false 11 151 136 true 5744031 read 8 true 4046551 currently-reading 7 true 4046550 to-read http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/57314522 to: The Magician (Nicholas Flamel, #2) by Michael Scott
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/50326739 to: Giving Ourselves to Prayer: An Acts 6:4 Primer for Ministry (Hardcover) by Dan R. Crawford
Used this as part of my daily devotional. There are 80 short chapters on prayer, most just 3 or 4 pages. It is just perfect to help inspire you to more prayer.

I spent months slowly working through it. I know about six or eight of the authors. But there is pretty wide range of quality and insight in the book. It is an attempt at creating a real textbook on prayer. I think it was a valiant attempt. The weakness is both the wide range of writing (creating a lack of cohesion)and the lack of depth into any of the particular areas.

Unfortunately my dogs ate the book a few chapters before I finished. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77369813 to: The Liturgical Year: The Spiraling Adventure of the Spiritual Life - The Ancient Practices Series (Hardcover) by Joan Chittister
I grew up as a low church baptist. We didn't pay attention to the liturgical year, we didn't use the Lectionary. I have absorbed some things about the church year through my time at Wheaton College and seminary. Some friends have paid more attention to the liturgical year and my wife and I have paid attention to Lent on and off since we went to Israel for Easter in 2001. But this book was a good formal introduction to not only what the liturgical year is, but why it is. The author describes it this way:

"The church year is not the marking of one lucelent, passing moment in the midst of eleven long months of dark nothingness all the rest of the year. It is month after month, every year of our lives, being taken back to the empty cross and the empty tomb, one way or another, in order to shape our own life in the light of them." (From the 1st chapter.)

The author is a catholic nun, and write using the Roman Catholic system as her primary focus. She also talks about some of the differences between Eastern and Western calendars and where the differences arose. It is not technical, fairly conversational and quite understandable to an outsider. It was a quick read, I read it is in two evenings.

Even before reading this book I have been wondering how to incorporate some these ideas into my life. On any given Sunday more than half of the Christian world is following a liturgical calendar. It is one way to feel a part of the larger church. This is one reason that I like to participate in communion (and think we should do it more often.)

I go to a contemporary church (read very large). I love the church but there is no way that it is going to take on a traditional liturgical year. We have our own idea of liturgical year (Sunday we talk about church vision, Sunday we talk about being a volunteer, Sunday we talk about getting into small groups). But the church will not be changing its format anytime soon to pay more attention to the liturgical year. It probably is at the small group level that some of these ideas can be added.

There were a couple of annoying book issues. One is the bold on-page quotes. I just don't like quotes from a book highlighted when it is already on the page. I don't read to look for the highlighted section, I am reading the book. And to highlight a quote, away from where the quote actually is on the page is distracting and annoying. There was also a couple places where I am just not sure the right word was chosen. It feels like a bad spell check. There was one place that described Jesus after the resurrection and it used the word "Translucent". I am pretty sure what they meant was "Transcendent". Jesus wasn't transparent when he was resurrected, he was a whole, physical body. The theology of the book does not suggest Jesus was a ghost, so that word choice just seems like a mistake.

Overall I would recommend the book. It is part of a series of books trying to rediscover some of the Ancient Practices of the Church. All but one of the books are now out. I ordered one on Prayer and will probably get Scot McKnight's book on Fasting.

This book was provided free as part of the Thomas Nelson Blogger program. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77828270 Atlas Shrugged : New Edition (CD-ROM) by Ayn Rand
bookshelves: currently-reading
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/76676499 to: My Life in France (Kindle Edition) by Julia Child
I finished Julia Child's "My Life in France" on Saturday. My blog post about it is up http://bit.ly/4yVioF ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/76656085 to: High Fidelity (Paperback) by Nick Hornby
I am not sure if this would have been better if I read it 10 years ago or if it would be better if I were 10 years younger. It wasn't bad. I enjoyed it. But the concerns of a single man, trying to find his way are just not my struggles. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/76655876 to: Sun of Suns (Virga, #1) by Karl Schroeder
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/75822674 Trust Agents (Hardcover) by Chris Brogan
bookshelves: currently-reading
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/73718653 to: Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery: Library Edition (Unknown Binding) by Eric Metaxas
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/73718711 to: The Light and the Glory (Paperback) by Peter Marshall
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