Seasons of the Spirit

Content

'Watch and pray. Advent's motto is good for Lent, too, but I am too tired to pray. Even the short step into silence seems a marathon. I am tempted to sit down under the chestnut tree and hope that the new life that touches it one sunny morning will quicken me, too. Instead, I turn homewards. "O Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away..." The desert behind and in front of me stretches for ever... We both know, and can't know, that Easter will come. I keep an only half-sceptical eye out from angels.'

This book is a journey through the seasons of the year and also through the high days and holy days of the Church. In the company of saints present and past, we travel from Advent Sunday to Advent Sunday, looking for the Kingdom of Heaven and reflecting on the many ways in which God's love reaches out to embrace and transform the world. Interspersing prose with poetry, this is a book to read slowly and reflectively, stilling our minds to the rhythms of grace and opening our hearts to the peace that passes all understanding.

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• Prayer and Spirituality

Endorsements

It's wise and generous; it's accessible and full of insight; it refreshes the soul.
From the foreword by John Pritchard Bishop of Oxford

This book was a total delight from start to finish. It was a joy and a privilege to be let into the author's world and to share her life through the year. Thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to proofread one of the finest books - perhaps even the finest - that you have ever sent me.
Pamela Ward

Author info

Teresa Morgan is Fellow and Tutor in Ancient History at Oriel College, Oxford, and a self-supporting priest in the parish of Littlemore.

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Reviews

From The Good Bookstall - May 2010

This Bible Reading Fellowship volume takes Lent as the focus with the wisdom of the Advent motto, 'watch and pray.' Morgan brings the reader a collection of patient and caring readings that seek through nature, scripture, people and Christ to offer hope, possibility and peace.

This book journeys through the high days and holy days of the church calendar, straining to trace the presence of the kingdom of God in our lives. Teresa Morgan writes devotionally and with grace in this warm mix of poetry and prose.

Reviewed by Johnny Douglas

From The Church Times - June 2010

Teresa Morgan is a Fellow and Tutor in Ancient History at Oriel College, Oxford. She takes us on a journey through the church year, and through the Oxford area, where she works as non-stipendiary priest.

We look at major festivals and some minor ones. All seasons and events are approached with a sense that 'that deep unity of things, in which everything is both fully itself and part of everything else, is one of the most profound discoveries we make about the world.' This is a diary of faith which explores the author's relationship with God, the people around her, and the world.

In all seasons, there is a desire to see the Divine. Sometimes this is with a good deal of humour. The Jews were looking for a mighty deliverer, a king, the Messiah. The Shepherd's reaction to the Angel's message is: 'Israel is praying for salvation and you are sending a baby? Are you insane?'

On Mothering Sunday, of her mother she writes:

'More than anyone I know, she has a gift of celebrating the wonderful in the ordinary... she makes an art of everyday living. Everyone around her benefits from her mindfulness.' This is way the author herself approaches much of the book: nothing around her is taken for granted; nothing is just ordinary; but in all there is an opportunity to get a glimpse of the beyond in our midst. Like the Dennis in her book, she is someone 'who has stopped and stared a lot and sees deeply into things'. We are told: 'We need every glimpse of heaven we can get, or how shall we change the world to reflect it? Giving each other a glimpse of paradise, I reflect, is something we can all do from time to time.'

Time and again the author does this for us. This is a book to set you thinking, to widen the horizon of your faith.

Reviewed by Canon David Adam, former vicar of the Holy Island of Lindisfarne.

'This book was a total delight from start to finish. It was a joy and a privilege to be let into the author's world and to share her life through the year. Thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to proofread one of the finest books - perhaps even the finest - that you have ever sent me.'

Pamela Ward

Book details

• ISBN: 9781841017105
• Published: 19 February 2010
• Status:
• Format: paperback
• Pages: 128