Receiving the Day: Christian Practices for Opening the Gift of Time (The Practices of Faith Series) (Paperback)

by Dorothy C. Bass (Author) "In the Midwestern town where I live, all the children are required to buy datebooks at the beginning of fourth grade..." (more)
Key Phrases: offering attention, keeping sabbath, time bind, Holy Spirit, Maundy Thursday, Eugene Peterson (more...)

Editorial Reviews

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. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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 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." (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 recommendations for healing our relationship to time it is often unsettlingly revolutionary, frequently subversive of our secular culture, and always full of Dorothy Bass's 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)

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Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 1 edition (February 12, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0787956473
• ISBN-13: 978-0787956479
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #199,731 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bass's spirituality of time is changing my life, December 31, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Receiving the Day: Christian Practices for Opening the Gift of Time (Practices of Faith Series) (Hardcover)

As a mother with a full-time job outside the home, I too often view time as a problem, an enemy to do battle with every day in order to get my work done and care for my family. Dorothy Bass's book has been a revelation to me--she shows me that I can inhabit time differently, more graciously. There is so much practical wisdom in this book. I have been particularly helped by thinking about my days, weeks, months and years not as made up of blocks on the calendar, but as part of the rhythms of work and rest, feast days and ordinary days. I've been trying to follow some of Bass's suggestions for giving shape to each week, by observing a sabbath day of rest. I am finding out two things: that by preparing for a sabbath day I am more productive on my work days and that on the day of rest, time seems to open up, get larger somehow. Bass draws on the best wisdom religious traditions (Christianity primarily, but also Judaism) have to offer about how to give shape to our days and offers it to the reader in a form and a language that resonates with busy, contemporary people. I am so grateful for this book.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A reevaluation of how we think about time, June 24, 2000

By	M. J. Smith (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Receiving the Day: Christian Practices for Opening the Gift of Time (Practices of Faith Series) (Hardcover)

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.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bass opens gift of time to readers, January 4, 2000

By	Rebecca Schott (Columbus, Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Receiving the Day: Christian Practices for Opening the Gift of Time (Practices of Faith Series) (Hardcover)

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.