Our whole book group liked this book. I chose it because I liked The Luminous Web, which was also written by this same author (see here for my review). The author is transparently authentic, and humbly does a great job writing engagingly about her topic. Her point is for us to notice and appreciate the holiness of right where we are, and I love that message.

Here are some bits I flagged to share with you:

• “The great wisdom traditions of the world all recognize that the main impediment to living a life of meaning is being self-absorbed.”
• “The hardest spiritual work in the world is to love the neighbor as the self – to encounter another human being not as someone you can use, change, fix, save, enroll, convince or control, but simply as someone who can spring you from the prison of yourself, if you will allow it.”
• “The Hebrew Bible in one verse commands, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ but in no fewer than 36 places commands us to ‘love the stranger.'”
• Miroslav Volf says. “It may not be too much to claim that the future of our world will depend on how we deal with identity and difference.”
• ‘The first piece of wisdom is that blessing does not confer holiness. The holiness is already there, embedded in the very givenness of the thing. The mosquito does not need your help to make it holy. The heavy boy at the airport does not need to you to place him in divine custody, suggesting that perhaps while he is there he could lose a little weight. Because God made these things, they share in God’s own holiness, whether or not they meet your minimum requirements for a blessing.”
• “What is saving my life right now is the conviction that there is no spiritual treasure to be found apart from the bodily experiences of human life on earth. My life depends on engaging the most ordinary physical activities with the most exquisite attention I can give them. My life depends on ignoring all touted distinctions between the secular and sacred, the physical and the spiritual, the body and the soul. What is saving my life right now is becoming more fully human, trusting that there is no way to God apart from real life in the real world.”

She would have us truly encounter one another, and bless each other. She would have us slow down to the pace of Jesus, who was never in a hurry.  She would have church be outside of walls as much as inside them. She would have us find chores sacramental.  As a former priest and religion professor, she says she dreads writing about prayer, and is “a failure at prayer.” So she writes about practices instead, which she muses may even constitute prayer.

So practice saying no to things in order to observe the Sabbath better. Practice paying attention. Practice blessing one another. Practice saying what is saving your life right now. Practice being grounded. Practice the art of community. Practice living on purpose. Even practice getting lost, since discovery and asking for help are both progressive.

This book is refreshing, and while I don’t agree with all of her theology, that fact didn’t interfere with my appreciation for what she has to say. I give this delightful, encouraging read four stars. You may enjoy An Altar in the World  as well.