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The Visit and Other Short Stories
Best-selling Adrian Plass brings us this beautifully illustrated gift book.Best-selling Adrian Plass brings you this beautifully illustrated gift book. This moving story about a long-awaited visitor to a present-day church is illustrated in full colour by Ben Ecclestone, and is a wonderful reminder of the purpose of Christ's visit 2000 years ago. The visit doesn't go at all as expected — for a start, the visitor takes the church to the pub and gives away his clothes to the down and out. The man chosen to organise the visit finds it more than In fact the visitor's reluctance to go with the respectable way of doing things brings him almost to a breakdown. What does this man expect from him? Our organiser has much to learn; or maybe it's us who have more to learn than we'd care to admit?
200 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1991
About the author
Adrian Plass
138 books103 followersAdrian Plass is a writer and speaker who has produced over thirty books in the last twenty years. The best known of these is probably The Sacred Diary of Adrian Plass, a gentle satire on the modern church, which has sold hundreds of thousands of copies worldwide. This and other books have travelled to other countries and are translated into a number of foreign languages. Other books include biography, novels, short stories, a fictionalised account of the author's experiences as a residential child care worker, and collections of poems and sketches. A bemused Anglican, Adrian lives with his wife and daughter in a small market town near the Sussex South Downs.
Adrian has been in demand as a speaker in venues as varied as prisons, schools, churches, festivals, literary dinners and theatrical settings. His work also includes contribution to national and local radio and television. Live presentations combine humour, poetry, and story telling, largely revolving around his own inadequacies and struggles as a Christian and a human being.
In recent years Adrian has been joined by his wife Bridget in presenting a more varied and dramatic style of performance. Adrian and Bridget met at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and have found particular satisfaction in being allowed to ‘do a bit of acting’. They have also been privileged to work alongside World Vision on several occasions, visiting Bangladesh and Zambia, writing two books and touring both in the UK and abroad with the aim of encouraging people to take up child sponsorship
Their work now takes them as far away as Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Africa, while trips to Europe have introduced the added dimension of speaking through interpreters. Not easy when you're trying to be funny!
Adrian's latest books include ‘Jesus Safe Tender and Extreme‘, published by Zondervan, ‘Blind Spots in the Bible’, published by BRF, and most recent of all ‘Bacon Sandwiches and Salvation’ published by Authentic Media. He and Bridget have also collaborated with friends in Canada to produce a CD of his favourite sketches from the last 20 years called ‘Preaching to the Converted’ while ‘A Touch of Plass’, CTA’s documentary video, is now out on DVD.
2008 began with a visit to Bolivia for Bridget and Adrian in collaboration with the charity Toybox to look at projects involving street children. Later on there will be a DVD, a book and a number of presentations promoting their work.
Adrian's central motivation continues to be his love for Jesus, although some may feel he expresses it rather eccentrically. His passion is to communicate the need for reality in faith, and a truth that he learned during a difficult stage in his life: "God is nice and he likes me..." Some have described his work as being ‘one long confessional’. They may well be right!
Adrian has been in demand as a speaker in venues as varied as prisons, schools, churches, festivals, literary dinners and theatrical settings. His work also includes contribution to national and local radio and television. Live presentations combine humour, poetry, and story telling, largely revolving around his own inadequacies and struggles as a Christian and a human being.
In recent years Adrian has been joined by his wife Bridget in presenting a more varied and dramatic style of performance. Adrian and Bridget met at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and have found particular satisfaction in being allowed to ‘do a bit of acting’. They have also been privileged to work alongside World Vision on several occasions, visiting Bangladesh and Zambia, writing two books and touring both in the UK and abroad with the aim of encouraging people to take up child sponsorship
Their work now takes them as far away as Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Africa, while trips to Europe have introduced the added dimension of speaking through interpreters. Not easy when you're trying to be funny!
Adrian's latest books include ‘Jesus Safe Tender and Extreme‘, published by Zondervan, ‘Blind Spots in the Bible’, published by BRF, and most recent of all ‘Bacon Sandwiches and Salvation’ published by Authentic Media. He and Bridget have also collaborated with friends in Canada to produce a CD of his favourite sketches from the last 20 years called ‘Preaching to the Converted’ while ‘A Touch of Plass’, CTA’s documentary video, is now out on DVD.
2008 began with a visit to Bolivia for Bridget and Adrian in collaboration with the charity Toybox to look at projects involving street children. Later on there will be a DVD, a book and a number of presentations promoting their work.
Adrian's central motivation continues to be his love for Jesus, although some may feel he expresses it rather eccentrically. His passion is to communicate the need for reality in faith, and a truth that he learned during a difficult stage in his life: "God is nice and he likes me..." Some have described his work as being ‘one long confessional’. They may well be right!
