Hidden in Christ

'I noticed that single words from Colossians 3 began to bounce around in my mind, forming a new understanding of the gospel, and a new awareness of who I am, and who my brothers and sisters in Christ are.'

Memorising a passage and studying it in depth can offer a deeper sense of the meaning of each word. James Bryan Smith has found Colossians 3:1-17 to be a rich resource for understanding what it means to have our lives hidden in Christ.

Each of the thirty short chapters of this book bring out the main truth of just one word or phrase in this rich passage. You'll also find a simple daily practice to take up, reflection questions and a guide for five weeks of group discussion.

“The essential message of Paul to us all. This is an accessible, thoughtful book, which provides guidance on how to interiorise and retain the insights gained through each chapter...this book may well provide a fruitful way forward in deepening and awareness of the scriptures, and the reality of the divine word.”

Much of our spirituality is a mile long and an inch deep. James Bryan Smith helps us go deeper. This book is based on one chapter of the Bible, and it is a dazzling one. On these pages, you'll find a countercultural invitation - an affront to the self-centered world of self-help books, blessing-obsessed televangelists and fluffy motivational messages. Here is an invitation to die to live, to find your life by giving it away. It's a smooth, easy-to-read book, but underneath it all is a radical message about reorienting our lives so that we look more like Jesus - and thereby interrupt the patterns of inequity and injustice that plague our world. - Shane Claiborne, author and activist

The third chapter of Colossians is one of the supreme passages in Scripture, brimming as it does with life-giving realities. Hidden in Christ can serve as a kind of midwife to help bring these realities to birth within us. - Richard J. Foster, author of Celebration of Discipline and Sanctuary of the Soul

Jim Smith probes the great mystery of where our true life lies. He walks us through one of the great passages in all of Scripture so we may discover the life that is hidden only to be found. - John Ortberg, senior pastor of Menlo Park Presbyterian Church and author of Who Is This Man?

James Bryan Smith is the author of numerous books including The Good and Beautiful God, The Good and Beautiful Life and The Good and Beautiful Community as well as Hidden in Christ. He is a theology professor at Friends University in Wichita, Kansas, where he also serves as the executive director of the Apprentice Institute for Christian Spiritual Formation. A founding member of Richard J. Foster's spiritual renewal ministry, Renovare, Smith is an ordained United Methodist Church minister, and has served in various capacities in local churches.

'I noticed that single words from Colossians 3 began to bounce around in my mind, forming a new understanding of the gospel, and a new awareness of who I am, and who my brothers and sisters in Christ are.' Memorising a passage and studying it in depth can offer a deeper sense of the meaning of each word. James Bryan Smith has found Colossians 3:1-17 to be a rich resource for understanding what it means to have our lives hidden in Christ.Each of the thirty short chapters of this book bring out the main truth of just one word or phrase in this rich passage. You'll also find a simple daily practice to take up, reflection questions and a guide for five weeks of group discussion.

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