"Take up your Cross "

Written by Vanessa Herrick

Vanessa Herrick has produced a book designed for those in Christian Leadership, to help and encourage them to keep some time in the busyness of Lent, Holy Week, and Easter for their own discipleship, refocusing and renewal.

Take Up Your Cross is a book of meditations for Lent, based around the Daily Eucharistic Lectionary, and Sundays for years A, B & C. They could be used in many ways, but I think they will be particularly valuable integrated into the daily office, or the daily eucharist. A few minutes to read, and a few minutes to reflect will help to keep the mind on the scriptures, and on the work of reflection and prayer, rather than the daunting list of urgent and immediate tasks.

Vanessa’s meditations are humane, wise and thoughtful. She begins each with an experience or story  of ministry, family life, the wider church, or contemporary culture. She then leads us into the scriptures, and through them back to our own lives and needs. Each one is completed with a sentence from a spiritual writer to chew over through the day.

It is good to have a chance to integrate one’s ambivalence about, for instance, email, ministerial review, or church reports into constructive reflections on discipleship and ministry. Because she is not pursuing the illusion of timeless wisdom, we are offered something fresh and usable, food for the day and for the season.

Review by: The Revd James Gardom,
Vicar of Chesterton St Andrew, Cambridge.