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Rediscovering the magic of Christmas
Advent & ChristmasEach Christmas, we tend to hear the same readings and, let's be honest, the same sermons. This Advent, join John Hayward on a daily journey to rediscover some of the magic of Christmas. Originally written as letters from a father to his adult children, this book warmly invites you to feast richly on some of the passages of scripture less commonly associated with our celebrations of the birth of Jesus. Released from the burden of tradition and over-familiarity, glimpse afresh the authentic Christmas gift that is for every person, for every nation and for every day.£14.99 -
Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy
Everyday Life, The Inner JourneyThis book seeks to restore the lost art of lament in order to help readers discover the power of honest wrestling with the questions that come with grief and suffering.£11.99 -
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Beyond Ethnic Loneliness: The pain of marginalisation and the path to belonging
Everyday LifeMajority white American culture has historically marginalized people of colour, who at times feel invisible and alienated and at other times are traumatized by oppression and public discrimination. This reality leads to a particular kind of aloneness: ethnic and racial loneliness. An Indian American immigrant who grew up in white Southern culture, Prasanta Verma names and sheds light on the realities of ethnic loneliness. She unpacks the exhausting effects of cultural isolation, the dynamics of marginalization, and the weight of being other. In the midst of disconnection and erasure, she points to the longing to belong, the need to share our stories, and the hope of finding safe friendships and community. Our places of exile can become places where we find belonging―to ourselves, to others, and to God.£14.99 -
Britain’s Pilgrim Places
UncategorizedBritain’s Pilgrim Places captures the spirit of 2,000 years of history, heritage and wonder. It is the complete guide to every spiritual treasure, including 500 enchanting holy places throughout England, Wales and Scotland and covers all major pilgrimage routes. Produced in collaboration with The British Pilgrimage Trust, this book encapsulates the timeless quest of the human spirit to find meaning, connection and peace. Each listing is illustrated in full colour and written and presented in a way that appeals to everyone. From wild hermit islands to city-centre cathedrals alike, there is something to surprise and enlighten anyone with a sense of the sacred. 2020 is the Year of the Pilgrimage and the Year of Cathedrals, and events are being held throughout the year to mark a revival in pilgrim places, cathedrals and free-form spiritual expression. The British Pilgrimage Trust’s mission is to harness the quiet but powerful resurgence of interest in ancient ways of finding meaning and peace in the landscape. Britain’s Pilgrim Places follows on from best-selling Britain’s Holiest Places which became a 6-part BBC television series.£19.99 -
The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry
Culture & Mission, Scripture & Prayer, Spiritual Growth, The Inner JourneyWho are you becoming? That was the question nagging pastor and author John Mark Comer. By outward metrics, everything appeared successful. But inwardly, things weren't pretty. So he turned to a trusted mentor for guidance and heard these words: 'Ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life. Hurry is the great enemy of the spiritual life.' It wasn't the response he expected, but it continues to be the answer he needs. Too often we treat the symptoms of toxicity in our modern world instead of trying to pinpoint the cause. A growing number of voices are pointing at hurry, or busyness as a root of much evil. Within the pages of this book, you'll find a compelling emotional and spiritual case against hurry and in favour of a slower, simpler way of life.£14.99 -
The Hopeful Activist: discovering the vital change you were made to bring
Culture & Mission, Everyday LifeI wish I had been able to read this book twenty years ago! 'Ruth Valerio' All around us there are signs of a broken world, situations that are just not right. Where do we begin? Sometimes we simply don't know what to do. Or maybe you are busy 'doing' and it's tough, even bringing you close to burn out. Whether you are new to activism or already on the road, this book will (re)kindle your hope and illuminate the way ahead. Featuring contributions from Shane Claiborne, Lisa Sharon Harper, Krish Kandiah, Sam Wells and many more, The Hopeful Activist is full of fresh wisdom and practical advice to help you play your part in bringing God's justice and restoration to the world around you.£10.99 -
Restoring the Shamed: towards a theology of shame
Scripture & Prayer, Spiritual Growth, The Inner JourneyShame has many faces. From the pressing need to avoid "losing face" to the urge to scapegoat and blame, from the desire to exclude those who are different to the horrors of ethnic cleansing, from the obsession with body image to the abiding terrors of the abused, shame is a universal phenomenon. It transcends boundaries of time and is evident in diverse cultures across the world. It is, furthermore, found throughout the pages of Scripture, yet in modern theology shame is conspicuous by its absence. This book attempts to redress the balance by exploring the theology of shame, from its inception in the garden of Eden, to the final triumph over shame on the cross. Restoring the Shamed will offer readers the opportunity to think theologically about one of the most urgent, yet strangely secret, issues of contemporary society.£20.00 -
The Roots of Transformation: negotiating the dynamics of growth
Everyday Life, Spiritual Growth, The Inner JourneyThe call towards transformation lies at the heart of the Christian message. It is a call to create something beautiful that bears all the hallmarks of the kingdom of heaven. The journey towards transformation however is a demanding one, requiring us to engage in a process of negotiation with a number of key issues. These issues cluster around the themes of Narrative, Permission, Discomfort, Culture, Language, Other, and Silence. This book explores these themes in the company of brave individuals who have shared their own stories as well as some significant thinkers who have already left their mark on our world.£16.00 -
God Isn’t Finished With You Yet: life lessons on not giving up.
