Customer Reviews

Mudhouse Sabbath: An Invitation to a Life of Spiritual Discipline (Pocket Classics)

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Lauren Winner does not fail to challenge the mind and delight the soul with Mudhouse Sabbath. Her insights and experience with Judaism continue to inform her Christian practise and enlighten other believers who seek to press beyond the assumptions of our own culture.

Even though I was raised in a Christian home in a New England state that still had Blue Laws on the books, my own family sunk into the mire of Sunday as 'just another day' when Home Depot and Safeway extended their Sunday hours. The Sabbath was intended by God to be a joyful day of rest and worship, a day to refresh our bodies and souls, but our dollar-driven culture has reduced Sunday to another day of chores and shopping. I became convicted of my own lack of Sabbath keeping while living in France, which is among the most secular countries in the world, yet the French are great keepers of the restful Sunday, even if practically no one goes to church anymore.

Upon my return to the US, it was a challenge to consecrate this day, especially as so many American Christians do not feel called to honor it beyond attending services. I was delighted to see Lauren Winner take up the challenge on this and other topics of devotion, to see how the Jewish faith can inform our Christian practise, not only on the subject of Sabbath keeping, but other important traditions like mourning, which have been sadly lost in our five-minute culture.

I highly recommend these thoughtful musings to anyone who seeks a deepening of faith and spiritual practise.

This book's subtitle, "An Invitation to a Life of Spiritual Discipline," is perhaps the best introduction to its theme - an exploration of how Jewish spiritual traditions can intertwine with and enhance Christian spiritual disciplines.

Lauren Winner brings a rich background to this subject. As a convert to Christianity from Orthodox Judaism, she is intimately familiar with the practice of spiritual disciplines in both Jewish and Christian culture. And without succumbing to a pluralistic perspective on the two religions, she shares insights on ways to incorporate rich Jewish traditions into the Christian faith - while upholding the ultimate truth and beauty of Christ as the center of the Christian faith.

The book's eleven chapters deal with traditional "spiritual disciplines" such as prayer, fasting, and keeping the Sabbath, as well as lesser-known ways to honor God in such areas as mourning, hospitality, candle-lighting, and weddings. Woven among the practical suggestions offered, and the often-humorous real-life anecdotes, are broader theological implications about the importance and meaning of spiritual disciplines.

I loved this book because it remains firmly rooted in Christian orthodoxy, while exploring ways that another tradition can enhance our own spiritual practices. That is an incredibly difficult balance to maintain, and Lauren Winner has done it here with insightful grace.

Winner provides a fresh perspective of spiritual disciplines in the genre of the spiritual formation movement, drawing on her Orthodox Jewish roots and current Episcopal practice. Given that Judaism is based on practice, Winner invites the typical Christian "do-it-yourselfer" into a rhythm of life from ancient roots, from how we approach our time, food, relationships, body or even the aging process itself. This brief read of 11 Jewish disciplines keeps the reader's attention through her own personal story and fascinating insight into the heart of Jewish life. She also re-contextualizes her roots in a new kind of liturgy. The text tends to be more descriptive than prescriptive, making it more inviting to readers exploring the heart behind spiritual practices.

Winner's book reminded me of another Episcopal writer, Debra Farrington, author of Living Faith Day by Day. While Farrington's book is more of an idea book of several practices drawn mostly from the European monastic tradition, Winner focuses on those from her Jewish roots. Both will help face-paced suburban followers, like me, to slow down and reflect. After reading Winner following the Rest of God, Rest of God, by Mark Buchanan, and the Great Omission, by Dallas Willard, I am more intrigued than ever how Christ-followers need to incorporate a human rhythm of their spiritual life. Bottom line: I've had it with programmatic Christianity. Winner reminded me that God built into His chosen people a way of life that kept them focused on Him in everything they did. I want my life to be more whole. Winner is rediscovering this for herself. I believe Richard Foster would appreciate this other stream of spirituality -- this Jewish stream -- which Winner invites us back to reconsider.

I've just finished Mudhouse Sabbath: An Invitation to a Life of Spiritual Discipline by Lauren Winner. I confess, I bought the book in the name of the author only, I knew nothing about Mudhouses nor was I craving a more disciplined life. Good thing, too, the book mentioned the former only once and the latter was so cleverly woven in that I didn't know I was being disciplined at all!

Winner grew up in the south, daughter of a Baptist and a non-practicing Jew, allowably went through what any child of that sort of union would wrestle with, landing comfortably in Orthodox Judaism until her twenties when she switched over to the other side. Which is the truth, but, from reading this book, one would think she was still quite infatuated with her former religious bent.

She seamless correlates themes in Judaism with Christianity--takes what we call the Law and turns it into a Labor of Love. And somehow blows the dust off of age old traditions and into the faces of Christians who poo-poo Old Testament practices in the name of New Testament freedom.

There's always been something so appealing to me about the Law. While most people putter out of their Read Through The Bible in a Year around Leviticus, I usually get lost somewhere around Psalms. I'm serious: 150 chapters feels much more daunting to me than lists of Dos and Don'ts. If there is one habitual sin in my life it is the sin of the Law. Binding them so tightly to my doorposts that I couldn't see the blood of the lamb if it was painted over my head. Grace feels far away, the Law feels tangible.

