In contemporary Western society the church has been pushed to the margins, leading experts to describe the current era as a time 'after Christendom'. Many traditional churches and congregations are struggling, a condition worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic regulations. As the practice of churchgoing wanes, the performance of the sacrament is called into question. How can we bring the traditional, communal experience of sacrament into the modern world? In Sacraments after Christendom, Andrew Francis and Janet Sutton tackle this question head-on, exploring and discussing the enactment of the sacrament in the context of church decline and an increasingly isolated world. In doing so, they deconstruct traditional perceptions and broaden our understanding of ritual and community in order to rediscover the truth of the sacrament.

Winner of a 2006 Logos Book Award Do you long for a deep, fundamental change in your life with God? Do you desire a greater intimacy with God? Do you wonder how you might truly live your life as God created you to live it? Spiritual disciplines are activities that open us to God's transforming love and the changes that only God can bring about in our lives. Picking up on the monastic tradition of creating a "rule of life" that allows for regular space for the practice of the spiritual disciplines, this book takes you more deeply into understanding seven key disciplines along with practical ideas for weaving them into everyday life. Each chapter includes exercises to help you begin the practices--individually and in a group context. The final chapter puts it all together in a way that will help you arrange your life for spiritual transformation. The choice to establish your own sacred rhythm is the most important choice you can make with your life.

SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'Steele writes with an infectious understanding of her subject' MARK OAKLEY, CHURCH TIMES How can we convey the love of God to our neighbours in a post-Christian world that has largely forgotten the gospel of Jesus Christ? In Living His Story, the Archbishop of Canterbury's Lent Book 2021, Hannah Steele uncovers liberating and practical ways of sharing the gospel story afresh. With warmth and encouragement, she shows us how we can live Jesus' story in our own lives simply by being the people God made us and allowing people to be drawn to him through our natural gifts. Living His Story is a Lent devotional that will change the way you think about evangelism, show how ideally suited it is for the world we live in and fill you with confidence in sharing God's love with the people around you. Set out in six sessions to take you through Lent, each chapter of the 2021 Archbishop of Canterbury's Lent book can be used as a single study for individuals or small groups to prepare for Easter. It will help you find space to see evangelism from a new practical perspective.

* Reflections follow the practices of The Way of Love-Turn, Learn, Pray, Worship, Bless, Go, Rest * Each devotion includes a passage of scripture, a story, and reflection questions * Perfect during Lent or any time of year "Living the Way of Love" offers forty brief reflections about the seven Jesus-centered practices identified by Presiding Bishop Michael Curry in "The Way of Love" initiative. Sullivan tells stories from her own and others' experiences as a starting point for discussion about how to seek and find a deeper connection to God. Rotating through each practice so that each is covered once a week, going deeper into the practice throughout the forty days, each reflection ends with questions designed to spur further discussion and assist readers in making the practices their own. Perfect for using as a Lenten devotional or at any time of the year, the book includes a guide for creating a personal rule of life, and a downloadable Facilitator's Guide.

God thinks the world is worth saving and invites us to believe this too. For anyone who thinks Lent is a seemingly endless time of self-sacrifice and introspection, this 6-week study offers a breath of fresh air. Author George Donigian challenges readers to connect their inner spiritual life with outward actions of compassion in the world. He inspires readers to pray about daily news events and respond to the needs around them by serving others, feeding the hungry, fighting injustice, offering healing, and extending friendship. Give up apathy for Lent this year

Existing books on Christian ritual and the sacraments tend to presuppose a good acquaintance with Roman Catholic thought and practice. Today, however, even at Catholic institutions students tend to lack even a basic knowledge of Christian ritual. Moreover, for many modern people the word "ritual" carries negative connotations of rigidity and boredom. In this accessibly-written book two noted authors offer an engaging introduction to this important topic. Their goal is first to demonstrate that celebration, ritual and symbol are already central to the readers' lives, even though most do not see their actions as symbolic or ritualistic. Once this point has been made, the book connects central Christian symbols to the symbols and rituals already present in the readers' lives. The Christian theology of symbol, ritual, and sacrament is thus placed in the context of everyday life. The authors go on to discuss such questions as how rituals establish and maintain power relationships, how "official" rituals are different from other "popular" Christian rituals and devotions, and how Christian rituals function in the process of human "salvation." Their lively yet solidly grounded work will appeal to intelligent lay readers and discussion groups, as well as being useful for courses in ritual and the sacraments at the undergraduate and seminary level.

One of the great achievements of twentieth-century theology, Joseph Jungmann's work is a comprehensive study of the origins, evolution, and theology of the Mass from its earliest forms to the dawn of Vatican II. With a revised chapter previously unavailable in the two-volume edition.

Bryan Spinks is one of the world's leading scholars in the field of liturgy and to have a comprehensive work by him on the Eucharist is a major catch for SCM. Like the author's previous work on Baptism, this will become a standard work about the Eucharist and Eucharistic theology worldwide. The book, a study of the history and theology of the Eucharist, is the fifth volume in the SCM Studies in Worship and Liturgy series and will help to establish the series as a place for landmark books of liturgical scholarship. This book will be aimed at undergraduate and graduate theology students, clergy and theologically literate laity. It will assume some technical knowledge (i. e. it is not an introduction to liturgy or introduction to sacraments), but will attempt to outline what the evidence is, and what current scholars think. On occasions it will advance or argue for why one interpretation is preferable to another.

Anne Fedele offers a comprehensive ethnography of alternative pilgrimages to French Catholic shrines dedicated to Saint Mary Magdalene. Drawing on more than three years of extensive fieldwork, she describes how pilgrims from Italy, Spain, Britain, and the United States interpret Catholic figures, symbols, and sites according to spiritual theories and practices derived from the transnational Neopagan movement. Fedele pays particular attention to the life stories of the pilgrims, the crafted rituals they perform, and the spiritual-esoteric literature they draw upon. She examines how they devise their rituals; why this kind of spirituality is increasingly prevalent in the West; and the influence of anthropological literature on the pilgrims. Among these pilgrims, spirituality is lived and negotiated in interaction with each other and with textual sources: Jungian psychology, Goddess mythology, and ''indigenous'' traditions merge into a corpus of theories and practices centered upon the worship of divinities such as the Goddess, Mother Earth, and the sacralization of the reproductive cycle. The pilgrims' rituals present a critique of the Roman Catholic Church and the medical establishment and have critical implications for contemporary discourses on gender. Looking for Mary Magdalene is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in ritual and pilgrimage.

"A Pilgrim's Guide to Iona Abbey" gives you the opportunity to walk around the Abbey church and cloisters with suggestions for reflection and prayer. If you have not visited the Abbey it is an excellent tool with which to help visualise the sites of Iona. Included are some stories about the Abbey and life in the community from the perspective of Iona Community members. At each point of your pilgrimage around the Abbey and the Abbey grounds you will find: some background information; a reflection; and a simple prayer. 'Iona is a place where people come looking for answers - to get in touch with their spiritual needs and find a new vision of themselves and their lives, and of our lives together.' From "A Pilgrim's Guide to Iona Abbey": Candles in the Abbey Some candles flickered in a downdraft; some stood still, lighting, in orange flame, the precious dark. Their silence created silence; their dimness in so vast a space soothed the restless soul. Their light was a quiet presence that spoke of the light, the real presence, come to meet us at the appointed place. He was there, though human eyes are not given to see him. Hearts, open to receive him, rested awhile in a circle of peace. David Levison is a member of the Iona Community.