Mail order book service for churches, clergy, worship leaders, musicians, church members. We supply books from New Zealand and overseas. We publish New Zealand books of worship, liturgy and other resources that support customers’ ministries and deepen their faith. We distribute NZ Hymnbook Trust books and recordings.
Here’s another sample poem from Mark Laurent’s Redemption Songs.
The book is available in print and in 3 eBook formats – see below for links.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Seventy-one
Create a quiet place in me, Lord hush the babble of my mind the racing of my pulse then my heart will begin to hear your ‘gentle, murmuring voice’
Slow me down, Jesus I need to take time to see the beauty of creation the exquisite intensity of your care that way I’ll come to appreciate and be thankful
Teach me to listen, Abba to the cries of those in need the questions of the confused so I can learn compassion
In this unquiet world help me to find a quiet place and a quiet time
Lord, I need to hear the counsel of your spirit the poetry of your love then I’ll have something to share with those who cannot hear you.
Here’s a sample poem from Mark Laurent’s Redemption Songs.
The book is available in print and in 3 eBook formats – see below for links.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Eighteen Your love, Lord, makes me strong I’ve needed safety and you’ve been my shelter when I’ve had to fight you’ve stood beside me
In the past I’ve played some deadly games got mixed up in all sorts of unhealthy schemes I was my own worst enemy much of the time
I finally cried out for help and you heard me and your answer shook my tree to its roots everything I held dear was consumed by the fire that accompanies you wherever you go
You covered me with darkness – a cloud of unknowing restless winds howled through every crack till I was broken, defenceless, and couldn’t even pray naked and exposed, and ready to be saved
When at last I stared into the dry-bottomed pit of myself and the enemy within could no longer hide his face that’s when you reached me that’s when you showed me your love
Lord, you’ve scrubbed me clean – made me well I’ll not turn my back as I did before you lit a fire in me that eats away darkness
Now I’m ready to take on the night run up the hilltop and stand there meet that old enemy of mine out in the open blow him away with the words you gave me sing out your name – ‘Save! Save!’
The full text of the reflection is shown below after the video.
Reflection: Who is my enemy?
Let’s pray: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts, be acceptable to you, O God, Amen.
Jesus parables were always challenging and in that style I have titled this reflection: “Who is my Enemy?”
The ideal of loving God and loving your neighbour was not new in Jesus’ time. In Leviticus 19:18 we are told “Don’t seek revenge or carry a grudge against any of your people. Love your neighbour as yourself.” The ten commandments given to Moses are rules about living harmoniously in community with our neighbours. So these ideas had been part of the Jewish tradition for many centuries before Jesus.
In Matthew chapter 5 we find Jesus sharpening, making more provocative and demanding, the commandments in the Old Testament. There are a series of teachings in the pattern: “You have heard that it was said…But I say…” For instance:
You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, “You shall not murder”; and “whoever murders shall be liable to judgement.” But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgement;”
And…
You have heard that it was said, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile.
And…
You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.
Jesus adds to the commandments to love God and neighbour, the challenge to also love your enemies.
Here is a paradox: If you can learn to love your enemy, can they still be your enemy?
Two things have brought this question into focus for me.
I have been reading Jewish academic Amy-Jill Levine’s book “Short Stories by Jesus: The enigmatic Parables of a controversial Rabbi.” She has lots of stimulating ideas about how to interpret Jesus’ parables, as they have come down to us in the Gospels, in modern translations of the Bible. In her comments on the Good Samaritan story, in which the lawyer asks, Who is my neighbour, Levine says something remarkable.
It relates to how Hebrew is written down. In the formal written Hebrew used in handwritten scrolls of scripture, only the consonants are printed. The person reading the text has to mentally add in the appropriate vowels, based on the context of the rest of the sentence.
Let me demonstrate in English with the consonants T L L.
We can form many words by adding vowels to these letters. The context will help us, for example:
“A child is short, but an adult is…. TALL.”
