The Liturgical Year: The Spiraling Adventure of the Spiritual Life by Sister Joan Chittister
"Like a great waterwheel, the liturgical year goes on relentlessly irrigating our souls, softening the ground of our hearts, nourishing the soil of our lives until the seed of the Word of God itself begins to grow in us, comes to fruit in us, ripens in us the spiritual journey of a lifetime." -- Joan Chittister (from The Liturgical Year)
Having taken an interest as of late in the ancient practices of the Christian faith, I felt it was time to work toward a goal I've had for a few years now -- reading all the books in "The Ancient Practices Series" (Thomas Nelson, Inc.) and beginning to try to apply them to my spiritual walk. And while there is something of a logical order to reading the books in the series (other than just by publish date), I chose to read the 7th of eight books first. I justified my decision with the thought that the book, The Liturgical Year: The Spiraling Adventure of the Spiritual Life by Joan Chittister, covered the longest time period of all the ancient practices, and thus I could learn about the time-based practices from broadest to most narrow (e.g. Liturgical Year, Sabbath, Fixed-Hour Prayer). What I found in my "experiment" was that either I had a really poor game plan in starting the series like I did, or that this book just wasn't as informative and enlightening as I'd hoped.
Don't get me wrong, the author did a great job of justifying the need to emulate the life of Jesus and explaining the need to continue experiencing the events of the past to celebrate the promise of the future. I just felt that she spent half of the book's 200+ pages in doing so. What I was hoping to get out of the book by the end was: 1. What are the components of the liturgical year? 2. When are they celebrated? 3. What is their history? 4. How can I apply these practices as a modern-day, Western Christian? After reading the book, I have an excellent grasp on what the components of the liturgical year are (I could probably even name them in chronological order without looking), but I didn't get too much of an idea about when each component happens in the year (while she did try to spell out much of this information, a lot of it was confusing), and I didn't feel like there was a whole lot of history of the year's components included (though what bits of history there were in the book comprised my very favorite moments). As far as application, I didn't get a whole lot outside of "go to a Catholic Church during each stage of the liturgical year to take part." I understood the times to mourn and the times to celebrate and I completely agree with why we would come to worship with those feelings at those particular times. There just wasn't a lot of application for me outside of going to church. And maybe there just isn't. But I didn't come to that conclusion either and was left feeling a bit empty-handed from that standpoint. This of course, is hardly that important since Chittister likely wasn't writing the book for me, or someone in a similar demographic/stage of life as me, but it helps justify my rating the book as mediocre at best.
Overall, I felt there was a lot of fluff to get through -- more specifically, there was really only one good chapter (chapter five, called "Sunday") prior to chapter 8 ("Calendars"), which explains the differences in calendars and why a discrepancy in the placement of the actual date of Christmas exists between some European denominations and much of the Western church. It also briefly discusses the fact that Jesus wasn't likely born on December 25, which is a topic that has always fascinated me, but it seems not many are willing to write or talk about it, since there are always people out there that might cry heresy. In addition, I've always wondered how it is decided whether Easter is in March or April, and how the specific Sunday is chosen, and the same chapter helped explain a lot of that reasoning.
There were a few additional highlights to follow, including some insights into Holy Week that I had never known and some things I was unaware of about the Marian Feasts (of which I had no idea there were so many). However, with so much discussion of the importance of the liturgical year which was reiterated for seemingly every part of the year, there were not enough pages to really scratch the surface on the feasts, among other things.
I did pick up some new knowledge about and appreciation for the liturgical year, so I am glad to have read the book. But following up with some online research provided as much of that knowledge and more in about five minutes. Again, I was not necessarily Sister Chittister's primary audience -- I wanted hard facts about the year and its history as opposed to a lot of reinforcement about its value. And because of this, the book wasn't quite what I was hoping for with my first endeavor into The Ancient Practices Series.
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Though I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program, I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
The courage to take off Saul's armor
Soulprint by Mark Batterson
"I try to share my weaknesses and failures because I think it amplifies the goodness and greatness of God." -- Mark Batterson (from Soulprint)
Admittedly, I had never actually read one of Mark Batterson's books before Soulprint, despite the fact that I have three of his works on my bookshelf (including this one, that was provided to me by Waterbrook Multnomah Publishers as a complimentary review copy). Hearing him speak a few times and liking what he had to say had prompted me to purchase his other books, but when it came down to making a decision to read them, they ended up left on the shelf in favor of a different title. But I think my hesitancy to read them was more about Batterson and his publisher not disclosing more of the details of his books on their covers (which isn't necessarily a bad thing) than it was about the books not having subject matter I would enjoy. The same was true when I first picked up Soulprint ("What is this about?"). But it was partly that bit of mystery (and discovery) that made Batterson's latest work a quick, enjoyable read. And it's the author's conversational, confessional style that will soon lead me to brush the dust off his other books on my shelf.
