Loving My Neighbour: A Lenten Journey

Transforming Ministry online 19.02.24. Review by Cavan Wood

Of all Christian books, one of the most difficult to write effectively is a Lent book, but this group project is a very helpful guide to the Lenten season and the personal reflection it should invoke. The book considers the topics of love: loving in truth, loving those who are vulnerable, loving those who are in suffering, loving oneself, loving those who are different, loving the world around us and finally loving to the end. It takes us on one of the most challenging of areas that we can truly love others who are not always lovable.

As a collection of daily Bible readings and reflections, it draws upon story and the experience of the writing team to develop its ideas. Despite having seven writers, it does cohere as a book, so credit goes to Olivia Warburton as the overall editor. It is important that we have little pen portraits of the writers so that we can understand a little of how they came to write and communicate in the way that they did. The use of Bible readings, reflections and prayers are useful.

Personally, I would have included some questions which could be used by individuals and for home groups which could have made the text more directly influential on us as readers. The picture of the Palm Sunday entrance is not really a good summary of the wide-ranging nature of the text: if the focus had been more on Holy Week, then this might be appropriate. This will be a good guide to help you through Lent and could be a good resource for a group during the season.
Reviewed by Cavan Wood

Church Times Lent book round up by Philip Welsh 19.01.24

In Loving My Neighbour, seven authors, from a range of Christian traditions, each take a week of daily Bible readings to immerse us in aspects of loving our neighbour, with Jonathan Swift’s sharp reminder that ‘We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another.’

Sanjee Perera looks at loving in truth, in freewheeling theological meditations that are by turns challenging and overwrought. John Swinton writes outstandingly about loving the vulnerable. ‘When we reflect upon the upside-down kingdom, we come to realise that the broken . . . are more important than anything else. We also discover that ‘they’ are in fact ‘us’.’

Esther Kuku strides into loving those who are suffering with the confidence of the saved. ‘We have been justified and we will be delivered out of every difficult circumstance we face.’ Sister Gemma Simmonds offers mature wisdom on the importance of loving oneself, and is sensitive to the ambivalence of love: ‘Knowing someone and being known by them at depth carries both grace and potential threat.’ She draws helpfully on Catholic tradition: for St Ignatius, ‘the heart of humility is not self-denigration but gratitude.’

Inderjit Bhogal writes powerfully about loving those who are different. The Old Testament tells us to love our neighbour as ourselves once, but to love the stranger 40 times. His exposition of Gospel stories is exemplary and thought-provoking, along with the way drawing on his own experience within white groups.

David Gregory is a climate scientist and Baptist minister. He writes attractively about loving the world around us: ‘Next time you see a weather forecast, give thanks for the insights of scientists that enable us to understand some of how God has shaped creation.’

During Holy Week — loving to the end — Joanna Collicutt takes a fresh approach to the last words from the Cross, as showing us how to die well, ‘to say our sad goodbyes to this precious and delicious earthly life, to the people we love, and to the grudges we bear and, like him, to entrust ourselves to our heavenly Father’. 

A multi-author project is likely to be a mixed bag. Loving My Neighbour scores quite well.
Reviewed by the Revd Philip Welsh a retired priest in the diocese of London.

Together magazine Jan-Feb 2024. Review by Fiona Lloyd

Loving My Neighbour – a Lenten Journey is BRF Ministries’ Lent book for 2024. Inspired by one of Jesus’ most famous parables, several well-known authors offer their perspectives on what loving our neighbour means in our modern world. Between them, they cover themes such as caring for our world, embracing difference and loving the vulnerable. I found it refreshing to have several different voices co-authoring this book, as it emphasised all the different ways we can find to love those around us. The book is set out in the form of a devotional, with a short Bible passage for each day along with a reflections and a prayer. These can easily be read in about five minutes, but still give plenty of food for thought, touching on other relevant scriptures and using personal anecdotes to paint images that linger in the mind. Warburton writes in the introduction that ‘it’s never been more important to understand how much God loves us and how much he wants us to love each other,’ and this is a book that will certainly help us in this endeavour.