“Ask me no questions, TELL me no lies”
“The shopkeeper put the money in the TILL”
“She paid a TOLL to cross the bridge.”
“And for fans of early 1970s folk rock, we have the band Jethro TULL.”
You get the idea.
Back to Amy-Jill Levine.
In Hebrew, the words “neighbour” and “evil” share the same consonants (Resh ר Ayinע); they differ only in the vowels. Both words are written identically. ע ר
So on the page these two consonants can stand for two opposite ideas.
Combined with Hebrew vowels this way, the resulting word means
רֵעַ שֵם
friend, comrade, buddy, colleague ; neighbour, another
Or combined with vowels this way, the resulting word means
רַע שֵם ז’
bad, evil ; villain ; trouble, ill
(Sorry I can’t pronounce the Hebrew words.) But can you see the challenge here?
You or I reading the text have to decide whether it means enemy or neighbour based on the context. The meaning is not fixed, but flexible.
Taking this idea one step further, if we can choose to interpret the same text two different ways, can we also choose whether to consider another person as a neighbour or an enemy? I think we can.
Today is the 15th anniversary of the event that Americans call 9/11. After the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York were destroyed, people in the United States flew flags from their houses and many started going back to church again. In the face of an identifiable enemy and threat, they united behind traditional symbols of meaning and togetherness.
The government response was to seek revenge by going to war in Afghanistan and Iraq. Horrifying wars, which have led directly to many of the conflicts we see today in the Middle East. The prophesy from Jeremiah we heard this morning brings to mind the devastation to people, and to the land itself, that war causes. It is a warning to follow the ideals of loving God and neighbour, or face catastrophe.
Many odd things happened on 9/11. There is a lot of speculation about what really happened and why?
What is clear is that people in the United States identified themselves as us the good guys under attack from them, the enemy.
That’s where the trouble starts, by identifying and naming someone else as different, as other, rather than looking for the things we have in common.
How can we discover what we have in common with another person?
I find social occasions with lots of people making small talk very difficult. What works for me is to find one person to talk to and by listening carefully to what they are saying, find a topic that is important to them to talk about. Then I can contribute my ideas and experiences and we get to know each other a little.
The second thing I want to share with you is a visual idea I have been mulling over since February.
Religious beliefs can divide or unite people.
Imagine for a moment that this segment represents Methodists. The darker shades at the top of the segment are where we find the sacred texts, rituals and traditions that we hold onto most firmly. John Wesley’s sermons, Charles Wesley’s hymns, an open communion table and a concern for social justice. These are things which Methodists identify with.
Lets say that the next segment represents Catholics. The darker shades at the top of the segment represent devotion to the Pope, rosary beads, regular confession – the things that Catholics hold dear.
Lets say the next segment represents Islamic faith. The darker shades towards the outside of the segment represent a belief in the prophet Mohammed, the Koran, pilgrimage to Mecca and the other things that Moslems hold dear.
Now lets complete the circle with other faiths.
Note the black lines separating the segments. They symbolise the divisions between people of faith. These divisions can lead to intolerance and conflict. Taken to extremes they can lead to violence and war. I imagine this as a journey into the darkness, which swallows up all the good things about faith and leads to oblivion.
[Show slides of circle receding into blackness]
What if instead we look inwards to the centre of the wheel, towards those things which we have in common with other people and other faiths. And let’s remove the borders between us. Now as we journey towards the light at the centre, we are free to sample the ideas and ideals of other faiths and discover the things we have in common.
Loving God (or Gods) and loving neighbour are universal ideas, shared by people of faith.
[Show video of turning circle]
And what if the Holy Spirit blows and the circle rotates, pivoting around the light in the centre and blurring the distinctions between us?
Is world peace really that easy? No, but Jesus pointed us in the right direction.
In the Good Samaritan story the lawyer wants an easy, tick the box answer to eternal life. Instead Jesus tells him to love his neighbour, a lifelong commitment. So the lawyer asks, OK who is my neighbour? and gets an unpalatable answer. Your enemy, the Samaritan, is your neighbour too.
