Guidelines January to April 2012
Bible study for today's ministry and mission
Commissioned by Revd Dr Jeremy Duff, Edited by Lisa Cherrett
Currently out of print £3.90This regular reading of the Bible anchors my spiritual life. The Bible Reading Fellowship has consistently enabled me to hear God's word and I would not be without their help. I am deeply grateful to their editors and writers over many years.
Very Rev Professor Iain Torrance, President of Princeton Theological Seminary
Content
Guidelines is a unique Bible reading resource that offers four months of in-depth study written by leading scholars. Contributors are drawn from around the world, as well as the UK, and represent a stimulating and thought-provoking breadth of Christian tradition.
Instead of the usual dated daily readings, Guidelines provides weekly units, broken into at least six sections, plus an introduction giving context for the passage and a final section of points for thought and prayer.
On any day you can read as many or as few sections as you wish, to fit in with work or home routine. As well as a copy of Guidelines, you will need a Bible. Each contributor also suggests books for further study.
Published every four months (in January, May and September), commissioned by Canon Dr Jeremy Duff and edited by Lisa Cherrett.
The Editor writes...
Communication is at the heart of most things. Rarely does an article or talk on relationships not boil down to 'communication'; churches and businesses alike identify 'improving communication' as an important aim; many of us seek to hear 'God's word to us' and 'by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present requests to God' (Philippians 4:6). In different ways, communication with God is at the heart of this edition.
This is most explicit in our first contribution - 'God's creative communication' by Abby Guinness. Abby is an artist and helps us think about the ways in which God speaks, that we might both listen and copy. Then a second new contributor, Andrew Angel, begins a study of Mark, our Gospel for this year. The opening chapters immediately plunge us into God's communication with us - 'a voice crying out' - and the response, both good and bad, that we make to it. Next, Justin Welby helps us face the idea of 'coping with danger'. How does our relationship with God function, and how is communication with God meaningful, when we are faced with danger? These ideas continue in our regular instalment of the Psalms guided by Henry Wansbrough, since many of our psalms this time are cries to God for help in difficult situations.
Communication is very much at the heart of Janet Fletcher's notes on 'wrestling with God', where we come to grips with times when hearing clearly from God and trusting him are not easy. These notes are followed by a study of Numbers 1 - 17, guided by Margaret Guite. Here we find the Israelites in the desert, trying to learn what it means to be God's people. Then we have two weeks by Barry Hill - first on Holy Week seen through the lens of Psalm 22, a cry to God of pain and hope. Then comes Easter Week, when we seek to grasp the message of what God has done, and move from merely seeing to believing.
Finally, editor Jeremy Duff is our guide to the letter of James, who begins by facing the difficulties of trials and temptations, and insists that our faith must lead to action. If our lives don't change, perhaps we have not truly heard God's message.
We hope that, through studying the scriptures accompanied by this edition of Guidelines, you will truly heard God's word speaking into your life and find the encouragement and strength to live out that message.
In this issue:
God's creative communication
Abby Guinness
2-15 January
Mark 1:1 - 3:6
Andrew Angel
16 January-5 February
Coping with danger
Justin Welby
6-12 February
Psalms 64 - 76
Henry Wansbrough
13-26 February
Wrestling with God
Janet Fletcher
27 February-11 March
Numbers 1 - 17
Margaret Guite
12 March-1 April
Holy Week and Easter Week
Barry Hill
2-15 April
James
Jeremy Duff
16-29 April
About the contributors in this issue:
Andrew Angel lectures at St John's College, Nottingham and is an Anglican priest. In addition to parish ministry, he has taught in secondary schools and higher education. He has published articles in theological journals and written Chaos and the Son of Man (LSTS 60; T&T Clark, 2006). Andrew is married to Carol Fabiola and they have two sons.