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 21, 2024
Parables with powerful prose, but a meaning somewhat too hidden (4 stars)
Published in the UK under the title “The Final Boundary” and in North America under the title “The Visit”, this offering from Adrian Plass is a collection of nine short stories he calls “modern parables”. Adrian Plass has garnered quite a reputation in Great Britain for his best-selling books, chiefly marked by their inspirational nature, and high humour. This collection of stories is marked more by their serious tone than by their humour. The lengthiest story – “The Visit” – was in fact born while Plass was struggling with an illness in 1984, and the rest of the stories, says Plass, “are parts of my shadow.”
One doesn’t have to read very far to discover that Plass has a unique style of prose and story-telling that is far superior to most contemporary Christian writers. It’s captivating, colourful, and convincing. What’s more, there’s nothing “light” about these stories. Taking his cue from Christ’s parables, Plass states that “a parable is a story that entertains at the front door while the truth slips through a side window.” By means of his parables, Plass aims to give us more than an entertaining read, but to impart important truths about the Christian faith in the guise of fictional stories: “Each one embodies a truth about living in this complex world, and each has been a hard learned lesson for me.”
In some cases the “truth” and “lesson” is clearly discernible. Under the guise of a story about climbing Mt. Snowden “A Letter to William” presents a clear warning about calling yourself a Christian but failing to obey Christ, being a hearer but not a doer of the Word. “The Second Pint” features a character who is convinced he is only half-hearted in love for the church, but fully devoted in his love for the world, but is in for a shock when the world rejects him and he is cast into the outer darkness. It is a cleverly reversed warning that those who are convinced that they are only half-hearted in love for the world but fully devoted in their love for the church will find themselves subject to the same fate.
“Small World” demonstrates that unlike earthly fathers who forsake their sons, heavenly Father will never forsake His adopted sons, because He already has forsaken His only begotten Son for their sake. And “The Final Boundary” is a treat for cricket fans, since it uses the joys and failures of a final innings in a cricket match to mirror the joys and failures of the Christian life, and illustrate how Christ redeems us from our greatest failures and brings us into eternal glory.
The problem with most of the stories, however, is that the truth that Plass aims to impart is far from self-evident, and sometimes rather too hidden. “Nearly Cranfield” is a sensitive and understanding psychological picture of how a child copes with grief after the death of his grandmother, and how his family fails to understand him, but what really is the point? And is the message of the morbid “Why it Was All Right to Kill Uncle Reginald” a warning about judging hypocritically, since the writer who condemns his uncle for his abnormality in the end proves to have abnormal traits of his own? Is “Bethel” making a point about the power of forgiveness? I really don’t know, and it would have been nice if Plass had told us.
In many cases I was left pondering after reading a story with the thought: “That was most enjoyable and there was definitely something profound behind that, but I haven’t a clue what it was.” Is it then the reader that has failed, or the author? It would seem to me that in writing his own modern parables, Plass appears to have forgotten a key aspect of the parables he seeks to emulate – Jesus explained them to his disciples and made the meaning clear for them. It’s unfortunate that Plass doesn’t do the same for us, because in many cases we are left like some of the crowds in the time of Jesus – hearing, but not understanding.
“The Visit” – an account of a visit of Jesus to a present day church - is the longest but most problematic story of them all. Sadly, I found it disrespectful and blasphemous, because it fails to take into account the uniqueness of Christ’s earthly ministry as a once-only time of humiliation and suffering. Not only does Plass over-emphasize Christ’s humanity at the expense of his divinity, but he does not do justice to the fact that Christ’s mission was unrepeatable. The point of the parable is to warn against having a fictional Jesus that is different than the real one. But by creating a fictional Jesus, Plass falls into the very trap he warns against – for who is to say that Plass’ Jesus is like the real one? It’s shaky ground indeed.
But that’s not to say that these stories cannot be read without profit. Some of them are gems, and all of them exhibit superb literary qualities. I recommend these stories – with reservations - for the thoughtful Christian reader who wants to read for profit and not merely for pleasure, and who is capable of careful discernment.
Published in the UK under the title “The Final Boundary” and in North America under the title “The Visit”, this offering from Adrian Plass is a collection of nine short stories he calls “modern parables”. Adrian Plass has garnered quite a reputation in Great Britain for his best-selling books, chiefly marked by their inspirational nature, and high humour. This collection of stories is marked more by their serious tone than by their humour. The lengthiest story – “The Visit” – was in fact born while Plass was struggling with an illness in 1984, and the rest of the stories, says Plass, “are parts of my shadow.”
