Following Christ: Sermons for the Christian Year
Ebook
Overview
It is often said – and it is undoubtedly true – that the heart of the Church of England is to be found beating in the work and witness of its parish churches. In Following Christ we see that Anglican heart at work through a collection of sermons and spiritual addresses given in urban and rural parishes.
The sermons draw heavily on Holy Scripture, the Prayer Book, and the classical Anglican spiritual and liturgical tradition. They also reflect the author’s wide and varied pastoral experience. Following Christ does not shy away from tackling difficult subjects such as sin, illness and death, but does so with lightness of touch. If it is realistic about the ups and downs of the Christian pilgrimage through life, it is also practical, hopeful and joyful.
This collection of sermons (so well presented and published by Sacristy Press) offers an invaluable insight into the way in which an intelligent and articulate expression of the Catholic tradition within rural Anglicanism can continue to be expressed in a coherent and engaging manner. … Here is not just a collection of sermons, but an illustration of one way of celebrating the Christian community within rural life.
Beaken’s style is clear and readable (and listenable). He communicates the basics of the Christian faith clearly, and inflects this with personal references that do not collapse into self-indulgence. Taken as a whole, this volume is a very fine exposition of what we Christians believe and do, and why. That this has come from the pen of an ‘ordinary’ parish priest gives this writer grounds for optimism in a Church all too often in thrall to spin and glitter. Highly recommended.
There is enough richness and originality of content to interest the seasoned sermon hearer, and it certainly would work as a introduction to the Christian Faith, or the basis for confirmation preparation. It could have a multitude of applications. It is a very attractive little book to have around and a delight to read with a very clear typeface. It has not been difficult to be very positive about this collection which was produced as a thanksgiving for thirty years in ordained ministry: here’s to many years more!
There is some good teaching here, particularly with Beaken’s interesting take on the parable of the pearl of great price, and persuasive arguments on why Mary should be venerated.
A humble and generous collection of sermons. … As the year of Our Lord 2020 has acquainted all of us preachers with the murky urgency of preaching through trauma, Beaken’s wisdom meets us as great gift. … The book is refreshing in its attentiveness to the basics: the Christian is to read the Word of God, to receive the sacraments, to serve others, to pray without ceasing, and to nurture a fierce and uncompromising holiness. The author’s Anglo-Catholic sensibilities inform poignant reflection on the sacramental life, but he is no partisan. Tradition is no enforcer of rubrics here, but instead an adventure story.
A book of sermons can sound daunting, maybe full of theological ideas. Father Beaken will quickly change your mind. … This small book is full of gems. … This book could happily be read by those well-versed in the Christian Faith and equally by those new to that Faith.
- Title: Following Christ: Sermons for the Christian Year
- Author: Robert Beaken
- Publisher: Sacristy Press
- Print Publication Date: 2020
- Logos Release Date: 2023
- Pages: 130
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781789590845, 9781789590821, 1789590825, 9781789590838, 1789590833, 1789590841
- Resource ID: LLS:9781789590845
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2025-11-05T20:50:37Z
Robert Beaken was born in London in 1962. He trained for ordination in the Church of England at Cuddesdon, and studied as an ecumenical student at the Venerable English College and Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He was ordained deacon in 1988 and priest in 1989 in Portsmouth Cathedral by Bishop Timothy Bavin and served curacies at Forton, Gosport, and Shepshed in Leicestershire. In 1994 he became the vicar of St Barnabas’ Church, Old Heath, Colchester, and since 2002 has been the priest-in-charge of Great and Little Bardfield in north-west Essex.
Robert Beaken holds a PhD from King’s College London, and is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. Dr Beaken has served as an academic tutor on the Eastern Region Ministry Course at Cambridge and as a Fan the Flame parish missioner. He is a Police chaplain in Essex and also county chaplain and hospitaller of the Order of St John.
Dr Beaken is the author of eight books including Cosmo Lang, Archbishop in War and Crisis and The Church of England and the Home Front 1914–1918 and writes for the Church Times and the Church of England Newspaper.