Archbishop of Canterbury Lent Books

If you were looking for a book to read in Lent, why not go to the Archbishop of Canterbury and see what the occupant of that office has recommended over the last several years?  This year, Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury has made "Barefoot Disciple:  Walking the Way of Passionate Humility," by Stephen Cherry his "Lent Book of 2011."  I have thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, and am now working my way through sections of it for a second time.  


One of the central questions of the book is whether we can develop our humility?  There is an implicit problem with the idea of developing one's humility, which is, as soon as we might recognize, "hey I'm building up my humility, I am doing a great job," we actually are probably not embodying humility as much as before.  We can fall into the trap of being proud about our humility...


Stephen Cherry works the reader through this potential pitfall, and also develops his concept of the "Barefoot disciple" who embraces what he calls "passionate humility."  


It is a wonderful book, and I highly recommend it.  Also, below are several of the Archbishop of Canterbury Lent books from the last several years.  I have read several of them, and highly recommend them.


Praying that we may keep a holy Lent,


Peace and Blessings,


~The Rev. Peter M. Carey

Archbishop of Canterbury's Lent Books

1983 The Truce of God by Rowan Williams

1988 Looking Before and After by Helen Oppenheimer

1992 Tested by the Cross - Wesley Carr

1993 Mary's Story, Mary's Song by Elaine Storkey

1997 Pilgrims by Stephen Platten

1998 The Shape of Living by David Ford

1999 Living Well by Robert Warren

2001 Christ on Trial by Rowan Williams

2002 The Meaning in the Miracles by Jeffrey John

2004  I Thirst by Stephen Cottrell

2005 Other Temptations of Jesus by John Henson

2006 Free of Charge by Miroslav Volf

2007 Power and Passion by Sam Wells

2009 Why go to church? by Timothy Radcliffe

2010 Our Sound is Our Wound: Contemplative Listening to a Noisy World by Lucy Winkett

"My ultimate epitaph should be, 'I went to Bates.' " ~Peter Gomes

‎"except for my parents, I owe everything valuable, precious and honorable to Bates.... 

My ultimate epitaph should be, 'I went to Bates.'" ~Peter Gomes

A holy Lent, a whole Lent?

We pray that we might lead a holy Lent.  A holy Lent.  Holy.  Lent.  Holiness has to do with being whole; that to live in a whole way, we must consider our sinfulness, but also consider our blessedness.

All too often, the church has been a reminder of our sinfulness, of the ways that we don’t live up to God’s gift, of the ways that we fall down, and the church has all too often only been a source of reminding us of this sinfulness.  All too often, I find myself encountering people who are in some sense “recovering” Christians – be they Episcopalians, Baptists, Roman Catholics, Presbyterians or whatever room of the great mansion they may come from.  They are, in some senses “recovering” from the baggage laid on them, and perhaps also, I am sorry to say, abuse. 

Speaking of sin is important, because it can help us to really live in such a way that we know that we can’t “do it” all on our own.  As Paul said, he “sees the good, but can’t do it.”  We may know in our hearts and minds what it might mean to live well and good and lovingly and morally, but sometimes, we just can’t quite make it happen.  Speaking of sin is important for the Church because it is a helpful antedote to arrogance and narcissism.  Speaking of sin is important, in order to help us to focus more on God and our neighbor than on our self.

Speaking of sin, however, can’t be all that the church does. . .  we also need to remember that we are blessed! 

Living up to our full humanity

Rest in Peace Peter Gomes!

"The question should not be "What would Jesus do?" but rather, more dangerously, "What would Jesus have me do?" The onus is not on Jesus but on us, for Jesus did not come to ask semi-divine human beings to do impossible things. He came to ask human beings to live up to their full humanity; he wants us to live in the full implication of our human gifts, and that is far more demanding." 

~ The Rev. Peter Gomes

March 2011 ~ Emmanuel Way Article ~ The Rev. Peter M. Carey

The Rev. Peter M. Carey

Emmanuel Way Column ~ March 2011

With the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday on March 9th, it is a good time to take on a new practice during these 40 days. Some people strive to give up something that they love in order to bring greater focus upon our need for God in our lives.

This practice has been a fruitful one for many people for centuries. Are you “giving something up” something for Lent? Whether you are or not, you might think about “taking on” the practice of reading along with your fellow parishioners here at Emmanuel.

During the Adult Forum sessions on March 27th and April 3rd, groups of people will gather to discuss three books which we hope will be fun to read and also help us to see things in a new way. The three choices (and you are welcome to read all three!) are:

1) Neve:Virginia’s Thousandfold Man, by our own Frances “Jack” Scruby which is a wonderful book which describes this most remarkable man and the work that he did in our own area; 2) Mudhouse Sabbath, by Lauren Winner which is another wonderful book by a woman who grew up as an Orthodox Jew and later became an Episcopalian.  In her book, she reflects on the Jewish roots of the many practices of her faith, and she wrote much of the book on the Charlottesville Downtown Mall at the Mudhouse Coffeeshop, hence the name of the book, “Mudhouse Sabbath.” 3) Your Faith, Your Life by Jennifer Gamber is another great book that we examined a bit last Fall, and which has some great final chapters which discuss prayer and other ways that we live out our Faith.

So, please do choose to read one or more of these books. We have copies of Gamber’s book in the Parish Hall and the Neve book is available from Frances “Jack” Scruby. We will also have a few Mudhouse Sabbath books, and they are also available online and at some bookstores.

In addition to these three books, I would like to recommend a fascinating book called, “Barefoot Disciple: Walking the way of Passionate Humility,” by Stephen Cherry. This is the  Archbishop of Canterbury’ s

Lent book for 2011 and I recommend it highly. The book takes up the topic of humility, passionate humility, and explores several questions, including “how can we develop our humility?” If there is interest, I would love to find a time to gather to discuss this book, please let me know if you are interested.

Lastly, I have a recommendation for children of all ages, and this is a storybook Bible by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the former Archbishop of South Africa and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. “Children of God Storybook Bible,” is a wonderful retelling of many of the key Bible stories and would be a marvelous book to read with your families during Lent.

I pray that we are given the gift of keeping a holy Lent, and amidst the busy-ness of our lives, I also pray that we find time to read and explore our Faith with one another.

Peace and Blessings,

Peter+