From Publishers Weekly
Bass, a historian of the Christian tradition and editor of Practicing Our Faith: A Way of Life for Searching People, dissects the elusive concept of time within the realm of Christian theology and practices. Using rich personal stories, she shares how time is truly a gift to be savored, not a tempest to be tamed. Bass understands the societal stress men and women feel to produce and provide within ever-decreasing time slots. She also knows how liberating these daily 24 hours can become when we practice living in the now. Bass's eight chapters outline her basic premise in time management: receiving each day as a gift from God. She encourages readers to open their hearts every morning in quiet thanks to God for life, to learn to structure their lives with flexible regularity, to use their time for things that matter and to live today confidently, without fear. She also discusses the benefits of keeping the Sabbath (on the actual Sabbath day or not), observing the Christian year with all its special holidays and religious celebrations, and counting days and moments with an eye on eternity. Bass's perspective and message are indeed timeless. (Oct.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
"With wisdom, clarity, and sacred practicality, Dorothy Bass changes our relationship with time. It needn't control us. Rather, the day, the week, and the year are each an opportunity for us to shape our lives in the peace and kindness of God. God's story becomes our story. This is a book of genuine insight and gentle leadership. Let it turn your calendar from a taskmaster into a gift from the Creator for creation and for you." (Walter Wangerin, Jr., author, The Book of God)
"Those who struggle with the pressures and limits of time-that is, all of us!-will find this book a rich resource to be tasted and tried. This deeply spiritual book dramatically reorients the heart of the reader . . . challenging our time-obsessed society and teaching the wisdom of religious practices. Through careful exploration of the rhythm of the day and its promise, the week and its sabbath, and the year and its liturgical movements, Dorothy Bass calls us to attention and makes us more mindful of the many ways life may be renewed." (Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore, author, And Also a Mother: Work and Family As Theological Dilemma)
"A profoundly useful book. . . . It reminds us forcibly that we are embodied creatures gifted by God with time too precious to fritter or work away. In its recommAndations for the healing of our relationship to time it is often unsettlingly revolutionary, frequently subversive of our secular culture, and always full of Dorothy Bass' honest and generous reflections on her own life. It is a pleasure to recommend it." (Roberta Bondi, author, A Place to Pray: Reflections on the Lord's Prayer and Memories of God)
"This book is, quite simply, a gift. There is no other way to explain how, in the midst of an impossible schedule, taking time to read about the gift of time could be so completely renewing. Like a much needed rest or sabbath, Receiving the Day breaks into our daily priorities and invites us into a more whole and holy understanding of time. By opening to us the Christian tradition's wisdom about time and by recognizing the powerful social and economic forces that shape our days, Dorothy Bass has given us a grace-filled account of time that offers hope and resources for living our days more wisely." (Christine Pohl, professor, Asbury Theological Seminary; author of Making Room: Recovering Hospitality As a Christian Tradition)
