FAITHFULLY PRESENT:
Embracing the Limits of Where and
When God Has You
By Adam Ramsey
Good Book Company. 159 pages.
£9.99
ISBN 978 1 784 988 920
THE SECRET LIFE OF THUNDER:
Trading our Need to be Noticed for
a Hidden Life with Christ
By John Stark
Zondervan. 178 Pages. £12.99
ISBN 978 0 310 139 843
‘How should we then live?’ was the provocative question asked by Francis Schaeffer. These two books provide a note of challenge and an element of hope for those seeking to navigate 21st-century life.
Adam Ramsey’s book deals sensitively with the value of learning what it means to live within the limits of time and place.
In the first half of the book the author urges the reader to be ‘faithfully present’ in the moment by discerning what time it is. In other people’s hands this could be a recipe for retaining the status quo. Ramsey wants to lead us to experience a contentment that helps us to take life a day at a time, savour each moment, and make the most of the time God gives us.
The second half of the book looks at the places that God has put us in. Ramsey reminds us of the need to recognise that we live within limits. We are not and cannot be in two places at the same time. This requires learning to be spatially aware in our lives, especially in our relationship with others. The author deals helpfully with the ways that we can deal with the challenge of ‘being’ in the digital world.
John Starke’s book would be a good one to read along with this. It usefully reframes the question of how we experience intimacy with God. The author does so against the backdrop of a performative individualism, which seeks to find instant validation through social media posts. Being noticed is our generation’s greatest aspiration. Using the teaching of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount about praying, fasting and giving – that aim for the ‘audience of one’, rather than playing to the gallery – the author reframes our spiritual desires and motivations.
Starke suggests that if we find the sweet spot of resting in Christ rather than the exhausting anxiety of trying to find a place of rest elsewhere, we will experience the ‘secret place of thunder’. This reference from Psalm 81:7 (KJV) speaks about the place where God’s people are heard by Him. Starke suggests that we are all longing for a father. We all want to be seen. We all want to be noticed. Yet a million ‘likes’ do not begin to compare with when our Heavenly Father says ‘I love you’.
Both books are rooted in careful Biblical reflection combined with drinking deep from a wide range of Christian authors and a lively engagement with contemporary culture. If you are overdue a spiritual reset, book yourself in for an MOT with Ramsey and Starke.
