Put A Little Grace and Hope In Your Pocket

With economic recession looming large and severe weather conditions causing chaos, some may feel that 2009 has got off to a rather gloomy start. But the Methodist Church is offering a little bit of hope and grace with their hugely popular ‘In Your Pocket’ booklet series.

Grace In Your Pocket and Hope In Your Pocket are just the latest editions to hit the press following the success of earlier publications on the themes of peace, prayer and joy. Since the series began in 2006, more than 150,000 booklets have been distributed.

Series Editor, Joy Fisher, said: “In a world facing financial meltdown, grace and hope may seem to be in short supply, but the booklets remind us that these values can transform our everyday lives.

“Prayer In Your Pocket and Joy In Your Pocket were hugely popular and we’ve found that churches are frequently using them for visiting neighbours and friends and for prayer groups. It goes to show that people really do want this kind of resource.”

Grace In Your Pocket was inspired by a sermon given by the President of the Methodist Conference, the Revd Stephen Poxon at the 2008 Methodist Conference. He described grace as being, “loved completely...and there are no conditions... only this overwhelming sense of being loved."

The booklets are ideal for mission-related activities and public events. Some of the contributions have been specially written, while others have been drawn from well-known authors such as Martin Luther King, Jane Austen and Superman star Christopher Reeve.

Eighty thousand Grace and Hope booklets have been produced and a copy of each will be sent out to Methodist Ministers.

“Hope is like the wing of an angel, soaring up to the heaven, and bearing our prayers to the throne of God,” 17th century clergyman, Jeremy Taylor, is quoted as saying in Hope in Your Pocket; designed to offer hope in the midst of a busy life.

ENDS

Notes
Grace in your Pocket and Hope in your Pocket are available from Methodist Publishing House (MPH) in packs of 50 at £5.00 per pack incl. p&p. The booklets are available in PDF or PowerPoint form on the Methodist website.
NOTE: Link from MPH to: https://secure2.cyberware.co.uk/%7Ecb537/acatalog/index.html

Link from Methodist website to: www.methodist.org.uk/index.cfm?fuseaction=churchlife.content&cmid=5

Source: Methodist News Service 06/02/09