When I Survey....Christ’s Cross and Ours
A Course in Five Sessions
by John Pridmore
GoodBookStall Review:
Also available, an audio tape £6.99, CD £8.99, transcript of the words spoken on the CD/tape, £2.99 and a ‘taster pack’ with CD for £15.99
This course is available in what, to York Course devotees, is the usual format, a booklet with accompanying CD/audiotape and text transcript. The latter offers a discussion with a panel of eminent Churchpersons, on this occasion a contrasting group: John Bell of the Iona Community, General Sir Richard Dannatt former head of the British Army, and Dr Christina Baxter who is principal of St Johns Theological College, Nottingham, with a closing Reflection to each session by Revd Dr Colin Morris, former President of the Methodist Conference.
This course makes us think both inwardly of ourselves, and outwardly towards others, children, those who are excluded or ignored. We begin with the bleakness of the cross, what that image means for us and how we deal with that, linking it to times of personal doubt or anxiety. We pass on to consider silence, our need for it in a world so full of noise, remembering Jesus’ requirement for time on his own. How does God speak into our silence? Our silence is broken then by a consideration of children, so full of energy and chatter. Yet they are vulnerable and can be the objects of abuse. How does the Church welcome children? is something which never seems to find a satisfactory answer. Outside a city wall, brings us face to face with exclusion. How do we embrace all God’s people, even those who wouldn’t admit to any faith? The course ends by putting us at the foot of the cross. We explore how that agony and despair may be transformed through Christ’s death into signs of hope.
This is a stimulating course, with speakers who offer stimulating insights, even though we may not agree with them all. It is a series for Lent that may, if we let it, take us where we need rather than want to go, and which will offer us the possibility of reassurance even in the face of uncertainty. I would certainly recommend it.
Reviewer: Paul Scott (18/01/10)
Also available, an audio tape £6.99, CD £8.99, transcript of the words spoken on the CD/tape, £2.99 and a ‘taster pack’ with CD for £15.99
This course is available in what, to York Course devotees, is the usual format, a booklet with accompanying CD/audiotape and text transcript. The latter offers a discussion with a panel of eminent Churchpersons, on this occasion a contrasting group: John Bell of the Iona Community, General Sir Richard Dannatt former head of the British Army, and Dr Christina Baxter who is principal of St Johns Theological College, Nottingham, with a closing Reflection to each session by Revd Dr Colin Morris, former President of the Methodist Conference.
This course makes us think both inwardly of ourselves, and outwardly towards others, children, those who are excluded or ignored. We begin with the bleakness of the cross, what that image means for us and how we deal with that, linking it to times of personal doubt or anxiety. We pass on to consider silence, our need for it in a world so full of noise, remembering Jesus’ requirement for time on his own. How does God speak into our silence? Our silence is broken then by a consideration of children, so full of energy and chatter. Yet they are vulnerable and can be the objects of abuse. How does the Church welcome children? is something which never seems to find a satisfactory answer. Outside a city wall, brings us face to face with exclusion. How do we embrace all God’s people, even those who wouldn’t admit to any faith? The course ends by putting us at the foot of the cross. We explore how that agony and despair may be transformed through Christ’s death into signs of hope.
This is a stimulating course, with speakers who offer stimulating insights, even though we may not agree with them all. It is a series for Lent that may, if we let it, take us where we need rather than want to go, and which will offer us the possibility of reassurance even in the face of uncertainty. I would certainly recommend it.
Reviewer: Paul Scott (18/01/10)
