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Rating: 
Summary: What a wonderful, soulful book!
Review: Bass doesn't preach at us from on high, but rather bears witness to her own struggles to keep sabbath and receive time as a blessing and gift instead of as a problem or enemy. Bass describes how "receiving the day" can become a way-of-life practice, and she relates this activity to other core practices that give life character and integrity (see "Practicing Our Faith: A Way of Life for a Searching People," which Bass edited.) Bass grounds her analysis of time in contemporary research from a social scientific perspective, such as A.R. Hochschild's "The Time Bind" and R. Levine's "A Geography of Time." Bass's deeper grounding, however, is in the practical wisdom of the Jewish and Christian traditions for living faithfully in the rhythms of days, weeks, and years. Drawing on the biblical story of the creation of time (Genesis 1), Bass invites us to consider what difference it would make in our lives if we viewed dusk instead of dawn as the beginning of each new day. Observing how digital clocks now synchronize our global economy, Bass notes with irony how Benedictine monks invented the clock to call the community to prayer at set hours during the course of the day. The challenge for us today is not to "turn back the clock," of course, but to learn how to live freely and humanly within a 24x7 society. I enthusiastically recommend "Receiving the Day" to anyone who cares to ponder how we dwell together as creatures within time. This book prompted deep personal reflection about the ways I spend my time, and it also inspired the design of a playful worship service for our congregation's annual Family Camp. A great book for adult study groups and sermon ideas. To open "Receiving the Day" is to open a thoughtfully chosen, carefully crafted gift.
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Summary: A reevaluation of how we think about time
Review: The most striking point made in this book, from my perspective, was the notion that the Jewish concept of day from sundown to sundown reflected the creation story of Genesis in the sense that first God acts, later people are drawn into the equation. If insights such as that excite you, you will enjoy this book.The book is written in a very personal style - how Dorothy C. Bass has come to see and use time. This results occassionally in some reader disconnects e.g. her assumption that a church could not refrain from Christmas carols during Advent - I come from a church that does not use Christmas carols until the Christmas vigil. But these "disconnects" also are a strength for the book - she is not giving you a list of how-to's, but rather inviting you to reevaluate time in your life ... with a recognition that that will have similarities and differences from what it means in her life. This book is recommended for everyone - and especially needed by individuals planning liturgical season.
Rating:
Summary: What a wonderful, soulful book!
Review: This beautiful book can change the way you view each day. Are you in a struggle with time or can you learn to embrace it? How is your life shaped by the Christian year and its seasons? How do you practice the sabbath? Bass answers these and many other questions central to our faith. She does so by sharing her personal experiences and those of her fellow believers. This deeply spiritual book is sure to change the way you view your life, your creator and the world we share.
Rating:
Summary: A Wonderful Appreciation of Time
Review: Without a doubt, this little book is one of the most helpful spiritual books of the new century. Bass takes a careful look at how we view and use time. Her citations of other authors, especially poets, are well chosen and lyric. This is a book to savor, to stimulate meditation, and to return to. May I suggest it as the perfect Christmas present for someone who is not too superficial to appreciate it?
Rating:
Summary: A Wonderful Appreciation of Time
Review: Without a doubt, this little book is one of the most helpful spiritual books of the new century. Bass takes a careful look at how we view and use time. Her citations of other authors, especially poets, are well chosen and lyric. This is a book to savor, to stimulate meditation, and to return to. May I suggest it as the perfect Christmas present for someone who is not too superficial to appreciate it?
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