Pssst! Wanna buy my book?


Dear Partiers,

Today's post is a shameless plug for my new book! OK, it's not totally my book, but I am one of several contributors to Walking with God Day by Day, a collection of short daily devotions (365 of them!) which has just been published by Forward Movement.  And it is yellow, which is my favorite color. And I'm the author featured on the back cover, which made my mom really happy.

If you're like me, you may have meant to start the New Year off right with a new book of devotional reading, but you might have not actually gotten around to procuring actual reading materials. But, it's still early in the New Year, and to sweeten the deal, The Rev. Scott Gunn, Executive Director of Forward Movement (and fellow celebrity blogger from last year's Lent Madness fun) is offering you, my Large Party readers, a 25% discount on the book.  And if you were thinking of some devotional reading for Lent, well, now you've got a chance to get way ahead of that game.  

(And speaking of Lent games, stay tuned for news about the new, bigger, more-r improved Lent Madness this year! It turns out that our fun with Perpetua vs. Thomas Becket last year was one of Fr Tim's most-read posts of the year, which means that Lent Madness is going to get its own blog this year! And of course you'll want to vote for my saints! But I digress.)

So, here are Scott's instructions on how to get the discount: order via Forward Movement's website or call (800-543-1813). Just use the code AUTH25, and they'll reduce the price of the book by 25%. Alas, the "antediluvian website" (Scott's term, not mine) won't show the discount right when you order, but they'll take it off when they process the order.

Or, if you want to get the book right away so you start your daily devotional reading RIGHT NOW, it's also available on Kindle and Nook (no discount, but it's already cheap there).
  
Below is a sample of what you'll find in the book - a sneak preview, if you will, of one of my reflections. I assure you that the other authors' contributions are even better and they will make wonderful spiritual companions for you throughout the year. I've really enjoyed being part of this project - it was fun to write and fun to see the book published and now really meaningful to stop and read from it every day.





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Journeying

“Journey” is an important theme in religious life. The followers of Jesus called themselves followers of the Way. Jesus called himself the Way. We have a vast tradition of pilgrimage in fact and literature—from fourth-century Egeria’s diary from Jerusalem, to Chaucer’s fourteenth- century Canterbury Talesfrom imagined English pilgrims, to modern day pilgrims young and old in Iona or Assisi or walking the Camino Real through Spain.

In that other great religious tradition, sports, there is also the theme of journey, on-the-road-to, which is ubiquitous in the sporting world. In the spring, NCAA basketball teams will be on the road to the finals in New Orleans. During the Olympics, feature stories traces various athletes’ journeys to the Gold (medal). Every year there is a“Road to the Superbowl.”

Many of us characterize our spiritual life as a journey and our- selves as pilgrims, seeking God, seeking the Holy, seeking, seeking. We call ourselves seekers. We place ourselves, or sometimes simply find ourselves, on the Way. We know that life is a journey; life in God is a journey; life together is a journey.

What do we hope to find? Is the destination the thing, or is it about the journey? Was Jesus “On the Road to the Cross?” Is Advent the “Journey to Christmas” and Lent the “Journey to Easter?” Are we willing and able to hold them both, journey and destination, in tension—developing the eyes to see and the ears to hear the wonders and the mysteries as we move among them—so that in the end, wherever and whatever that end is, we know we have come near the heart of God? —Penny Nash




Comments

Perpetua said…
That looks brilliant, Penny and I wish you much success with it. It's the kind of thing I would love to find in our church-run bookshop in Mid-Wales.
Thanks, Perpetua! You'll have to get writing yourself to produce something in Wales, then!