Everyday LifeWhen life is tough and we seem to have reached a dead end, it's easy to feel as if God has given up on us. We are not alone in feeling like this. Catherine Campbell vividly retells the stories of real people from the Bible with difficult and sometimes painful lives, who struggled to see God's path for them. Abigail was trapped in marriage to a fool. John Mark ran away from his friends. The Samaritan woman faced shame in the society of her day. Judah sinned against Tamar and Joseph. Simeon and Anna had the challenges of old age. But God hadn't finished with any of them. With Life Lessons reflections to encourage us to respond biblically to our own life circumstances, and questions for personal reflection or group discussion, Catherine Campbell helps us see what the Bible tells us “God isn't finished with you yet!"£9.99 -
Edwin: High King of Britain
Celtic Sites & Saints, FictionEdwin, the deposed king of Northumbria, seeks refuge at the court of King Raedwald of East Anglia. But Raedwald is urged to kill his guest by Aethelfrith, Edwin's usurper. As Edwin walks by the shore, alone and at bay, he is confronted by a mysterious figure - the missionary Paulinus - who prophesies that he will become High King of Britain. It is a turning point. Through battles and astute political alliances Edwin rises to great power, in the process marrying the Kentish princess Aethelburh. As part of the marriage contract the princess is allowed to retain her Christian faith. But, in these times, to be a king is not a recipe for a long life : This turbulent and tormented period in British history sees the conversion of the Anglo-Saxon settlers who have forced their way on to British shores over previous centuries, arriving first to pillage, then to farm and trade - and to come to terms with the world view of the Celtic tribes they have driven out.£8.99 -
I Julian. The fictional autobiography of Julian of Norwich.
FictionIn 1347, the first pestilence rages across the land. The young Julian of Norwich encounters the strangeness of death: first her father, then later her husband and her child. When she falls ill herself, she encounters mystical visions that bring comfort and concern. But in the midst of suspicion and menace, when the Church is actively condemning heretics, Julian is not safe. I, Julian is the account of a medieval woman who dares to tell her own story. Battling grief, plague, the church and societal expectations, and compelled by her powerful visions, Julian finds a way to live a life of freedom - as an anchoress, bricked up in a small room on the side of a church. Helped by Thomas, a Benedictine monk from Norwich Cathedral, she writers of what she has seen and offers word of counsel to others. Julian's manuscripts are protected by trusted sisters and are passed from hand to hand, become the first book to be written by a woman in English. Tender, luminous, meditative and powerful, this is a powerful fictional retelling of the life of Julian of Norwich - the mother, mystic and radical.£9.99 -
God on Mute: engaging the silence of unanswered prayer
Scripture & Prayer, Spiritual Growth, The Inner JourneyThis new edition of Pete Greig s classic book includes a new forty-day study guide, a foreword from the Archbishop of Canterbury, and a new introduction from the author who has personally revised and updated the text throughout. Originally written out of the pain of his wife's fight for her life, but also the wonder of watching the prayer movement they founded changing lives around the world, Pete Greig steps into the dark side of prayer and emerges with a hard-won message of hope, comfort, and profound biblical insight for all who suffer in silence. ~ A Christian Classic. Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury ~ A masterpiece. I cannot recommend it highly enough. Nicky Gumbel, HTB and Alpha ~ Simply the best resource I've ever found on unanswered prayer, bar none. John Mark Comer, best-selling author.£12.99 -
How then Shall we Live?: Print
Creativity, Spiritual GrowthAn A4 print. Original artwork by Francesca Ross with the artwork "How then Shall we Live?" Francesca writes: 'How then shall we live? ' has circles of ripples, which echo how our lives and actions have an impact on others, and how others impact our lives. I used the aqua blue to make it look like water.£12.50 -
Who is it that you Seek?: Greetings card
Music & CreativityAn A6 greetings card with envelope in a cellophane bag. The card has a print of original artwork by Francesca Ross. Francesca writes: ''Who is it that you seek?' features a star motif, referencing the guidance of the wise men by the star as they searched for the King of Kings. For this question I chose the contrasting colour of lemon yellow for the brightness of the star."£2.25 -
How then shall we sing?: Greetings card
Music & CreativityAn A6 greetings card with envelope in a cellophane bag. The card has a print of original artwork by Francesca Ross. Francesca writes: 'How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?' The development of the design started with a stave and a treble and bass clef, and then I added swirling interlinking lines to echo the complexity of music twisting and turning in unexpected directions. I chose purple as a colour of kingship of the Lord whose song we are singing.£2.25 -
Embracing Rhythms of Work and Rest: from sabbath to sabbatical and back again.
