Giving it Up
It’s not long now till Lent. Have you got your Lent book yet? There is plenty of good stuff out there…
My Lent book for 2010 is called Giving it Up. It’s a book of 47 short chapters, so you can read one every day through Lent. This is the theme: most people associate Lent with giving something up – like beer or coffee or chocolate. But if you really want to understand and know what the whole “God” thing is about, there is something much more important that you have to give up – it’s your existing concept of God, all the ideas about God that you’ve accumulated, often unconsciously, from all over the place.
People in the Bible had to do it (like Moses, for instance). All kinds of early Christians had to do it (like Gregory of Nyssa, St Augustine, Ignatius of Loyola, for instance). Various characters in the history of the Church have recorded how they had to give up the idea of the God they didn’t believe in in order to become a believer. These and others feature in the book, along with some other Lent challenges, Bible stories and contemporary reflections.
It’s available in various bookshops and direct from the publisher. If you click here to order it via the Amazon UK or USA links below, you will also be supporting this blog. Thanks for reading!
6 Responses to “Giving it Up”
Comments
Reply
-
author musician theologian
Maggi has kept a blog since September 2003, writing about theology and faith, the arts and literature, and a little about life and random nonsense...
This title focuses on the importance of understanding who God is - and who he is not. It explores the core Lenten idea of 'giving up', taking it beyond the traditional idea of simply abstaining from something.
This book compares and contrasts the different Gospel narratives of Christ's coming. It is designed specifically for use in 2007, highlighting links to the Church calendar. It is intended for those wanting daily Bible readings for Advent.
-
Search
It’s also worth remembering that Latimer officiated at the burning of Father Forest, and he preached the sermon at that time. Father Forest, rather than being burned in the usual manner, was suspended over the flames, so that his death took longer and the pain was greater. Latimer was shown more kindness at his burning than he had himself shown to Forest. It’s a funny old world, isn’t it?
It was ironic that when Ann Widdecombe left the C of E for Rome, if I recall, she took the name in religion of Hugh (yes, really), after Hugh of Lincoln, and after the author of the great phrase quoted above about lighting a candle that would never be put out. Odd that someone heading into the arms of the Church of Rome would wish to champion such a strong and positive comment about the Reformation!
>”they had to give up the idea of the God they didn’t believe in in order to become a believer”
That’s pretty much the point I have reached, so very timely.
Bought my copy from Amazon already Maggie. Also bought a 3rd copy of Beginning and Endings for a good friend. Really looking forward to lent although as a Scottish Presbyterian I’ve not paid much attention to it before!
This looks great, thanks Maggi.
One problem however, is that a lot of other people still believe in the God I don’t believe in, and I think they are wrong.