Wrangler Dani

I was drawn to this book because I’ve always been curious about monks and nuns and of course, the ancient ways that go hand-in-hand with such a life. As a child, my mom was taught by nuns in a Catholic school, most of whom she didn’t particularly like – yet when I read St. Francis or Brother Lawrence I’m astonished by the depth and richness of their faith.

How can we have gone so far that such practices are remembered for their austerity (as with the nuns in my mom’s experience) instead of the love of the Savior that they claim to promote? And, conversely, does our non-denominational easy-going Christianese-spouting faith need a commitment overhaul?

Brian McLaren doesn’t answer these questions. In fact, he does so little answering that occasionally I felt a little frustrated. But in the end I felt comforted, as though I’d just spent a few hours wrestling a very difficult question with a trusted mentor. I don’t agree with everything he asserts – he is determined to include the ancient practices of Muslims in with our own devotions, for instance – but he states his case in a way that brings light and clarity to an overly mystified subject.

He also treats every sect of Christianity with an even brush. While many current Christian writers slip into elevating young, social-activist, Relevant-reading hipster Christians above the staid, hymn-singing, self-controlled and self-reliant faith of their grandparents, McLaren gives every trend an equal chance, and reminds us that such waves of public opinion do not matter to God, do stop His love and should not keep us from following Him.

I also appreciate that McLaren writes about deeply spiritual things without ever lapsing into Christianese. This book is accessible to any seeker and gives credence and hope to those aching for more than a faith of trends and politics, but one that stretches back in time and serves a God who is bigger than any box we can possibly create for Him.

Towards the end of the book, after laying out some practices and ways to “find our way” McLaren writes this:

..I recall a Celtic prayer I once came across, a prayer to be used each morning as one stirs the embers in the hearth: ‘As I stir the embers of my daily fire, I ask you, living God, to stir the embers of my heart into a flame of love for You, for my family, for my neighbor, and for my enemy.’ And there was another old Celtic prayer – to be said as faithful Christians splashed cold water on their faces three times in a simple morning ritual: ‘Let me awaken to You, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.’ My new considerations turn out, as they always do, to be a rediscovery of something very old and very precious.

The ancient way is about joining God in the spending of every day. When we spend our days this way, we truly save them.

Isn’t that it? I’m drawn to monks and nuns and tales of ancient ritual because I want to save my days, only to find that I need not cloister myself away or enter some mystical code. All I have to do is join God at the grocery store, in my work, at the gym, in conversations with friends. He’s already at work – I just have to practice the art of watching for His hand.

Buy this book here: Finding Our Way Again: The Return of the Ancient Practices (Ancient Practices Series)

Book for review provided by BookSneeze.