GODFORSAKEN

The Cross – The Greatest Hope of All

By: Stephen Cottrell

Published by: Hodder Faith Price: £9.99

The Archbishop of York’s Lent book has taken the Gospel of Mark’s account of the last moments of the life of Christ, when he calls out in anguish to God and asks: ‘why have you forsaken me?’

These anguished words, also traditionally credited to King David in the Psalms in a moment of particular abandonment – are regarded as words of defeat, failure and despair.

It is these words which provide the theme of this book, although Cottrell admits that their shaping has been 30 years in the making – first emerging as a series of Good Friday meditations at his church in Chichester and then reworked in recent years and more particularly amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

He generously acknowledges the contribution of others whose insights and observations he says he has woven into the book, explaining: ‘We stand under the cross together. We learn together.’

It is this moment of despair (‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me’) and its articulation in Mark 15:34 and its place as the absolute low point of the Holy Week story which provides the basis of this short Lenten series of reflections.

Explaining the background to the book, Cottrell writes: ‘This book aims simply and steadfastly to plumb the depths of these words, discovering in them a strange and beautiful hope: the hope that Jesus, in his passion and his death, has indeed shared the horrors of our own isolation, desperation and alienation from God and from one another.

‘Moreover, his resurrection only brings hope and meaning to our lives precisely because he has participated in such passion and separation.’

The book is based around seven sermons and can be adapted for use as the basis for a weekly group or study through Lent, with the author offering insights which show how the words can be considered in the context of life today.

Each chapter is succinct with key messages and ends with a series of thought-provoking questions designed to prompt the deepening of faith whilst reflecting on some of the hidden meanings from the words of Jesus.

The book offers gentle encouragement to readers to think more deeply but also to reflect on the hope offered by the final words of Jesus at the very heart of the book – and the heart of Christian faith.