Canon Stephen Roberts reviews

ISBN 0 264 67533 9 Continuum (London, New York) £9.99

In one of the sermons Canon James lets slip that he is seventy-five, but there are no signs that this preacher is becoming any less eager to ascend the pulpit steps.

This is his sixth collection, which is interesting in itself, given the supposed pre-eminence of the sound bite.

These are not two-minute homilies but the carefully crafted pieces of a dedicated wordsmith - his 1999 Holy Week addresses and eighteen other sermons. Some sermons, which sound wonderful, do not translate onto the printed page, but these manage the transition very well. His style is quite literary but the lump never remains unleavened for too long.

He "never quite feel[s] a sermon is complete unless it contains a personal anecdote or two" and confesses that he has "reached [his] 'anecdotage' in life". The result is a treasure trove of stories and reminiscences stretching back over fifty years in ordained ministry, a childhood in Dagenham, his early working life in a wharf on the south bank of the Thames, during the Second World War. The stories are not there as padding, they are more like touch stones: he says "thinking about the cross means most of all discovering the cross at the heart of our own everyday experience, our own selves; discovering the cross-like self-giving of God at the very heart of our own existence and experience".

I cannot finish without mentioning the front cover - a photograph of an installation of Mark Wallinger's sculpture Ecce Homo. The design is inspired: raised lettering, like Braille, not printed as such, so you have to feel it to find out what it says - a metaphor for the whole collection.

First published in The Franciscan and used with permission.

Roly Bain 'Playing the Fool'

'Playing the Fool' is the latest book from the pen of priest/clown Roly Bain who tells his life story - with anecdotes about his work in prisons, hospitals, churches, schools and conferences - and reflects on the long tradition of the 'holy fool'.

The book is available from bookshops (rrp £7.99) or direct from Roly at The Vicarage, The Street, Olveston, Bristol BS35 4DA at £6.99 plus 50p p&p.;