Loving My Neighbour, edited by Olivia Warburton 

Much to stimulate reflection and action in this seven week devotional featuring different writers 
 

Loving My Neighbour
edited by Olivia Warburton
BRF
ISBN: 978 1 80039 215 1
Reviewed by John Matthews

 
Sub-titled ‘A Lenten journey’, this book has a printed Bible passage, followed by a comment of two to three pages and a brief prayer for every day from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday.

Its distinctive feature is that the contributions each week are by different writers. Sanjee Perera begins with ‘Loving in truth’, followed by John Swinton on ‘Loving those who are vulnerable’ and Esther Kuku on ‘Loving those who are suffering’. These are followed by Gemma Simmonds on ‘Loving oneself’ and Inderjit Bhogal on ‘Loving those who are different’.

Baptist minister Dave Gregory writes on ‘Loving the world around us’ and includes helpful practical suggestions for doing this.

Finally, Joanna Collicutt  takes us through Holy Week on the theme of ‘Loving to the end’, using Jesus’ seven words from the cross. At the beginning of every week there is a very brief introduction to the writer and a longer one to the theme. The NIV and NRSV are the versions most often but others also feature, and there is a index of the biblical readings used.
 
Although some contributions have rather more to do with the stated theme than others, and there are statements which I questioned, there is also much to stimulate reflection and action, as illustrated by the following quotations. One from each writer for balance!
 
 ‘The nature of Christian faith has changed as our emphasis on personal faith has overwhelmed our corporate identity in Christ...’ (Perera).
 
‘What would it be like if we became hospitable people who truly welcomed those who the world considers strangers?’ (Swinton)
 
‘...to keep asking why is the quickest route to insanity. The best advice is to get comfortable with not knowing. God is not going to give us all the answers – we wouldn’t need to trust him if he did.' (Kuku)
 
'The Cloud of Unknowing states that it is not what we are, or what we have been, but what we want to be that God sees, with merciful eyes.' (Simmonds)
 
'Respectful conversations with those who are different from us can help us to see how abundant God’s grace is, bring us closer to Jesus and grow our courage in confronting prejudice.' (Bhogal)
 
'Perhaps we need to look at the covenant of bread and wine through a new rainbow lens. As with God’s rainbow promise, God’s new covenant in Jesus is marked by created things.' (Gregory)
 
'To have the mind of Christ is to re-member the broken, recognise the forgotten and stand in solidarity with those whom the world rejects. This is particularly important and challenging where a person is living with and dying from dementia.' (Collicutt)
 
This is a worthwhile book which I recommend to all who find a ‘day by day’ Lent (or 40 day) book helpful.
 
 

John Matthews is a retired Baptist minister living in Rushden, Northants