In Mudhouse Sabbath, Winner teaches us silly Christians how the law wasn't a list of Must Dos, as much as it was a gift from the Creator to remember Him. Isn't it easy to forget? Because we shun the practices and the cleansing habits, we forget He created us and knows our innermost beings. Because we know He wants obedience more than sacrifices and fasts, we wander aimlessly searching for a command to obey, losing sight of the discipline in hearing that fasting affords. Because we abhor empty rituals and written prayers, more comfortable with speaking our own language to God, we stop praying altogether because who of us always has the words?

There's no implore to discipline in this book. I never once felt I was being coerced into yet another Path to Freedom in Christ (through this very specific list of rules). Instead, Winner tells the story of her ancestors and of God. She teaches history to we who have forgotten, ignored, or just never knew. She has remembered her creator in the days of her youth, so when the evil days come, she won't be one to say "I have no delight in them (Eccl. 12.1)!" This book is refreshing delight all the way through.

Mudhouse Sabbath by Lauren F. Winner is a delightful instructional on applying practices from the Jewish tradition to Christian spirituality. Having finished seminary in 2001 and learning some of these practices in class, I was happy to be reminded of many practices I am apt to neglect. Her conversational way of weaving personal stories and old traditions make Mudhouse Sabbath a real joy to read.
Winner's call to live our daily lives more attentively is heard loud and clear. I was struck at how many spiritual practices Christians gave-up as Christianity moved west. As a Baptist and lacking very many sacraments, I appreciated her ideas for making some of the everyday activities of life more holy whether it is eating, resting, aging, or praying. Three chapters in particular, "Hospitality," "Body," and "Weddings," stand out to me as particularly good words. Her chapter on hospitality resonates with my desire to experience authentic Christian community. She compares the messiness of her apartment with the messiness of her own life. She confesses that an invitation for others to enter her life also invites others to see her as she really is. She states, "Having guests and visitors, if we do it right, is not an imposition, because we are not meant to rearrange our lives for our guests--we are meant to invite our guests to enter into our lives as they are." I became aware of my attempts to sabotage closeness with others by attempting to only presenting a sanitized version of myself.
Winner's confession of her struggle with her own body image is tender and assuring as she draws the reader in to her experiences as a woman. Calling us back to Scripture and tradition, many readers might be surprised and pleased at the opportunity to grow into a new way of thinking about the human body. She correctly calls Christians back to the creation story and to consider that Western Christians have been, "Enlightenment people who liked to live Christianity in their minds rather than in their bodies."
Though I already thought of marriage as a sacrament, I must admit there is little that is sacramental about how we have done it in my tradition. In her application of Jewish tradition toward Christian marriage, I found the examples of how "privacy gives way to community" thought provoking with regard to their potential for solving problems young Christians face, particularly evangelicals. I do a number of weddings and I began to immediately brainstorm ways to incorporate ways to "push married couples into their community."
I recommend this book to people young and old who have maxed out at the Christian bookstore and are looking to deepen their Christian walk through intentional practices. This is not a book that will fill your mind with tons of facts and figures for your consideration. But like the title suggests, Mudhouse Sabbath is creative invitation to intentional Christian living.

This short, simple book brings ancient practices to life with ease, meaning and reverence. Winner is both humble and practical, sharing her knowledge and first-hand experiences with the spiritual disciplines described in the book while keeping her focus on grace. For those who are curious about biblical disciplines, this book is a very nice introduction and gives room for thought and discussion. Readers are left to apply the truths, not just practices or traditions, which makes it a good book for groups or friends to read together. As with Winner's other books, the honesty and sound doctrine encourage those who want to live out their faith in real ways, not just intellectualize or imagine their beliefs.

"Mudhouse Sabbath" is an invitation for Christians to enrich and deepen their faith by learning from the spiritual practices of Judaism. Lauren delves into the daily, weekly, and yearly practices of Orthodox Judaism that continually remind the faithful of the stories, grace, love, and presence of God. There is so much for Christians to learn about spiritual discipline from this beautiful little book. She discuses the practices of sabbath, hospitality, food and fasting, mourning, prayer, candle-lighting, etc. I have learned so much from Lauren already and I'm looking forward to my next Winner read, "Girl Meets God: On the Path to a Spiritual Life." Thanks Lauren for pointing us in the right direction.

Though Provking Essasys on relationship/differences between Judaism/Christinity customs. Winner was raised Jewish and convereted to Christiniaty as an adult. This adds a unique perspective. Must Read.

This simple little spiritual conversation about a woman's journey through her new faith and the yearning for the spiritual living of the Judaism she left behind. My husband and I shared this book together, and as 20 somethings trying to live an authentic and holistic Christianity we found this a beautiful and thought provoking work.

I found this book to be insightful, thought-provoking, easy to read, and helpful. In particular, the section about fasting gave me insights into why fasting comes up in the Bible. As a Protestant, I had never understood fasting. Now, I'm thinking that it is a discipline that is worth a try.