One doesn’t have to read very far to discover that Plass has a unique style of prose and story-telling that is far superior to most contemporary Christian writers. It’s captivating, colourful, and convincing. What’s more, there’s nothing “light” about these stories. Taking his cue from Christ’s parables, Plass states that “a parable is a story that entertains at the front door while the truth slips through a side window.” By means of his parables, Plass aims to give us more than an entertaining read, but to impart important truths about the Christian faith in the guise of fictional stories: “Each one embodies a truth about living in this complex world, and each has been a hard learned lesson for me.”
In some cases the “truth” and “lesson” is clearly discernible. Under the guise of a story about climbing Mt. Snowden “A Letter to William” presents a clear warning about calling yourself a Christian but failing to obey Christ, being a hearer but not a doer of the Word. “The Second Pint” features a character who is convinced he is only half-hearted in love for the church, but fully devoted in his love for the world, but is in for a shock when the world rejects him and he is cast into the outer darkness. It is a cleverly reversed warning that those who are convinced that they are only half-hearted in love for the world but fully devoted in their love for the church will find themselves subject to the same fate.
“Small World” demonstrates that unlike earthly fathers who forsake their sons, heavenly Father will never forsake His adopted sons, because He already has forsaken His only begotten Son for their sake. And “The Final Boundary” is a treat for cricket fans, since it uses the joys and failures of a final innings in a cricket match to mirror the joys and failures of the Christian life, and illustrate how Christ redeems us from our greatest failures and brings us into eternal glory.
The problem with most of the stories, however, is that the truth that Plass aims to impart is far from self-evident, and sometimes rather too hidden. “Nearly Cranfield” is a sensitive and understanding psychological picture of how a child copes with grief after the death of his grandmother, and how his family fails to understand him, but what really is the point? And is the message of the morbid “Why it Was All Right to Kill Uncle Reginald” a warning about judging hypocritically, since the writer who condemns his uncle for his abnormality in the end proves to have abnormal traits of his own? Is “Bethel” making a point about the power of forgiveness? I really don’t know, and it would have been nice if Plass had told us.
In many cases I was left pondering after reading a story with the thought: “That was most enjoyable and there was definitely something profound behind that, but I haven’t a clue what it was.” Is it then the reader that has failed, or the author? It would seem to me that in writing his own modern parables, Plass appears to have forgotten a key aspect of the parables he seeks to emulate – Jesus explained them to his disciples and made the meaning clear for them. It’s unfortunate that Plass doesn’t do the same for us, because in many cases we are left like some of the crowds in the time of Jesus – hearing, but not understanding.
“The Visit” – an account of a visit of Jesus to a present day church - is the longest but most problematic story of them all. Sadly, I found it disrespectful and blasphemous, because it fails to take into account the uniqueness of Christ’s earthly ministry as a once-only time of humiliation and suffering. Not only does Plass over-emphasize Christ’s humanity at the expense of his divinity, but he does not do justice to the fact that Christ’s mission was unrepeatable. The point of the parable is to warn against having a fictional Jesus that is different than the real one. But by creating a fictional Jesus, Plass falls into the very trap he warns against – for who is to say that Plass’ Jesus is like the real one? It’s shaky ground indeed.
But that’s not to say that these stories cannot be read without profit. Some of them are gems, and all of them exhibit superb literary qualities. I recommend these stories – with reservations - for the thoughtful Christian reader who wants to read for profit and not merely for pleasure, and who is capable of careful discernment.
May 23, 2017
Very strange stories. Not worth reading.
September 9, 2011
If you are a Christian and have not read any Adrian Plass (or even if you are just anybody who has not), you really should. For some reason he is not as well known in the US as in the UK, but he has a wonderful craft for writing. This is a book of modern parables, many from things that have been a part of his own life. Like any collection of short stories, there are some that are better than others, but throughout his shining ability to describe the exact emotions of very different characters is very impressive, and allows you to truly enter into the story and thereby internalize the meaning more fully. I think the main thing that I learned from this book is that everyone feels deeply, whether they allow it to be known or not.
April 30, 2012
Wonderful Adrian Plass short stories. Published over 10 years ago, the title and final story, The Visit, is so apropos today. All the stories were good and some were very funny; but The Visit is written just right so as to be convicting and humbling but uplifting and full of joy. I highly recommend to all Plass fans as well as anyone who has never read him before. But for belly laughs, pick up his Sacred Diaries.
September 3, 2009
This book of modern-day parables was my first introduction to the delightful Adrian Plass, a British author with a refreshingly honest take on what it means to be a Christ follower.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews