Bookstore: Staff Pick for April
Looking for something spiritually nourishing to read while you are quarantining at home? The bookstore can mail books to you at home. Here is our “staff pick” for this month.
Walk in Love: Episcopal Beliefs and Practices
By Scott Gunn and Melody Wilson Shobe
A line very familiar to Episcopalians is one we often here before the Offertory from the book of Ephesians, “walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself for us, an offering a sacrifice to God.”
Thus the title for this book published by Forward Movement which is the perfect introduction to what it means to be an Episcopalian and to worship in this tradition. This line encourages us to walk in love in all that we do in response to the offering and sacrifice of God in Jesus Christ.
So too, Scott Gunn and Melody Shobe’s book encourages us to walk through the Book of Common Prayer learning why we believe what we believe and why we do what we do in our worship as outlined in the Book of Common Prayer. Divided into seven sections, the book begins by introducing the Beliefs and Practices in The Anglican Way of Christianity, then explains the sacraments and the rites of each of them. The next section on Marking Time guides the reader through the practice of prayer including the Daily Office, the Liturgical Seasons specifically Holy Week and Easter and the final journey, the Burial Office.
Continuing with a section on our Basic Beliefs as stated in our creeds, our Bible and our prayers, one on our church and its structure and governance and vocation, then what it means to live a Trinitarian Life, the book ends with a section called “What’s Next,” which encourages the reader to find his or her spiritual practices and how to tell our stories, recognizing that our own stories all weave together with The Great Story, the one of humankind.
This book has been used at our church in many ways, both as a Wednesday night class offering as well as an Adult Confirmation and Inquirer’s class. It is a great handbook for understanding the prayer book and would make a lovely complement to the Book of Common Prayer if you are looking for a confirmation gift or even a gift marking a special occasion.
Owene Courtney
Director of Formation and Spirituality
Available by mail order in the bookstore for $22—free
shipping!! Email the bookstore at [email protected]
for more information.
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