Logo

 

Banner Image:   Baptist-Times-banner-2000x370-
Template Mode:   Baptist Times
Icon
    Post     Tweet

How to be a mindful Christian

In a no-nonsense but loving way, the author helps us cultivate a natural and spiritual mindfulness, with the attitudes that Jesus would want us to cultivate

How to be a mindful Christian How To Be A Mindful Christian: 40 simple spiritual practices
By Sally Welch
Canterbury Press Norwich
ISBN: 978-1848258457
Reviewed by Shaun Lambert

Mindfulness books by Christian authors are popping up like unexpected summer days this year! One I’ve particularly enjoyed is How To Be A Mindful Christian: 40 simple spiritual practices by Sally Welch.

Sally Welch is a parish priest, Area Dean in the Diocese of Oxford and former adviser in spirituality. I have used her book as my morning devotional for 40 days, as a way of tuning into God. The book could be used as a Lent study companion or for any 40 day period, and the layout is designed for ‘40 days of mindfulness.’

If you want to place the book somewhere, I would categorise it as wisdom literature. It offers a way of cultivating our attentiveness. It could also be used as a way of practising lectio divina, slow meditative reading of scripture. Each chapter begins with a passage from the Bible, followed by a reflection and a simple but profound spiritual practice. The passages are discerningly chosen, and the author has a beautiful grasp of how passages can be used to begin to cleanse our perceptive abilities.

Within the 40 days of readings the chapters are broken up into sections on the senses, beginning quite brilliantly with silence, and then sound, smell, sight, touch and taste. The book ends with readings for Holy Week, followed by reflections for a mindful pilgrimage.

To be mindful from a Christian perspective is to cultivate relational, ethical and embodied awareness – and to stretch that awareness to God, others and the creation around us, as well as our own self. Sally enables this in her writing in a clear, loving but also no nonsense way. This is not cotton wool writing.

I particularly liked the creativity in the spiritual exercises, and the way she naturally brings in God to these. One of the exercises I am finding very helpful is recording in words or pictures a happy moment each day. Our brains have a negativity bias, and we often don’t notice the happy moments or the good around us. This exercise helps cultivate intentional gratitude.

The author helps us cultivate a natural and spiritual mindfulness, helping us attend to the reality around us, with the attitudes that Jesus would want us to cultivate. If you want to begin living out your values, then this book is a good place to start. 


Shaun Lambert is Senior Minister of Stanmore Baptist Church and currently researching a PhD project in mindfulness at the London School of Theology. He is also the author of A Book of Sparks – a Study in Christian MindFullness, and Putting on the Wakeful One - Attuning to the Spirit of Jesus through Watchfulness



 

 

Baptist Times, 19/08/2016
    Post     Tweet
My Big Story Bible by Tom Wright 
'Wright is retelling the stories in an accessible way in something closer to the whole Bible, with his inclusions of the books of the prophets and the New Testament letters'
Clever Cub Forgives a Friend, and Invites Someone New, by Bob Hartman  
Latest titles in series which takes the world of the child seriously and then tries to choose appropriate stories from the Bible to address their experiences - relevant and readable
The Hardest Problem: God, Evil and Suffering by Rupert Shortt 
'Not only helpful to Christians but worth passing on to thoughtful unbelievers who find the problem of evil and suffering an obstacle to belief'
Heroes or Villains by Jeannie Kendall 
'A gem of a book, thoughtfully and insightfully exploring the qualities we share with Bible characters'
Poverty, Riches and Wealth by Kris Vallotton
A book which makes you think with sections you might disagree with - but the golden thread that you are wealthy in proportion to your generosity, not according to your riches - is an excellent, Biblical principle
Lydia by Paula Gooder 
'Thoroughly recommended, not just as a historical novel, but also as a useful reference book kept close to the regularly-used commentaries'
     Reviews 
    Posted: 01/03/2024
    Posted: 22/09/2023