Jeremy Duff is a vicar in Widnes with a teaching and writing ministry, which has included posts at Liverpool Cathedral and within Oxford University. His writings include Meeting Jesus: Human Responses to a Yearning God (SPCK, 2006) and The Elements of New Testament Greek (CUP, 2005).
Janet Fletcher is a priest at Prescot in Liverpool Diocese, and coordinator of the Diocesan Spiritual Director Training Course. She offers spiritual direction and quiet days, and leads courses on prayer and spirituality. She has written Pathway to God: Following the Way in Prayer (SPCK, 2006).
Abby Guinness is an actor and writer who specialises in biblical material. Her first book, The Word of the Wives: monologues from the unheard women of the Bible, explores Bible stories from the point of view of the main characters' WAGs. She is closely involved with Lacey Theatre Company and currently heads up the arts for Spring Harvest.
Margaret Guite is an Anglican priest. During the 1980s she taught doctrine in two colleges of the Cambridge Theological Federation. Since then she has been serving in various parishes in the Diocese of Ely and is currently parish priest of St Mark's, Cambridge, and an honorary canon of Ely.
Barry Hill was ordained in 2005. He has worked for the past three years as Diocesan Mission Enabler for the Diocese of Leicester, supporting and resourcing parishes and Fresh Expressions in mission. He is married to Peppie, who is also ordained, and they have two young children.
Henry Wansbrough OSB is a monk at Ampleforth Abbey in Yorkshire. He is Executive Secretary of the International Commission for Producing an English-Language Lectionary (ICPEL) for the Roman Catholic Church, and lectures frequently across the globe.
Justin Welby is Dean of Liverpool. Previously, as Canon of Coventry Cathedral, he was responsible for Coventry's international ministry of reconciliation. Justin is also the Personal and Ethical Adviser to the UK Association of Corporate Treasurers, and lectures extensively on ethics and finance.
View items in similar categoriesEndorsements
This regular reading of the Bible anchors my spiritual life. The Bible Reading Fellowship has consistently enabled me to hear God's word and I would not be without their help. I am deeply grateful to their editors and writers over many years.
Very Rev Professor Iain Torrance, President of Princeton Theological Seminary
I find Guidelines a very useful resource for my personal devotions. The combination of an academic consideration of the text with practical comments on issues of faith and discipleship provides me me with helpful encouragement, stimulation and challenge at the start of the day.
Revd Dr Christopher Blake, Principal, Cliff College, Derbyshire
Reviews
Catherine Wagstaff writes...
I have used 'Guidelines' for many years now and the Bible study notes have never failed to stimulate and challenge my thinking. The contributions from the wide variety of writers help me either to widen my theological perspective on a theme (the recent notes on money and economics being an excellent example), to look more deeply into a portion of scripture or to examine what the Bible has to say about particular themes relating to our calling as followers of Christ. My love of the Psalms in particular has been reinvigorated over the past months by a regular 'dip' into the book! As a local preacher in the Methodist Church I pray that the consequent increase in my understanding in turn benefits the congregations for whom I lead worship. For those seeking in-depth study which is at once creative, challenging and knowledge enhancing I could not recommend Guidelines highly enough.
I was introduced to the Bible Reading Fellowship by the late Ian Thomson about 40 years ago. Since then, I have read Guidelines daily. This regular reading of the Bible anchors my spiritual life. The Bible Reading Fellowship has consistently enabled me to hear God's word and I would not be without their help. I am deeply grateful to their editors and writers over many years.
Reviewed by Very Rev Professor Iain Torrance, President of Princeton Theological Seminary and a former Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland
From other Guidelines readers
'Always food for thought'
'I have read daily from Guidelines for many years and have always found it helpful and often thought-provoking.'
'I enjoy Guidelines very much.'
'Many excellent contributions'
'I have really appreciated each day and have found much to think about.'
'All your commentators are good, and I appreciate the daily notes very much.'
Book details
- ISBN: 9781841016672
- Published: 01 November 2011
- Status:
- Format: Paperback
- Pages: 160
