Colin Heber-Percy

Reflections for Daily Prayer continues to be one of the most popular and highly valued daily Bible reading companions. Continuing its tradition of excellence, regular favourites and new contributors offer insightful, informed and inspiring reflections on the scripture readings of the day, based on the Common Worship lectionary for Morning Prayer. Isabelle Hamley, Principal of Ridley Hall, Cambridge, is the guest contributor for Holy Week. For every day (excluding Sundays) of the 2026-27 Church year, there are full references and a quotation from the day’s set of Scripture readings, concise and challenging commentary, and a collect. Also included is a simple order for Morning and Night Prayer, and additional helps for nurturing a habit of regular daily prayer.

'Colin Heber-Percy is a reliable guide' - THE REVEREND RICHARD COLESWhere am I? Who am I? And why didn't I bring a sandwich...? This book is a hymn to getting lost. Drawing on his experience as a troubled schoolboy, a burnt-out screenwriter at the BBC, an 'awkward' priest in the Church of England, Colin Heber-Percy reflects on the value of not belonging... We all share a desire to belong. There's reassurance and safety in knowing who we are and where we fit in. But at significant moments in our lives - a new job, new school or an unexpected change of circumstances - or just in the ruts and routines of everyday life, we can experience a sense of not belonging, of dislocation, of being lost in a forest. But, there is another way to approach these uneasy moments. Rather than fearing the forest, Colin discovers great value and creativity there. Join parish priest Colin Heber-Percy in an invitation to get lost - to lose the labels society and institutions use to box us in - and to relish the liberation of losing our way in the world. Blending anecdotes from parish life, with philosophy, literature and tales from his local Savernake Forest, Colin argues that there is an overlooked richness, a spirituality and a freedom to be found outside the boundary lines our culture sets for us. Lost in the Forest is a gentle, funny, and life-affirming trail of crumbs through the woods... PRAISE FOR COLIN HEBER-PERCY:'Colin Heber-Percy's prose is flowing and he writes amusingly, perceptively and beautifully' - KATE GREEN, Country Life'A gentle, generous spirit.' - SIMON RUSSELL BEALE'A Wordsworthian appreciation of nature and is full of humanity and wisdom.' - SARAH SANDS, journalist and author of 'The Interior Silence'

'Colin Heber-Percy is a reliable guide' - THE REVEREND RICHARD COLESWhere am I? Who am I? And why didn't I bring a sandwich...? This book is a hymn to getting lost. Drawing on his experience as a troubled schoolboy, a burnt-out screenwriter at the BBC, an 'awkward' priest in the Church of England, Colin Heber-Percy reflects on the value of not belonging... We all share a desire to belong. There's reassurance and safety in knowing who we are and where we fit in. But at significant moments in our lives - a new job, new school or an unexpected change of circumstances - or just in the ruts and routines of everyday life, we can experience a sense of not belonging, of dislocation, of being lost in a forest. But, there is another way to approach these uneasy moments. Rather than fearing the forest, Colin discovers great value and creativity there. Join parish priest Colin Heber-Percy in an invitation to get lost - to lose the labels society and institutions use to box us in - and to relish the liberation of losing our way in the world. Blending anecdotes from parish life, with philosophy, literature and tales from his local Savernake Forest, Colin argues that there is an overlooked richness, a spirituality and a freedom to be found outside the boundary lines our culture sets for us. Lost in the Forest is a gentle, funny, and life-affirming trail of crumbs through the woods... PRAISE FOR COLIN HEBER-PERCY:'Colin Heber-Percy's prose is flowing and he writes amusingly, perceptively and beautifully' - KATE GREEN, Country Life'A gentle, generous spirit.' - SIMON RUSSELL BEALE'A Wordsworthian appreciation of nature and is full of humanity and wisdom.' - SARAH SANDS, journalist and author of 'The Interior Silence'

Reflections for Daily Prayer continues to be one of the most popular and highly valued daily Bible reading companions. Continuing its tradition of excellence, regular favourites and new contributors offer insightful, informed and inspiring reflections on the scripture readings of the day, based on the Common Worship lectionary for Morning Prayer. Stephen Cottrell, the Archbishop of York, is the guest contributor for Holy Week. New voices this year include Gregory Cameron, the Bishop of St Asaph and author of the popular An Advent Book of Days and An Easter Book of Days; Chine MacDonald, author, broadcaster and Director of the religious think tank Theos; and Emma Parker, Deputy Warden of Cranmer Hall, Durham. For every day (excluding Sundays) of the 2023-24 church year, there are full references and a quotation from the day’s set of Scripture readings, concise and challenging commentary, and a collect. Also included is a simple order for Morning and Night Rrayer, and additional helps for nurturing a habit of regular daily prayer.

