A Time to Read….
The well-known passage from the book of Ecclesiastes describes the different seasons of our lives – a time to weep, a time to laugh, a time to sow, a time to reap. The writer doesn’t mention reading but the season of Lent is a time when people often choose a book to read. Here are a few suggestions….
Embracing Justice by Isabelle Hamley – this is the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lent book for 2022. It weaves together biblical texts, different voices, contemporary stories, and personal and group meditations to help us ways to engage more fully as Christians and reflect the justice, mercy and compassion of Christ in our lives.
Feast and Fast – Food for Lent and Easter by Christina Rees. Lent is traditionally a period of abstinence, so should you deny yourself little luxuries such as chocolate or alcohol? Or should you do something positive and, if so, what? How best can you nourish your body and soul through this special period in the year? In this book we are taken on a spiritual and culinary exploration of the Christian traditions around fasting and feasting in Lent and Easter. It’s full of recipes as well as spiritual nourishment.
The Things He Said by Archbishop Stephen Cottrell. There have been many books which reflect on the last seven words of Christ on the cross but in this book Archbishop Stephen reflects on those words that Jesus spoke after his Resurrection. This book helps us to look afresh at stories which for church-goers have often become familiar but which are of course truly remarkable.
Women of Holy Week: An Easter Journey in Nine Stories by Paula Gooder
The Biblical scholar Paula Gooder always writes in a very accessible way and always makes me see things from a different angle. This book, which is illustrated, helps us to enter into the Passion story through the events and characters of Holy Week and was based on a series of addresses she gave at Southwark Cathedral during Holy Week last year. This book is one of my own choices for this Lent!