LIVING SPIRITUALITY: THE SURPRISE OF THE SACRED
Peter Millar
Pub Canterbury Press, pp202, ISBN 1-85311-594-0, £9.99
Reviewed by Murdoch MacKenzie
This latest book from Peter Millar, former Warden of Iona Abbey, is essentially a book for busy people. A series of reflections from over seventy sources are interlaced with the author’s own poems and letters. It is dedicated to members and friends of the Wellspring Community in Australia and there is much wisdom here from Australia, particularly from aboriginal sources. Most of the book mirrors Peter’s own journeying from Iona, Glasgow and Scotland to Israel/Palestine, India and the United States.
Peter is concerned for what is nowadays called a rooted spirituality. He would rather walk the walk than talk the talk and, for example, finds aboriginal spirituality both grounded and practical. He leads us into his personal conversation with Mordechai Vanunu in Jerusalem, into the thoughts of Gandhi, Carlo Carretto and Helder Camara and into the depths of our own vulnerability. We find ourselves standing beneath the great banyan trees of Darwin in Australia, in an apartment on East 53rd Street in Chicago, in the Mathare valley of sub-Saharan Africa, in the streets of Calcutta at the funeral of the poet Tagore and on the top of Dun I in Iona.
There is lots of fun in the book ranging from the Dalai Lama’s reflection on sleeping with a mosquito to the words on a fridge magnet: ‘JESUS IS COMING. LOOK BUSY !’ The main themes relate to Creation, Welcoming the Stranger, Vulnerability, Hope, Silence, Interdependence, Justice, Authentic Spirituality, God’s Surprises, Being Open to the Moment, and Laughter. There are numerous Biblical references and prayers. It could be a source of inspiration for personal quiet times in daily prayer or for goup study in a house group. It can lead us all to find God in unexpected places.
Murdoch MacKenzie
Peter Millar
Pub Canterbury Press, pp202, ISBN 1-85311-594-0, £9.99
Reviewed by Murdoch MacKenzie
This latest book from Peter Millar, former Warden of Iona Abbey, is essentially a book for busy people. A series of reflections from over seventy sources are interlaced with the author’s own poems and letters. It is dedicated to members and friends of the Wellspring Community in Australia and there is much wisdom here from Australia, particularly from aboriginal sources. Most of the book mirrors Peter’s own journeying from Iona, Glasgow and Scotland to Israel/Palestine, India and the United States.
Peter is concerned for what is nowadays called a rooted spirituality. He would rather walk the walk than talk the talk and, for example, finds aboriginal spirituality both grounded and practical. He leads us into his personal conversation with Mordechai Vanunu in Jerusalem, into the thoughts of Gandhi, Carlo Carretto and Helder Camara and into the depths of our own vulnerability. We find ourselves standing beneath the great banyan trees of Darwin in Australia, in an apartment on East 53rd Street in Chicago, in the Mathare valley of sub-Saharan Africa, in the streets of Calcutta at the funeral of the poet Tagore and on the top of Dun I in Iona.
There is lots of fun in the book ranging from the Dalai Lama’s reflection on sleeping with a mosquito to the words on a fridge magnet: ‘JESUS IS COMING. LOOK BUSY !’ The main themes relate to Creation, Welcoming the Stranger, Vulnerability, Hope, Silence, Interdependence, Justice, Authentic Spirituality, God’s Surprises, Being Open to the Moment, and Laughter. There are numerous Biblical references and prayers. It could be a source of inspiration for personal quiet times in daily prayer or for goup study in a house group. It can lead us all to find God in unexpected places.
Murdoch MacKenzie
