Please do listen to God Pod episode 125. A link to the God Pod follows. This is a recording of a series of short talks at St Mellitus College in London a few weeks ago. The talks were remarkable because they were given by a Catholic Fr Raniero Cantalamessa (who is preacher to the Papal Household), Bishop Graham Tomlin (the Anglican Bishop of Kensington) and Professor Miroslav Volf (a Pentecostal who is professor of theology at Yale). They are by no means difficult to follow and each speaks with such respect about the other. A good example for the whole church.
The themes of Obedience, Freedom and Joy are very relevant to us in the Itchen Valley Parish at the moment and the latter two are our themes for this year as they respond deeply to the issues raised by the Who Cares survey we conducted last year.
If you are interested in what you have heard can I suggest some books for further reading:
Fr Raniero Cantalamessa The Sober Intoxication of the Spirit https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sober-Intoxication-Spirit-Filled-Fullness/dp/0867167130/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1525450967&sr=1-2&keywords=cantalamessa
Bishop Graham Tomlin Bound to be Free https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bound-be-Free-Graham-Tomlin/dp/1472939506/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1525451260&sr=8-1&keywords=graham+tomlin
Professor Miroslav Volf Flourishing https://www.amazon.co.uk/Flourishing-Need-Religion-Globalized-World/dp/0300227132/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1525451143&sr=8-1&keywords=miroslav+volf
All of them are very readable.
And please do download the app for the God Pod onto your mobile phone for when you are driving long distances or otherwise need something to listen to. The discussions between Graham Tomlin, Mike Lloyd and Jane Williams range over every possible question of faith from the absurd – how would we deal with aliens – do we greet them or eat them and why – to the profound – discussions on the Holy Trinity – to the difficult – why does God allow suffering.
Alex