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!

library rave, new moon & an art show

Hope you're all having a wonderful December so far, now that it's half gone...wow.

A few thoughts for you tonight...

1. Forgive me if this is old hat by now, but did you know that there was a RAVE in the MSU library during FINALS?? See video below. Seriously? I cannot believe my eyes. I...I...don't know what to say. Why didn't this happen when I was in school? Do you SEE the guy crowd surfing WRAPPED IN GREEN CELLOPHANE?? Had I known THIS was coming, I might've stretched my college education out just a little bit longer...

2. What did all you Twilighters out there think of New Moon? My 2 cents: A) I thought it was much better than the first movie, albeit still rather hoaky, of course. B) I still think Kristen Stewart is the worst actress under the sun, right along with Cameron Diaz and Miley Cirus. Completely one-dimensional. MILEY could have done a better job as Bella. I could have done a better job. She knows how to make ONE facial expression for the camera, and boy does she STICK WITH IT. She drove me nuts.

See? This is what she looked like the. entire. movie.

I can guarantee you I could have made that face and held it for a couple hours, running around and looking scared and distressed (I almost took a picture of myself making that face to upload, by the way).

I really did love it, despite KS. I saw it twice.

3. Just got back from an art show to benefit Birmingham's Exceptional Foundation at Homewood's Art Alley, just a few blocks from where I live. This gallery boasts the work of my artist friend Susan, as well as other local artists. You can browse some of her art here.

Yay Swan!
4. I've made my Christmas CD for this year. Want to know what's on it? 12 versions of the same song. Yep - and I think it's the best mix I've ever made. 12 versions of O Come, O Come Emmanuel. Best version - Selah, bar none. Download it.

I leave you with this passage, stolen from my church's e-newsletter.

"The authentically hopeful Christmas spirit has not looked away from the darkness, but straight into it. The true and victorious Christmas spirit does not look away from death, but directly at it. Advent begins in the dark."

- Fleming Rutledge

Hope you're all having a peaceful, quiet, hopeful Advent season!

A few things...

Yes, it has been two YEARS since I last posted, and YES it's because I'm a boring English teacher who hasn't too terribly much to write about except for one too many sleepless nights spent laboring on the school newspaper and the bad documentary I last saw thanks to Netflix (I'm still trying to decide if Netflix is a good idea or not...)

I will say this: Not having a camera seriously slows down the blogging. I mean, you can only Googleimage so many pictures to accompany blog posts. Tell me I'm wrong.

So. I do now have a camera with which to document sundry yet blogworthy (I think, anyway) affairs.

Thanksgiving weekend has been EXCELLENT, for many reasons.

One: It has been extraordinarily restful, and I needed this. Badly.

Two: I got to spend a good bit of time with this little munchkin:

I could just eat up every one of those precious rolls.

I will let these pictures speak for #3:

Hotty toddy THAT, Rebs!!

It's late, so I'll wrap it up here. But just know that now that I'm armed with a camera, you might be seeing more of me via blogspot.com.

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

good news, bad news

Good news: It's cold outside! I knew all that rain was good for something. I finally need long sleeves - sweaters, even!

Bad news: After sitting in said cold for several hours at Friday night's homecoming game at Restoration Academy, I've been rendered useless for the rest of the weekend. I am severely under the weather and so very tempted to call a sub for tomorrow, but I've learned that being gone from school is hardly worth the trouble unless I am near the deathbed, or going on a really fun trip.

Fortunately and unfortunately, neither is the case.

Hope everyone's having a fantastic, headache & runny nose free weekend!

I'm nervous

Jim and Pam tie the knot tonight, as all you Office faithful are well aware. I've been thinking about it all day.

It's bittersweet, really. Jim and Pam belong together, and this could potentially be the best episode to date.

HOWEVER.

I am deeply concerned about the direction of the show after this night. Where will the writers go after this? What will they do with the show? Historically, outrageously successful sitcoms go no where but down after "the big episode."


Could this be the beginning of the end?

welcome, october

Autumn is the season when a year grows old.

Its strength begins to wane,

Its light begins to go dim.

It is a reminder of our own mortality and faltering strength.

It is the season when we begin to look,

not to the earth for hope,

but toward a "city not made with hands,

whose arcitect and builder is God."

Outwardly we are wasting away,

but inwardly we are being renewed day by day.

"because all I have time to do...

...is think and get down to business."

And so quoted one of my students on his application for the school newspaper staff. I got such an enormous kick out of going through these applications that I sent out a mass e-mail detailing the funniest quotes - so forgive me if this is redundant; it's just that it so completely and utterly made my week that I couldn't help but share it here also.

"I will bring all kinds of happiness."

"I do hope you will find it in your heart to select ME for this position. Thank and you may God BLESS you."

"It would be very nice if I got my job back as photographer. It has really drug me into the newspaper business."

"I could help keep the staff together if things get out of hand."

"Because on a scale of 1 to 10, I am the 10."

"I did photography last year and I am the MASTER at it."

"So, again, it would be nice if I got photography again, please."

"I would just like to say that I have been in two magazines and written three books. But, I would not like to be a writer. I would like to be a photographer."

"I would be a good asset because I know what children are thinking these days. I am one myself."

"When I decided I wanted to be a lawyer, I knew I had to be more into the economy."

"I take pictures of clouds."

"I can make up a poem in less than five minutes. Easy as that."

"I have an exquisite vocabulary."

"The school newspaper means EVERYTHING to me! If I am not on the staff, I will be so mad! I am everything the newspaper needs! I tried to be in it last year, and now I am trying again. I am very happy to get an opportunity to be on the staff and this is NOT my chance to blow it!!"

"I sometimes make 45% grammatical errors, and that is why I chose staff writer SECOND."

"Because the only thing I have time to do is think and get down to business."

I love journalism because it informs us of many things. Like the newspaper."