M J Flower, BA (Hons); MPhil, raised a family before reading Theology and Philosophy of Religion at the University of Exeter, where she also completed a research thesis on the social theory of John Millbank. She jointly established the Institute for Christian Studies in Exeter, and worked extensively with the South West Training Ministry for the Diocese of Exeter, training and supporting Readers and non-ordained ministers. She spent many years as a Churchwarden at St Leonard's Church in Exeter, and sat on the Deanery Synod as a lay member. She has spent more years than she would like to count leading and contributing to Bible Study and Home Groups and continues this work while happily retired in Buckinghamshire, living close to a very wide circle of friends and three generations of her family. She is the author of The King and the Kingdom: A Devotional Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew.