He writes:
I’m excited to have chosen for my Lenten book this year John Bell’s Ten Things They Never Told Me about Jesus, and I hope that you will read it with me.
Bell’s book really is about ten topics we don’t tend to talk about when we talk about Jesus. Ten Things They Never Told Me about Jesus helps us to read scripture with fresh eyes. It helps us to rethink our mental pictures of Jesus, moving more deeply into who the gospels tell us He is and what He teaches us by word and example. John Bell is a good friend of our diocese; he’s as gifted a teacher in his writing as he is in person. In a very readable way, and with humour and insight, his book helps us to journey with Jesus. To help us all in our reading of the book, brief discussions of each chapter with reflection questions will be posted on our diocesan website, and we will hold a gathering to talk about the book on an evening in Lent.
In my charge to synod, I made a call for us to renew our commitment to engage deeply with the substance of our faith in many ways, and picking a book that we can all read is a part of how we can join together in “reading and meditating on the word of God”—a longstanding discipline of Lent. I do hope you’ll enjoy reading Ten Things They Never Told Me about Jesus with me.
This is the first time I have recommended a book for Lent, and I hope that you'll be creative about how you respond. For some people, reading the book and spending prayerful time with the reflection questions will be ideal. Others might wish to gather to talk about; parishes might wish to use it as a basis for Lenten programming. I look forward to hearing stories not just of how reading the book has affected your faith journey, but also stories about how you engaged the book--it will help us to plan for next year.
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