call of God to leave the familiar comforts of home and venture towards the land of promise. Sometimes we hear that call ourselves, but oftentimes it is discomfort or the unexpected which proves to be the catalyst that opens us afresh to seeking out new ways as we journey in trust.
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Precious Thoughts: daily readings from Thomas Merton
Daily Readings, Influences & Suggested Reading, Traditional MonasticismThomas Merton wrote to people of all faiths and none; he wrote to people who were searching, and those who were firmly established in religious orders; he wrote to students, peace activists and `ordinary' people who had read about him and were curious. Some are letters of spiritual direction, a sharing of spiritual insights and social concerns, some more personal. In this carefully selected collection, Merton scholar, Fiona Gardner, has focused on extracts that seem to speak to all who are searching. They have been chosen because they offer an opening into something other - to provide a way into both silence and contemplative prayer.£10.99 -
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 -
Love The World
Celtic Sites & Saints, Everyday Life, The Inner JourneyThis beautifully written book aims to increase our love for the world through reflecting on what we have discovered about it, and using this as a basis for further meditation and spiritual enrichment. It opens by looking at the beginning of the universe and the mystery of being, then moves on to our world, its atmosphere, the miracle of water and things we often take for granted but are essential to our health and happiness. Finally, it focuses on our relationship to the earth. Each section offers a short introduction, based on scientific discovery, a meditation, and an exercise in awareness and sensitivity.£10.99 -
Ancient Paths CD
Celtic Prayer, Creativity, Music & Creativity, Spiritual GrowthAnna's first solo album includes some of her 'signature' pieces as well as some songs of her own. Some of you will recognise familiar words from the Complines in Celtic Daily Prayer drawn from Carmina Gadelica and other traditional sources. Here they are set to Anna's own music which has emerged over the years of saying and singing these night-time prayers with her children, Joel and Martha. Anna says, 'I hope you will want to play this album often and that it will capture something of the rhythm of the tides, the sounds of the island and also its stillness.'£12.00 -
Contemplation in a World of Action
The Inner JourneyThe spiritual and psychological insights of these essays were nurtured in a monastic milieu, but their issues are universally human. Thomas Merton lays a foundation for personal growth and transformation through fidelity to "our own truth and inner being". Our desire and need to attain "a fully human and personal identity" is the focus of Merton's concern.£24.99 -
The Heretical Imperative
Core TeachingTrevor Miller, one of the leaders of the Northumbria Community, expounds on this vital (but difficult and challenging) part of the Community's Rule which exhorts us to 'take the heretical imperative'. He discusses the 'Inductive' method of approaching our faith (comparing it to the 'Deductive' and 'Reductive' approaches) and outlines five practical ways we can live this out in our daily lives.£4.00 -
A Retreat with Thomas Merton
The Inner JourneyThe celebrated spiritual writer Thomas Merton remains one of the most influential voices of our day. His many books have become modern spiritual classics and he opened up the riches of the monastic tradition for many. Here, Esther de Waal devises a seven day personal or group retreat programme using extracts from Thomas Merton's writings and a selection of the photography for which he was also renowned. She creates a retreat that can be made at home, at a centre or on holiday, over a week or a period of weeks. The focus of each of the seven days is: The Call; Response; The Solitary Within; Encounter With Christ; The Demands of Love; Common and Natural and Ordinary; Integration.£14.00 -
Celtic Christian Spirituality
Celtic Prayer, Celtic Sites & Saints, Celtic Studies, Celtic Studies & SpiritualityThe Celtic Christians beheld the world around them and perceived the divine life of God upholding every aspect of the material universe. Their prayers and poems, their liturgies and their theological texts give Christians a sense of faith that is confident in a merciful and infinitely creative, healing God. In this introduction to Celtic Christian spirituality, Mary C. Earle presents the primary texts from the Celtic Christian tradition - selections from the writings of Pelagius, Eriugena and St Patrick, as well as prayers and poems from Wales, the Outer Hebrides and Ireland. These essential texts direct humanity to read the 'book of creation' as well as the book of scripture, and call us to remember that 'matter matters'. The author's engaging facing-page commentary explores how faithful Christians and spiritual seekers use the writings of this lively tradition as ways of embodying and living the gospel.£10.99 -
Hermits of the Inner Farne
Celtic Daily Prayer & Liturgy, Celtic Sites & Saints, Celtic Studies, Celtic Studies & Spirituality, Northumbria Community Resources & TeachingThis booklet has been compiled by Andy Raine, a Companion with the Northumbria Community, as a way of retelling the story of the hermits who lived and prayed on the little island of Inner Farne, just off the north Northumberland coast. It begins with a reprinting of Kathleen Parbury’s manuscript of The Hermits of the House of Farne, which she self-published in 1983, and which is contained here with the permission and blessing of her surviving relatives. It also includes relevant liturgical material taken from Celtic Daily Prayer, and other articles about the hermits.£6.00 -
Acquainted with the Night: An Exploration of Spirituality and Depression
Everyday Life, Spiritual Direction, Spiritual Growth, The Inner JourneyDepression is pandemic today; as the demands of modern life prove too much for many adults, it has also clawed its way into the minds and souls of our young people, so that it is not unusual to hear that teenagers, or even children, are taking anti-depressants, sometimes committing suicide. The aim of this book is to illustrate that depression is often a spiritual malaise that can be "treated" by spiritual measures. Award-winning author, Robert Waldron explores the common causes and symptoms of depression, and in so doing underscores the Socratic ideal of "the unexamined life is not worth living." When depressives take their depression seriously, they see that they are living superficially and understand that there is a deeper kind of living available: it is this realization that leads them into a spiritual dimension. Indeed the cure for much depression lies within the Christian message of mercy, forgiveness, compassion, acceptance and love. Using Jungian theory on spirituality as a foundation, Acquainted With The Night goes on to explore the scrutiny and expression famous Christians have given to their individual acquaintance and struggle with darkness, these include: Gerard Manley Hopkins, T.S. Eliot, Henri Nouwen, Philip Toynbee, Thomas Merton, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, and Loran Hurnscot.£12.99