Jesus’ wisdom that we should love our enemy still challenges us profoundly today.
If you can learn to love your enemy, can they still be your enemy?
No, because of your change of heart, they are now your neighbour.
Adult Sexual Abuse in Religious Institutions: Faith Seeks Understanding
Reviewer: Kay Ryan — August 29, 2016
for Tui Motu Interislands
“This book is written in response to a deficit within religious institutions where processes to address sexual abuse by pastoral leaders are being inadequately addressed. Based in Christian tradition and drawing on personal experience, Stephenson reveals often hidden dynamics involving sexual abuse by pastoral leaders. She reflects on the current situation, provides information about the psychology of offenders and the effects of abuse on the victim. She gives instructions for Church leaders and community workers on how to support victims while taking responsibility for the criminal acts of offenders. There is practical advice and a structure about how to proceed with complaints.
I like Stephenson’s courage and her resolve to put responsibility for addressing sexual abuse by clergy, firmly into the hands of those in power. She outlines what is needed and how it should be done. Church leaders are challenged to be alert and not allow offenders to keep offending. The offender “cannot be healed with grace, forgiveness, reconciliation”, but must engage with the Criminal Justice system. She is a strong advocate for victims and states how important it is that we get it right for all concerned.
As well as noticing some editing issues I found myself looking for references to other current writers on sexual abuse and trauma, perhaps from a secular perspective. I think this may give more credibility to her general assertions that this is the way it is.
While some victims may view this as a useful text that validates their experience, I think others may find the prescriptive nature of the writing – the do’s and don’ts – difficult to relate to. I think it is important also to acknowledge that the person’s process itself leads the way. Even though there are certain themes that can be recognised, each person’s response to trauma is different.
Stephenson’s instructions to pastoral workers are clear. However I wanted to hear more about some of the complexities of disclosure within community settings. Instructions such as: “Do not pay attention to what erupts”, needed more explanation.
I agree with the author that this book would be most useful for Church leaders, those in positions of power, clergy and pastoral workers. It may also benefit counsellors who are working with victims of sexual abuse as it gives insight into Christian communities and what they may be struggling with.”
This informative article about our author Anne Stephenson and her new book – Adult Sexual Abuse in Religious Institutions: Faith seeks understanding – appeared on page 1 of Kapiti News 17 August 2016.
Click the image to see the article as published or read the text below.
Opening door on taboo topic
by Cloe Willetts
A Paraparaumu woman has opened the doors on a controversial topic by writing her first book, which will be available at libraries and universities around the country. Adult Sexual Abuse in Religious Institutions: Faith seeks understanding, written by Anne Stephenson, is a hard-hitting piece that began in December last year. but had been on her mind for more than 40 years.
She approached a sociologist. a psychologist and an independent organisation to see if they’d help her co-write the book, but none of them wanted to, though they all commended her for doing it. The book, according to Anne, discussed sexual abuse of adults by clergy and spiritual leaders and highlighted procedures that needed to be put in place to deal with offenders and their victims.
Her 86-page book, which stemmed from personal research and understanding, covered a range of areas including characteristics of sexual offenders, suggested procedures for dealing with a complaint, victim support and the potential for victims to go on to have fulfilling lives.
Anne, a retired Methodist minister who worked for many years as a registered nurse in New Zealand and Australia, has had training and experience working with sexual offenders and abuse prevention, as well as support of victims and families. With her own experience of abuse as a young church-going wife and mother of three, and having gone on to have sexual abuse counselling, Ms Stephenson said her book was based on 20 years of education, which she hoped would assist in societal change.
