It may be hard for you to accept this. I won’t try and convince you. I’ll leave that to one of the masters: The first demand any work of any art makes upon us is surrender. Look. Listen. Receive. Get yourself out of the way. (There is no good asking first whether the work before you deserves such a surrender, for until you have surrendered you cannot possibly find out.) C.S. Lewis, The Reading Life: The Joy of Seeing New Worlds Through Others’ Eyes Vanessa and I invite you to surrender to these stories and take them for what they are. They are, we hope, reflections of a light we cannot completely comprehend, and must therefore come to from many angles in order to absorb as much as is humanly possible. We are not trying to be radical or controversial or even clever. We’re simply trying to tell stories that matter to us in a way that might let the story speak again, with a slightly different voice. Because we love these stories. They have shaped our lives. Whether you read them in Lent or at any other time, with a group or alone, we hope they might also shape your life. Steve Daughtry January 2026 Note: I have deep respect for First Nations people and for those Indigenous Christians who continue to generously encourage the church towards a just future. I cannot imagine Jesus entering this country without being profoundly inclusive and respectful of the spirituality and people of the land. In this light, and while personally accepting responsibility for all errors, the stories in this book that touch on Indigenous or First Nations cultures have been read and approved for publication by: Larissa Minniecon, ABM’s Truth-telling and Reconciliation Missioner. Rev’d Canon Aunty Di Langham, first Director of Reconciliation with Newcastle Anglican Diocese. The Rev’d Cameron Burr, NATSIAC Chair. 3
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