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Reviews
Meeting Jesus – human responses to a yearning God By Jeremy Duff and Joanna McGrath, SPCK, £9.99
Have you ever considered how much God yearns for you? When you read the gospels, they tell of many meetings between Jesus and individual people… the eternal meeting of God with humanity is played out in the world of human thought, feelings, actions and relationships. If we take the opportunity to participate in these parables, we will be struck by just how strong God’s yearning is for us, ‘his lost people’.
Anyone looking for a different, challenging and thought-provoking book on encountering God will profit from the fresh insights communicated here.
Telling the Bible – over 100 stories to read out loud By Bob Hartman, Monarch, £10.99
Do you enjoy telling stories? If so, here is an invaluable book of ideas and suggestions to help you tell Bible stories. Bob Hartman’s book is a wonderful way for adults and children alike to discover and enjoy the Bible’s most gripping stories, all retold by a master storyteller.
The stories come from both Old Testament and New Testament. There are stories for individual and group performances, stories for the major Christian festivals, stories for a variety of age groups. Your stories will be remembered long after the service or event in which they featured has slipped from memory.
As one leading Christian has said: “Bob Hartman is to storytelling what David Beckham is to football. An absolute master. Give him a story and no one will bend it like him.”
Risking Romance Again – dating after divorce By David Robertson, friendsfirst, £7.99
Are you divorced? Have you thought about venturing back into another relationship? Bit wary of the risks involved? This book might be a tremendous help to you. It takes a very honest look, from a Christian perspective, at dating after divorce. It raises the issues that can distort new friendships, identifies the root causes of difficult situations, and encourages those who have experienced broken relationships to move forward constructively. The writer is vicar who divorced after 18 years of marriage, spent five years as a lone parent, and then got married again – having met his second wife through the Christian friendship agency, friendsfirst. It is a wise and very practical book.
Through the Dark Woods – a young woman’s journey out of depression By Joanna Swinney, Monarch, £6.99
Depression has been called ‘the common cold of mental health’. One in five of us will experience depression. Suffers include Winston Churchill, Henri Nouwen, Joni Mitchell, Vincent Van Gogh, and the preachers Luther, Spurgeon and Wesley.
This book looks at what effect depression will have on your romances, your job prospects, your longsuffering family, your walk with God.
It also offers some sensible, practical strategies that can help: keep a journal, pray short punchy prayers, find safe places, pay attention to your dreams, laugh at silly jokes. All in all, here is delightful, shrewd, warm book – written by a survivor.
Making the most of Midlife By Julia McGuiness, SPCK, £8.99
You know what they say about middle age: the worst thing is that you know you’ll outgrow it. If in the meantime, you are simply trying to survive it, this book may be for you.
Midlife has a landscape all its own – it is full of transition, with potential crises all around you. Is your faith nurturing you, or stale? What about your marriage? Or your singleness? Your children are flying the nest, your career opportunities narrow with every passing year…. you’ve got problems!
The book looks at how you can – make peace with the past and engage with the present cope with ageing and relationships, and identity and vocation develop your spirituality gain hope for your future leave the best legacy that you can
Dreams – the path to wholeness By Lisa Cornwell, SPCK, £14.99
What do you make of your dreams? This author believes that they are all intended for your ultimate good. If you listen to your dreams, they will help you see yourself as you really are – and discern what you might yet become.
The world of the dreamer is a personal sacred space open to the healing and transforming power of God. So why not explore your dreams, and see how they can offer a map for your inner journey? The books offers a variety of insights and wisdom of human physiology, psychology and spirituality, and provides a range of helpful knowledge, examples and practical tools.
Lisa Cornwell is a priest in the Church of England who has done academic research into function of dreams for furthering understanding of self and God.
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