Book Review #1: The Sacred Meal

Thanks to Alison, I got the memo awhile back about Thomas Nelson's Book Review Blogger program - mention free books, and you've got my attention. I signed up and got very excited to find a book on the list about Communion. So as tempted as I was to select A Beautiful Mess: The Story of Diamond Rio for my first review, I opted for this book on the Lord's Supper instead.

Nora Gallagher's The Sacred Meal is a part of The Ancient Practices series, which explores centuries-old spiritual disciplines in the church. This book reads like a memoir, divided into sections: Introduction & Communion as practice, waiting, receiving, afterward, and thanksgiving & application. Here are some snippets from her work that, to me, sum up what she asserts in each section of the book.

Intro & Communion as practice: "To engage in a practice is to show up and not get attached to the outcome. Unlike a habit, like driving down the same street from work to home every day, the purpose of a spiritual practice is to help us stay awake." (pg. XIX)

Waiting: ...the art of noticing: it helps us shift our perspective, from...the greed and envy we share with Sodom and Gomorrah to the kingdom of Heaven." (pg. 35)

Receiving: "The model for being valued in this society is produce, produce, produce...by making our greatest and most important goal the one of productivity, we miss out on the ways that God's gifts of grace come to us by doing nothing." (pg. 41)

Afterward: "The practices are 'after words,' after the events are long in the past, and whatever words attached to them may no longer be accurately recalled. The practice remains to keep us in tune with what the original event pointed toward and so that we can add to its meaning and history." (pg. 56)

Thanksgiving & Application: I began to see that if you don't act on what you hear in the Gospels...it doesn't stick." (pg. 109)

When I picked this book, my hope and expectation was to find solid commentary and Biblical references on Communion's history and purpose; on the service and practice itself. What I found instead was one woman's reflections on her love for and experience with Communion in her Episcopal church, with very little (and by very little, I mean zero) reference to scripture or the cross.

While I loved much of what she had to say and found her to be a captivating writer, this book was not what it appeared to be in a disappointing kind of way. There were simply one too many references and/or comparisons involving yoga and global warming for my taste. It was more feel-good than authentic, more soap-boxy than substantial.

My recommendation: If you're in the mood to read a well written memoir on one person's affection for and encounter with the practice of communion, which is certainly of great value, this is your book. If you're wanting something a bit more expository and grounded in scripture, this is not your book.

Thank you, Thomas Nelson, for sending the book for review!