Summary: Another beautifully written book about finding God in the present.
I love blogging. But every once in a while, I get tired of the pressure to keep churning out content. It is work to try to figure out something to say about every book that you read.
However, much more often, books are a joy to read. It is one of my great pleasures to be able to recommend particular books to friends and family and then have them come back later and say they loved the book.
One of the books that I recommended to many over the past two years is Carolyn Weber’s Surprised by Oxford. It is Weber’s account of her first year of studying at Oxford and her unexpected conversion to Christianity during the same year. It is a beautifully written book.
So I have been expectantly waiting for her new book Holy is the Day. I was lucky enough to get an advanced copy the day before I left for vacation last week.
This was an airplane book (the only place I regularly read paper books.) Much shorter and more episodic than her previous book, Holy is the Day recounts stories of where Weber finds God in daily life.
I, as an expectant father, was particularly drawn in because the book opens and closes with birth stories. Birth and death are natural places where we see God because they are such transcendent experiences. But in between birth and death, God sometimes gets a little lost (or at least we lose sight of God in the midst of our busyness).
Most of the stories are in some way about family, community, and the church. We have a tendency to live as if we are alone. But it is in community, our families, the church, neighbors, and friends, that we often most clearly see and hear God. (This is very similar to the focus in Eugene Peterson’s Practice Resurrection).
Except for the fact that Weber can write prose more beautifully than almost anyone I have ever read, she is a normal mom, wife, teacher, writer, Christian. She does not have a particularly large circle of influence, she is not a pastor to thousands or the leader of a large business or non-profit. She is not a household name. So I can relate to the way she loses sight of God in the mundane. Because it is in the mundane that most of us live our lives.
Holy is the Day Purchase LInks: Paperback, Kindle Edition, IVP Multi-format DRM-Free Ebook
Thanks so much for your kind words and continued support, Adam. This book was particularly close to my heart, so I am grateful it spoke to you. I am also grateful for your own inspiring example. Praying for your family and the safe arrival of the new little one. What exciting, wonder-filled times! A thousand blessings …
Adam, I completely agree that Carolyn writes prose like no other! And it is underlined by her “normalness” of being a mom/family person, not some one who has talked to crowds for a life time.