“Positive change can come out of the current chaos regarding the handling of sexual abuse within religious institutions,” she said. “This book doesn’t exist to unsettle the good functions within communities, but to highlight areas where there are cases of sexual misconduct. I hope my confidence in the world l know, to reform and restructure as needed, will give insight to religious institutions, offenders, victims and those who support the people involved with such matters.“
The book is available from Paper Plus Paraparaumu, or through Philip Garside Publishing Ltd. For more information Adult Sexual Abuse in Religious Institutions: Faith seeks understanding visit www.realityrev.co.nz
The link will take you to a DropBox folder where you can download individual mp3 chapter files or the complete book as a zipped collection of all the mp3s
New Zealand World War II conscientious objectors were treated harshly. Imprisoned for their pacifist beliefs, Chris Palmer and Merv Browne were held in military defaulters’ camps in the central North Island. To bring conditions in the camps to public notice, in 1944 Chris and Merv escaped to Wellington. This classic book tells of their audacious adventure and consequent punishment.
Efficient and effective postal services are essential for our home-based book publishing and distribution business. We send and receive packages and letters around New Zealand and overseas. So, we were concerned to learn that the NZ Post shop in Karori was going to close and be replaced by a new outlet at the Mobil service station.
We needn’t have worried. The new facilities and the customer service at the new Mobil outlet are excellent. NZ Post has helped the transition by providing a trainer form the South Island to get the Mobil staff up to speed. One the first day I had a package to airmail to Vanuatu – this was no problem.
I can drop off prepaid packages and stamped letters. We sometimes have lots of packages that are too big to fit in a post box slot, so being able to leave them at Mobil is important.
Our PO Box is now located in a refurbished container at the back of the Mobil property. Do watch out for vehicles as you walk across the forecourt.
You gain entry by keying in a 4 digit PIN.
Our box (17160) used to have a door about 6″ square and was on the very bottom row, so was hard to get at. Our new box is bigger and can comfortably fit foolscap size envelopes and packages up about 2″ deep. And as bonus, it is at chest height — no more bending and crouching – Yay! If a package is too big or needs to be signed for, the staff leave a card and I call at the counter to claim it – just like a real Post Office.
For our business, one week on, the transition to the Mobil outlet has worked well.
I’ve just posted these thoughts on https://kiwiconnexion.nz where stimulating discussions are going on about the nature and future of books.
The value of a book
In the beginning was the story and the storyteller told her stories to a few other people at a time. Then the listeners shared the the story as they remembered it to a few other people.
The best stories moved people and became a part of their culture, and who they were, and were treasured because they were true. And the storytellers told the stories to their grandchildren and the stories lived on.
Then the stories were written down – on clay tablets, on parchment, on smooth tanned animal hides. And the stories were now separate from the storyteller and could be spread to the next village and the next town without the storyteller traveling there. And the stories were copied and read and told and grew.
And wisdom could now be retained and passed to the next generations and the community prospered.
And the stories became books and the books were copied and each new copy changed the story – by accident or on purpose – and the stories grew and grew.
But writing the stories by hand was a pain and took a long time. So better ways were invented and lots of copies of the book could now be printed at one time. And everyone could now read the stories about God and important things. And new ideas were shared and evolved and soon no one person could hold in their head everything there was to know in the world. And the stories grew. And the books huddled together in libraries for warmth on the cold nights.
And the people enjoyed having lots of books in one place and read as many as they could, and the stories grew.
—————-
As a publisher, I’m part of this long tradition and evolution. My job is to enable authors to share their stories with people who want to read them. Books are the conduit that take ideas from one person’s mind to another person’s.
I take an author’s words, and create a product to share and sell. About 16 years ago I learned how to create print books, and sent PDFs to the printers. Three years ago I taught myself how to create eBooks in ePub and Kindle formats, and discovered short run print-on-demand processes that make producing print books economic.
A couple of the online articles that have been shared here in the last day or so decry the commercialism of eBooks and predict that ePub and Kindle are going to die soon. Naw, don’t think so.
Whether you like or loath Amazon.com and all the other big online eBook marketplaces like Kobo and Apple, the rise of this technology has made it possible for authors who would previously have submitted manuscripts to publishers, to actually self-publish and market their own books. Some are just earning pocket money on the side, others are making a decent living as writers and a few have made $millions. Dominic Crossan has described Jesus as a “paradigm shift in Jewish apocalyptic eschatology.” EBook production and online selling comes pretty comes to this as a game changer in my view.
