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Drawing near to God

Reviewed by Simon Gates.

Mark Stibbe is Vicar of St Andrews Chorleywood, and he uses an approach in his preaching and writing which combines Word and Spirit.  This is a re-write of an earlier book A Kingdom of Priests (1994).  He has substantially changed the material, although the basic premise of drawing upon the Temple in the Old Testament as a model for prayer is the same.

In an age of the visual, too many models of prayer are mainly intellectual.  The Alpha course ACTS (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving and Supplication) or the other old acronym PRAY (Praise, Repent, Ask, Yourself), do little to engage the imagination. Stibbe takes us in the imagination into the Temple, using the journey for prayer.

Starting with preparation, calling upon the Holy Spirit to help us spark the fire of prayer, we enter the gates of thanksgiving into the court of praise.  At the centre of the court is the altar of sacrifice, the cross, the means of forgiveness.  Next, we enter the Holy Place.  The Table of Shewbread invites us to pray for our own daily needs, before we reach the altar of incense, a reminder of the role of intercession.  Using the picture of the breastplate of the high priest, Stibbe sets out a scheme of intercessory prayer.  Then he leads us into the Holy of Holies to behold the throne of God and spend time in contemplation.

On each step of the way Stibbe gives plenty of encouragement and models for prayer, drawing on the Bible, for instance, in praise to mediate upon an A to Z of the names of Jesus.

The book ends with suggestions for daily prayer and liturgical use.  I suggest it would also make an excellent Lent Course.  Written for anyone wishing to enrich the everyday matter of prayer, I have found my prayer life deepened and challenged, and thoroughly recommend it.