Book Review: The Liturgical Year
7th April 2011 | reviews | 0 comments
Joan Chittister’s book The Liturgical Year is a simple journey through the very basics of the liturgical year. It is a book not slowed down by lists and explanations of the various feasts and fasts of the year, but centers mostly on the two pillars of the liturgical year – the Advent and Lenten seasons. It is more devotional that educational, more thought-provoking than habit-building.
A few months ago I stumbled upon the wikipedia for Paschaltide {that is, Eastertide} and found myself craving to know more about the liturgical calendar and the various celebrations within it. When I saw this book available for review, I knew immediately that I must get it.
I was not disappointed, but I was caught off guard. I’d assumed the book to be more methodical and full of facts and dates and rituals. Instead, it was centered on the heart behind and in the celebrations, more of a reflection on the purpose of it all.
To someone looking for the straight-up facts and answered questions, this could be frustrating. I found the book to be highly encouraging, especially where my own spiritual practices were concerned. It is a book I plan on reading again, this time starting at Advent {I started on Ash Wednesday this time} and will read again and again as I myself begin to celebrate the liturgical year with the devotional heart shown to me by Sister Joan.
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com
Book Review – The Cause Within You
24th March 2011 | reviews | 5 comments
In Deuteronomy, God says that he defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow and loves the foreigners, giving them food and clothing {Deut. 10:18}. If God defends a cause, we ought to get right behind him in it, which is what Matthew Barnett has done.
Barnett currently oversees the LA Dream Center, a converted hospital building that now serves the last and least – rehabilitating drug addicts, housing the homeless, clothing the naked, helping rebuild the lives of natural disaster victims.. they even gave my favorite band a place to stay while they were on tour in the area. It is the living, breathing manifestation of the State Farm motto: Like a good neighbor, the Dream Center is there.
In his book The Cause Within You, Matthew Barnett invites the reader to embark on the journey of the DC from the beginning to its current state, honestly sharing the moments he felt inadequate, insufficient, and like giving up. Packed with real-life stories of lives changed through the ministry of the Dream Center, it is an inspiring book that leads the reader to begin searching within them. What can I do? What has God put on my heart? How will I respond?
The book was inspiring and challenging. It had me looking upward and inward. It could be easy to read this book and limit ourselves {and, unfortunately God}. It would be easy to compare ourselves to Matthew Barnett or our cause to the Dream Center. But throughout the book, I got the sense that Matthew was more concerned that we stop and ask God to reveal the cause he’s placed in us right now at this very moment, where we are at. True, we are not all called to give up everything and move to L.A. and serve at the Dream Center. But we are all called to love the “least” and the “last.” God did a new, great thing in building up the Dream Center through the faith and obedience of Matthew Barnett and he wants to build up new, great things through all of us. The Cause Within You helped remind me of that.
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I was provided a copy of this book for free by the publisher in exchange for a review.