Everyday Life, The Inner JourneyIn our frenzied culture, the possibility of living in balanced rhythms of work and rest often feels elusive. This rings especially true for pastors and leaders who carry the weight of nonstop responsibility. Most know they need rest but might be surprised to find within themselves a deep resistance to letting go and resting in God one day a week, let alone for longer seasons of sabbatical. The journey to a meaningful sabbath practice is slow and gradual, and it is a journey we need to take in community. Sharing her own story of practicing sabbath for the past twenty years, Ruth Haley Barton offers hard-won wisdom regarding the rhythms of sabbath, exploring both weekly sabbath keeping as well as extended periods of sabbatical time. Embracing Rhythms of Work and Rest grounds us in God's intentions in giving us the gift of sabbath, providing practical steps for embedding sabbath rhythms in churches and organizations. Each chapter concludes with "What Your Soul Wants to Say to God," an opportunity to reflect and engage God around your own journey with the material. Sabbath is more than a practice ”it is a way of life ordered around God, an invitation to regular rhythms of work, rest, and replenishment that will sustain us for the long haul of life in leadership. Includes a conversation guide for small groups and communities.£20.99 -
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Prayer In the Night: For those who work or watch or weep
Everyday Life, Seasons of Life, Spiritual Growth, The Inner JourneyHow can we trust God in the dark? Framed around a night-time prayer of Compline, Tish Harrison Warren, author of Liturgy of the Ordinary, explores themes of human vulnerability, suffering, and God's seeming absence. When she navigated a time of doubt and loss, the prayer was grounding for her. She writes that practices of prayer "gave words to my anxiety and grief and allowed me to reencounter the doctrines of the church not as tidy little antidotes for pain, but as a light in darkness, as good news. "Where do we find comfort when we lie awake worrying or weeping in the night?" This book offers a prayerful and frank approach to the difficulties in our ordinary lives at work, at home, and in a world filled with uncertainty.£14.99 -
Z-Rod: Heirs of Promise
Celtic Sites & Saints, Fiction"Heirs of Promise', the second part in the gripping Z-Rod trilogy set in 6th century Scotland, intriguingly contrasts the lives of Pictish cousins striving to establish themselves - one as warlord, the other as a spiritual warrior. Styling himself on the boar, Oengus uses power and wily intelligence in a bid for independence from his overlord under the gathering gloom of war. Other shadows disturb: his ousted cousin, who bears the powerful 'Z-rod', still haunts; unrequited love for the inaccessible Alpia, consumes; and influential druids question his commitment to the volatile mother goddess. Abbot Fillan prophetically directs the exiled Taran to remake himself as a warrior-saint by acquiring nine graces. Propelled on an ominously named 'white martyrdom', Taran is tested by a series of quests and friendships to find his soul companion in his ultimate aim of 'bearing fire to the north'. The plot moves forward, with clever twists and dramatic moments that intrigue and shock the reader. The characters are sensitively depicted, their struggles laid bare, making for a complex story that the reader will follow with intrigue.£12.99 -
An Ocean of Light : Contemplation, Transformation, and Liberation
Scripture & Prayer, The Inner Journey, UncategorizedFor people drawn to a life of contemplation, the dawning of luminous awareness in a mind full of clutter is deeply liberating. In the third of his best-selling books on Christian contemplative life, Martin Laird turns his attention to those who are well settled in their contemplative practice. An Ocean of Light speaks both to those just entering the contemplative path and to those with a maturing practice of contemplation. Gradually, the practice of contemplation lifts the soul, freeing it from the blockages that introduce confusion into our identity and thus confusion about the mystery we call God. In the course of a lifetime of inner silencing, the flower of awareness emerges: a living realization that we have never been separate from God or from the rest of humanity while we each fully become what each of us is created to be. In contemplation we become so silent before God that the "before" drops away. Those whose lives have led them deeply into the silent land realize this, but not in the way that we realize that the square root of 144 is 12. Laird draws from a wide and diverse range of writers-from St. Augustine, Evagrius Ponticus, and St. Teresa of Avila to David Foster Wallace, Flannery O'Connor, Virginia Woolf, and Franz Wright-to ground his insight in an ancient practice and give it a voice in contemporary language. With his characteristic lyricism and gentleness, Laird guides readers through new challenges of contemplative life, such as making ourselves the focus of our own contemplative project; dealing with old pain; transforming the isolation of loneliness and depression into a liberating solidarity with all who suffer; and the danger of using a spiritual practice as a strategy to acquire and control.£15.99 -