Discover Colin's new book LOST IN THE FOREST 'A delightful book from a gentle, generous spirit.' - SIMON RUSSELL BEALE'Philosophical speculation, country lore, rock music, spiritual exploration, erudite and beautifully written, this collection of reflections and meditations is a surprise and a delight. The kind of shot in the arm the Church of England badly needs - and is so rarely to be found.' - SALLEY VICKERSDuring the unprecedented circumstances of Spring 2020, Colin Heber Percy began writing a daily newsletter of reflections and uplifting stories to stay in touch with his parishioners. Word spread, and soon his bulletins were being eagerly consumed by readers around the country and beyond. In this thought-provoking and invigorating book, Heber-Percy draws upon a kaleidoscopic knowledge of nature, philosophy, poetry and music, as well as religious writings, and interlaces them with amusing and touching vignettes from his Wiltshire parish. As he follows the changing seasons, Heber-Percy moves from the seemingly small and mundane to ponder big life questions - can you find heaven in a Londis shop, why is the Bible not like the Highway Code, what on earth we are all doing here - while gently offering up wisdom and sustenance for all, regardless of faith and creed.

Three men go on a risky journey through a forbidden Zone in search of fulfillment. They fail. They come home. The end. The plot of Tarkovsky's Stalker is a joke. Taking its title from 2 Corinthians, Perfect in Weakness explores Stalker as a ludic parable. And the subject of this parable is faith. Faith as folly, faith as a dangerous, last-ditch attempt to attain the unattainable. To fail, to fail again, and to carry on regardless. Stalker is about crossing borders, boundaries, conventions. To transgress, to disrupt, to deconstruct is the dark impulse behind Tarkovsky's personal vision. It is also the illicit, revolutionary message at the heart of the gospel: tear down this temple, and have faith. Like one of Deleuze's rhizomes, or David Tracy's fragments, Perfect in Weakness aims to throw out thoughts, ideas, and connections in unexpected (even unintended) directions, drawing new and unlikely texts into the field of film theology--Patristic thought, Christian Neoplatonism, and Renaissance literature. Perfect in Weakness suggests we see cinema itself as the ultimate apocalyptic art form--letting light into the darkness, and then throwing it on a screen. ""Heber-Percy's illuminating scholarship, boundary-dissolving methodology, and academic poetics deliver a fascinating journey into the soul of Tarkovsky's Stalker. Perfect in Weakness not only challenges and enriches our understanding of this mesmerizing cinematic achievement, it provides a unique appreciation of the nature of conversion and the life religious. For Heber-Percy the film is a heartfelt hymn whose meaning is in the conversation it provokes. This book is a provocative, fecund, and moving contribution to that conversation, and to that meaning."" --Britt Harrison, Lecturer, Goldsmiths, University of London ""The unexamined life is not worth living, and neither is the disconnected one. Colin Heber-Percy's integration of film, ancient wisdom, and Christian theology makes a revealing and profoundly attractive account of contemporary spirituality. This is a book for explorers of what it is to be honest, engaged, and fully human."" --Nicholas Holtam, Bishop of Salisbury ""Deeply impressive, Heber-Percy's writing is deeply serious, informed with passion, but always he pursues his quest with a lightness of touch and playfulness. Here is an original thinker offering rigor and insight."" --Madeleine Bunting, writer and former associate editor of The Guardian Colin Heber-Percy is a fulltime screenwriter and a priest in the Church of England. His screenwriting work (mainly for television, and mainly historical drama) has won many awards and been shown all over the world. He lectures and publishes on spirituality, faith, film, and fiction.