At first, maybe this sounded like a strange choice for our book club. Was it just for women?  What about all the men in the gospels?  What was an ‘interactive bible meditation anyway’?  So we began reading and shared our reactions to what we read.

The book is structured with groups in mind, but can equally well be read by individuals. Each chapter focuses on one female character from the gospels. The reader is given the relevant references to the Bible passages and invited to read these again, never mind how familiar you already are with the story.

Martha serves while her sister sits and listens

Then there is the ‘Monologue’: the main character tells her own story as though she was recounting what she had done, said and thought at the time , and we are invited to enter into this story in our imagination and apply any lessons we might have learnt to our everyday lives.

Finally each chapter ends with a series of questions  and suggestions for discussion.

This book opens up quite a different way to ponder the Scriptures and apply what we understand God to be saying in our lives.

The use of ‘imaginative contemplation’ is a tried and tested way to pray with biblical texts, of course, and for many it provides an opportunity (as St Ignatius of Loyola taught his early companions) to encounter God anew.

So who are some of these women who speak to us?  Obviously there are the central characters of Mary and Elizabeth together with, for example, the Samaritan Women who met Jesus at the well.

Mary Magdalene

There is the Widow who gave all she has, and Lazurus’s two sisters, Mary and Martha;  and, of course, Mary Magdalene.

The gospels were obviously written by men, and during a very different society from today. Inevitably, sometimes the women’s voices have got lost or been hidden. This book redresses the balance a little by providing us with a new perspective.

Are there any less than positive aspects of this book? Some stories resonate more with one person that another, and often our group deliberately chose a character out of the chapter sequence.

A problem with each chapter being designed to ‘stand alone’ is that there is the irritating repetition of certain discussion points and/or instructions.

However, overall, the value of  deepening our understanding of the Bible, and hearing God’s Word afresh, enables the reader to overcome such small glitches.

The book club enjoyed discussing it. Why not try it for yourselves?

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Book Review by Hilary Finlay

Walking With Gospel Women:  Interactive Bible Meditations by Fiona Stratta (2012) ISBN 9780 857460 010 3. Price £5.99. Available from Amazon.

Have you ever wanted to destroy your enemies? Probably, at some stage, we have all been through such a stage of emotion. However, have you ever thought about destroying your enemies by making them your friends?

“I destroy my enemy when I make him my friend,” said Abraham Lincoln; but it’s much easier said than done.

Turning others into friends

This is the sort of work each of us, as people of faith, are called to do: not necessarily converting enemies as such, but perhaps aiming to turn into friends those “others” who may so easily become perceived to be our enemies.

Theologian Sally McFague once said:

We, all of us, are being called to do something unprecedented. We are being called to think about ‘everything that is’, for we now know that everything is interrelated and that the well-being of each is connected to the well-being of the whole. 

The statement above poses a great challenge to us because, most of the time, as different faith communities we become focused on the uniqueness of our claims about God. We busy ourselves defending our positions. This isn’t bad in itself and, in fact, can be essential for our sense of identity, belonging and hope. But it should not be the only focus of our being. Spiritual well-being is essential but so is physical, social, economic and environmental well-being too.

Thanks to the 21st century’s increasingly globalised and inter-connected world, we have to deal with something quite unprecedented: the huge scale rubbing shoulders of different languages, cultures and religious beliefs.

Engage to enrich

We should not assume that by engaging with people of different beliefs to ours the uniqueness of our faith must somehow get compromised. Inter-faith work is not about negotiating away our differences. In fact it is about asserting and affirming our differences; but in such a way so that it enriches rather than creates conflict.

Inter-faith work is not about reducing our beliefs to a thin line where we all merge into one. Nor is it an attempt to unify us all into one world religion. It is about co-operation across faiths and cultures and peaceful co-existence.

We cannot have peace until we have agreed to talk to one another; to address issues that confront us and strain our relationships from time to time.

No Peace without Dialogue

Hans Kung, the Catholic theologian and the founder of Global Ethic Foundation, once said, “No peace among the nations without peace among the religions. No peace among the religions without dialogue between the religions.”

It is said that from the 250 conflicts and wars of the 20th century, each had a religious component. Watching the news these days in our own century, it sometimes feels as if we stand on the brink of human extinction.

Break out of our places of worship

Inside a Mandir, a Hindu Temple.

It would seem that now, more than ever, is a time for us to break out from our respective places of worship (the Church, Mandir, Synagogue, Gurdwara or Mosque) and meet the other; talk to the other; develop ideas with the other for the common good of us all.

There is an apt quote from American novelist and social critic, James Baldwin:

For nothing is fixed……….Earth is always shifting, light is always changing. The sea rises, the light fails, and we cling to each other. The moment we break faith with one another, the sea engulfs us and the light goes out.

Following incidents like 9/11, 7/7 or the Woolwich Murder, people like us need to do even more and work even harder in order to boost the growth of mutual confidence, trust and goodwill amongst us all, across faiths and cultures!

How we think matters

March and Wisbech may not face the same problems and opportunities as those found in Luton and Leicester or Bedford and Bradford; but the toil of engaging with each other, and talking to each other, with working and living towards harmonious co-existence with each other, will still bear its fruit irrespective of location.

And it doesn’t matter if you don’t have that many people of other faiths and cultures living nearby. You have your opinion. You have your attitudes. What and how you think also matters.

It’s small groups that change the world

Anthropologist Margaret Mead put it succinctly: “Never doubt that a small group of committed people can change the world; Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has”.

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 By David Jonathan

David Jonathan (far right) with members and guests of the Wisbech Interfaith Forum

David Jonathan (Johny) is the co-ordinator of “Grassroots”, a Christian ecumenical programme founded in Luton which aims to promote inclusion and a spirituality of justice and peace through dialogue between the Christian churches and other faith communities. Johny is also a member of the Luton Council of Faiths.

This article is based upon a talk given at the Wisbech Inter-Faith Forum on 5 June 2013.