Michael Marshall
’I’m not religious, but I am spiritual’ is a phrase on the lips of many who never darken the doors of institutionalized religion, while words such as ’spirituality’, ’meditation’ or ’mindfulness’ are almost commonplace among many seeking meaning and purpose to life. Bishop Edward King, in his day, as a spiritual counsellor, teacher and pastor, called the church, the clergy and the laity, to a renewed inner life of the Spirit as a matter of first importance. This exploration of his spirituality, drawn from his teaching and his writings and the example of his own life - although at a time when the church and the world were vastly different from those of today - still speaks with remarkable relevance, not only to those who are ordained with a prime responsibility for the cure of souls and Christian formation, but also to those seeking, as well as giving, spiritual guidance. A renewed commitment to the power of that same inner life of the Spirit, the root and source of all renewed life, caught and taught by clergy and laity alike, is urgently needed today, for without it all reform and reorganization is ineffective. ’Organization,’ said King, ’does not produce life, though new life may produce organization: the secret of the power is the life’, - from which everything else follows.Perhaps the Church of England’s most loved bishop in any age, Edward King’s rich spirituality reaches out to us today and resonates with our deepest needs.