If you have now, or can learn, the skills to self-publish, then you as a writer now have the power to share your stories with the whole world. I recommend that writers visit Joanna Penn’s website http://www.thecreativepenn.com/ and especially listen to the podcast interviews she does with all sorts of people in book world, to keep up-to-date with the best and latest ideas.
I have found a niche providing a service to authors who have stories to tell and information to share, but want someone else to package their content into a book, make it available on a bunch of sales channels and help them to sell it. From one manuscript I create several products. For example, Anne Stephenson’s new book Adult Sexual Abuse in Religious Institutions (https://pgpl.co.nz/?page_id=55280) is now available as an ePub, Kindle or PDF eBook, and as a print-on-demand book from CreateSpace and Amazon.com. The NZ print edition is being produced now and will be available in two weeks. So that’s 5 products from one book. Another fairly easy option would be to record the text as an audiobook (to sell as a zipped collection of mp3 files), which opens up some more markets.
David, you are wanting to take this further by creating multimedia online books which combine text, images, sound, video, links…, and pose the question, what is a book?
I have skills to offer on producing and selling some specific formats of books. You have video creation and Mahara platform skills. My children have skills in musical performance, illustration, photography, film making, video and sound recording and editing – that make me proud and warm my heart. Their creativity inspires me to keep going in my little niche, and to ponder the next publishing developments.
I think that a book is any medium or product or artifact that enables people to share stories and ideas. And in the end that’s where the value lies. You can’t beat reading a novel and getting wrapped up in the characters’ world or reading a theology book and having a new idea hit and discomfort you like a Wellington wind gust. The format isn’t important.
Getting ready for my concert 12:30pm this Thursday 9 June to launch the Winter at Wesley free lunchtime series for 2016. I’ll be singing some favourite singer-songwriter classics and 4 of my originals. Soup and bread to follow. I’d love to see you there – Wesley Church, 75 Taranaki Street, Wellington.
Imagine for a moment that this segment represents Methodists. The darker shades at the top of the segment are where we find the sacred texts, rituals and traditions that we hold onto most firmly. John Wesley’s sermons, Charles Wesley’s hymns, an open communion table and a concern for social justice. These are things which Methodists identify with.
Lets say that the next segment represents Catholics. The darker shades at the top of the segment represent devotion to the Pope, rosary beads, regular confession – the things that Catholics hold dear.
Lets say the next segment represents Islamic faith. The darker shades towards the outside of the segment represent a belief in the prophet Mohammed, the Koran, pilgrimage to Mecca and the other things that Moslems hold dear.
Now lets complete the circle with other faiths.
What if instead we look inwards to the centre of the wheel, towards those things which we have in common with other people and other faiths. And let’s remove the borders between us. Now as we journey towards the light at the centre, we are free to sample the ideas and ideals of other faiths and discover the things we have in common.
Efficient and effective postal services are essential for our home-based book publishing and distribution business. We send and receive packages and letters around New Zealand and overseas. So, we were concerned to learn that the NZ Post shop in Karori was going to close and be replaced by a new outlet at the Mobil service station.
We needn’t have worried. The new facilities and the customer service at the new Mobil outlet are excellent. NZ Post has helped the transition by providing a trainer form the South Island to get the Mobil staff up to speed. One the first day I had a package to airmail to Vanuatu – this was no problem.
Our PO Box is now located in a refurbished container at the back of the Mobil property. Do watch out for vehicles as you walk across the forecourt.
Our box (17160) used to have a door about 6″ square and was on the very bottom row, so was hard to get at. Our new box is bigger and can comfortably fit foolscap size envelopes and packages up about 2″ deep. And as bonus, it is at chest height — no more bending and crouching – Yay! If a package is too big or needs to be signed for, the staff leave a card and I call at the counter to claim it – just like a real Post Office.
