After working in the computer industry in England, Margaret Silf was trained by the Jesuits to accompany others in prayer. She is now engaged full-time in writing, facilitating retreats and days of reflection, and being a companion to others on their spiritual journeys. She is an ecumenical Christian committed to working across and beyond denominational structures. Silf is married and has one daughter. This is her first book to be published by a mainstream publisher in America; she already has an enthusiastic audience in the United Kingdom.
From the first chapter titled "Seeds of God" to the tenth chapter titled "Funnels of Love," Silf invites us to become wayfarers on the road of life in a Gospel journey of faith and prayer. She uses the Ignatian exercises as a framework for getting at the major themes in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This thought she once recorded in her diary sets the tone for her book: "The future is not some place we are going to but one we are creating. The paths to it are not found but made, and the making of those pathways changes both the maker and the destination." Although she has no idea who the author is, she thanks him for providing the inspiration for this "Kingdom Venture."
Silf sees Jesus as the First Cell of God's Kingdom on earth. He then 'divided' himself by giving all he had to a small band of disciples. These souls have passed on their legacies to today's Christians. The author puts it this way: "We could even call this first group of friends a 'starter kit' for the Kingdom, as a lump of leavened dough starts the next loaf going. Now, two thousand years later, the circle of the Kingdom has moved outwards unimaginably, and we are on its boundaries — called to continue that sharing and growing and spreading, each in our own way."
Whether writing about the temptations of Jesus, the call of the disciples, or the Last Supper, Silf draws us into the heart of the Gospels and the imperative that we see ourselves in these accounts. We especially like her treatment of the visit of the Magi at Jesus' birth: "The visitors 'go to see this thing which is come to pass.' They go to where Christ is being born. For us, this might be a call to go out into the world and simply allow ourselves to become aware of the very many ways in which God is coming to birth in the events and the people of our planet, whether or not we — or they — happen to think they are 'religious'."
Again and again, the author makes it clear that God is becoming incarnate in our life stories. It is not easy for most of us to accept this truth, and so we must hear it over and over until it sinks into our consciousness and starts to animate our daily deeds.
