Noticing God: Finding the Divine in Everyday Life

Nowadays, it isn’t that hard to become a published author with your name on the front cover of a book!

It is presumably testimony to the ease of self-publishing books on the Amazon platform, eliminating the need to go through the torture of finding a “traditional” publisher as was once the case.

Still, I feel pretty proud of myself for reaching this milestone, given that I was receiving chemotherapy for much of the time I was writing and editing the book content.

Welcome to "Noticing God: Finding the Divine in Everyday Life" - my new book written to support our Methodist Way of Life journey.

One of my retirement projects has been helping the churches in our local Methodist circuit think more deeply about discipleship—what it means to follow Jesus in our lives.

The framework for this project is known as "A Methodist Way of Life." Inspired by the writings of “founding father” John Wesley—who I never tire of reminding my Methodist friends was an Anglican clergyman—this framework casts the Christian journey as a metaphorical journey. It envisions a journey on a tube train, stopping off at twelve stations. Each of these stations represents a distinct theme, which we will address one at a time over the next few years.

We began the journey by looking at “Prayer” last Autumn, and we are currently exploring “Worship” by engaging with Psalms. I’m grateful for Richard Sharples taking up the cudgels and preparing this material whilst I was n the teeth of Chemotherapy before Christmas. 

We’re gearing up to tackle the "Notice" theme between Easter and Pentecost. Essentially, it’s all about noticing (well…yeah) signs of God’s activity—largely through the Bible but also through art, music, the world around us, and human interactions.

As you can imagine, it’s quite a broad theme and, frankly, tackling it in a two-month programme barely scratches the surface. Hence, the idea of creating a physical book that people could use to help them embed this concept in their lives over the coming months (and years)

So what’s this book about, then?

I conceived this book as a hybrid of a written book and a journal. So, there is plenty to read, but also a plethora of journal prompts, thoughtful questions, and spiritual exercises.

So, while the book comes in at 200 pages, nobody is expected to sit there and plough through 200 pages of closely argued, 9-point text!

Keen readers of my posts here won’t be surprised to learn there are reflections of art pieces — one for each of the seven Sundays. There are reflections on the readings and spiritual exercises for people to try in their own spiritual journeys.

I’ve even included suggestions for daily music tracks to listen to via Spotify (other music apps are available). The choices are mind-stretching, with contemporary, classic, and decidedly non-Gospel selections. I’ve even thrown people a few prog rock curve balls!

Would you like to see inside?

If you can stomach my unfiltered Bradford accent and some pretty rudimentary video editing, here is a brief review and book “Flip Through” that I recorded.

Here’s the (low-key) commercial bit

The first thing to say is that the Cleveland and Danby circuit has kindly underwritten the provision of books for church members—so cost shouldn’t be a factor for anyone.

If you would like a copy, there are sign-up lists available in the churches. Alternatively, you may message or email me (paulwalker71@me.com) The deadline for “Circuit copies” is Monday, 31st March. On this date, I will be ordering copies so that we can have them ready for distribution to the churches on Palm Sunday. After this date, you will still be able to purchase directly from Amazon, although you will need to cover the postage yourself.

If you feel able or inclined to reimburse the circuit for the book, we will arrange a process for doing this after Easter. The cost of the book is £10.

I’ve set the price at the lowest level allowed by Amazon for a 200-page colour book, after factoring in the printing costs and Amazon’s share. In fact, I’m earning only a few pence per copy sold, as this book is intended as a gift to the churches rather than as a means of profit.

Who should get this book?

• Local Preachers, Ministers and Worship Leaders will NEED a copy.

  
  

• Small groups and similar study groups should acquire a copy for each group member so that you can work together on the book between Easter and Pentecost.

  
  

• Those in the churches who want to deepen their spiritual lives would definitely benefit from a copy.

  
  

I will post much of the content on social media and this webpage, and Local Preachers will receive much of it via their “Preachers Packs” on the MWoL website.

But the easiest way to have all the content in one place, carefully arranged in order of the themes from Easter to Pentecost, is to grab a copy of the book. 

As I said earlier, I have no financial motives to push this book upon people. Genuinely, I offer this resource as a way for people within Cleveland and Danby Methodist churches to grow in their spiritual lives. I hope you will be blessed, inspired and encouraged by my book.