Without disclosing too much, Soulprint is about our divine destiny. To disclose just a tiny bit more, it's also about King David, though less about David as king (which is part of his destiny) as it is about his journey to become a man after God's own heart, and how instances within David's journey can parallel our own journeys to expose our divine destinies.
And that's really all there is to it, so the the description on the cover really says it all (much of the beauty of the book lies in its simplicity). But that's not to say the book is one-dimensional -- Batterson adds so much more to what seems like a simple concept of outlining the link between David's discovery of his destiny and our own. It's much more than a Bible study on the book of Samuel with application for today's Christians. And it's more than a motivational or self-help book (a distinction Batterson himself makes immediately) -- it's a biblical call to action he likens to "an archaeological dig into our pasts to find clues to our futures."
So once I figured out what Soulprint was (and wasn't), I was ready to go along for the ride. But what I wasn't ready for was how the author would lay himself out there all throughout the book, exposing embarrassing and awkward moments from his past, mistakes he has made in his life, and disappointments that have turned out to be "divine appointments" in his journey. Where I expected preachiness, I often found humility. When Batterson said "pride is simply the failure to praise," I looked for places to call him on it, but couldn't find them. And the credibility he earned with me as a reader made his seemingly simple message all that more affecting. I suppose that aiding the book's impact was my current life situation -- having read it in the days surrounding the birth of my second child -- but I think that regardless of where you are in life, there is a lot to which we can relate, since (as Batterson explains) our destiny involves past, present and future...and it can be found in the life places we may have never expected.
Stories of David's life are among the very first Bible stories we ever hear, and I've heard many of them so many times that it's rare that an application breathes new life into them. But I've never tried applying them to my own life. And not just my present life, but my past and future as well. And in doing that, the stories become fresh. Because they become about me. Batterson says that our sense of destiny is a God-given birthright, and having the sense to find it and develop a vision to get there is what Soulprint is about. And though the book didn't tell me exactly what my destiny is (nor did I expect it to), it did tell me where I can find clues as to what it is. And acquiring the knowledge to recognize those clues was well worth reading past the outside cover.
"I try to share my weaknesses and failures because I think it amplifies the goodness and greatness of God." -- Mark Batterson (from Soulprint)
Admittedly, I had never actually read one of Mark Batterson's books before Soulprint, despite the fact that I have three of his works on my bookshelf (including this one, that was provided to me by Waterbrook Multnomah Publishers as a complimentary review copy). Hearing him speak a few times and liking what he had to say had prompted me to purchase his other books, but when it came down to making a decision to read them, they ended up left on the shelf in favor of a different title. But I think my hesitancy to read them was more about Batterson and his publisher not disclosing more of the details of his books on their covers (which isn't necessarily a bad thing) than it was about the books not having subject matter I would enjoy. The same was true when I first picked up Soulprint ("What is this about?"). But it was partly that bit of mystery (and discovery) that made Batterson's latest work a quick, enjoyable read. And it's the author's conversational, confessional style that will soon lead me to brush the dust off his other books on my shelf.
Without disclosing too much, Soulprint is about our divine destiny. To disclose just a tiny bit more, it's also about King David, though less about David as king (which is part of his destiny) as it is about his journey to become a man after God's own heart, and how instances within David's journey can parallel our own journeys to expose our divine destinies.
And that's really all there is to it, so the the description on the cover really says it all (much of the beauty of the book lies in its simplicity). But that's not to say the book is one-dimensional -- Batterson adds so much more to what seems like a simple concept of outlining the link between David's discovery of his destiny and our own. It's much more than a Bible study on the book of Samuel with application for today's Christians. And it's more than a motivational or self-help book (a distinction Batterson himself makes immediately) -- it's a biblical call to action he likens to "an archaeological dig into our pasts to find clues to our futures."
So once I figured out what Soulprint was (and wasn't), I was ready to go along for the ride. But what I wasn't ready for was how the author would lay himself out there all throughout the book, exposing embarrassing and awkward moments from his past, mistakes he has made in his life, and disappointments that have turned out to be "divine appointments" in his journey. Where I expected preachiness, I often found humility. When Batterson said "pride is simply the failure to praise," I looked for places to call him on it, but couldn't find them. And the credibility he earned with me as a reader made his seemingly simple message all that more affecting. I suppose that aiding the book's impact was my current life situation -- having read it in the days surrounding the birth of my second child -- but I think that regardless of where you are in life, there is a lot to which we can relate, since (as Batterson explains) our destiny involves past, present and future...and it can be found in the life places we may have never expected.
Stories of David's life are among the very first Bible stories we ever hear, and I've heard many of them so many times that it's rare that an application breathes new life into them. But I've never tried applying them to my own life. And not just my present life, but my past and future as well. And in doing that, the stories become fresh. Because they become about me. Batterson says that our sense of destiny is a God-given birthright, and having the sense to find it and develop a vision to get there is what Soulprint is about. And though the book didn't tell me exactly what my destiny is (nor did I expect it to), it did tell me where I can find clues as to what it is. And acquiring the knowledge to recognize those clues was well worth reading past the outside cover.
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