The Dark Night of the Soul: A Psychiatrist Explores the Connection Between Darkness and Spiritual Growth
The Inner JourneyGerald G. May, MD, one of the great spiritual teachers and writers of our time, argues that the dark 'shadow' side of the true spiritual life has been trivialised and neglected to our serious detriment. Superficial and naively upbeat spirituality does not heal and enrich the soul. Nor does the other tendency to relegate deep spiritual growth to only mystics and saints. Only the honest, sometimes difficult encounters with what Christian spirituality has called and described in helpful detail as 'the dark night of the soul' can lead to true spiritual wholeness. May emphasises that the dark night is not necessarily a time of suffering and near despair, but a time of deep transition, a search for new orientation when things are clouded and full of mystery. The dark gives depth, dimension and fullness to the spiritual life.£16.99 -
New Testament Wives
Creativity, Spiritual Growth, The Inner JourneyA new collection of poetry which gives an imagined female voice to events and stories in the New Testament.£6.00 -
God Untamed : Out of the Spiritual Comfort Zone
Culture & Mission, Everyday Life, Scripture & Prayer, The Inner JourneyPowerful. Almighty. Sovereign. Magnificent. Fearsome. This is the God we encounter in the Bible and in prayer--a God who astounds. Yet, Johannes Hartl argues that this is an astonishment that many have lost in the West today. A challenging rejection of 'feel-good' Christianity, God Untamed explores the deep crisis of faith that effects the Western world. At a time where the need for spirituality is great, yet churches are losing more and more members; in the face of a generation with so many opportunities and so little direct threat, yet who are so anxious, depressed and disenchanted--Hartl speaks of the voice that can still oceans. God, as He encounters us, is not simply 'nice' and certainly not trivial or comfortable. He is fascinating and intimidating at the same time. Hartl calls us to rediscover this sense of wonder and re-imagine what it is to have a fear of God--not founded in a whimper at the unknown, but a respect borne out of watching His visible power in the nature of our world. Without this fear, Hartl warns that the church is in danger of weakening under the immense pressures of our times. God Untamed is a compelling charge to get out of our spiritual comfort zones to find a real, truly fulfilled and fulfilling faith.£12.99 -
Searching for a Silent God
Culture & Mission, The Inner JourneyThis is a thoughtful and engaging companion for all who experience times of spiritual crisis. Having come to faith as a young adult, Sarah Parkinson had always had a strong sense of the presence and loving care of God in her life. Following a family bereavement, she found herself searching for a God who no longer seemed to be there. Movingly expressed in reflective prose, and poems written at the time, she describes how this experience led her to a more profound and mature relationship with God. The author tells her own story and in doing so enables others to search for and find transformation in their life of faith.£8.99 -
The Sacramental Sea : A Spiritual Voyage through Christian History
Scripture & PrayerWhy do so many people feel a spiritual connection with the sea? Why does so much of our art, poetry and expressions of religious experience draw so heavily on imagery of its power, its wideness and its depth? These are questions at the heart of The Sacramental Sea, a unique exploration of our complex relationship with the seas and the oceans through history. In charting our changing religious attitudes towards it over time, Edmund Newell paints a striking picture of the sea as highly sacramental: a powerful representation of, and pointer to, God. The Sacramental Sea closes with a timely call for us all to view the current environmental crisis - including rising sea levels - as one of the most pressing spiritual issues of our time.£16.99