Finding Our Way Again

I truly enjoyed 'Finding Our Way Again' by Brian McLaren, as I found it to be well rounded and captured a depth that has been largely missing in our culture. I think he sets up the seven ancient practices very well, and I look forward to the rest of series. This is just an introduction to the practices of fixed hour of prayer, Sabbath, Fasting, Tithing, The Sacred Meal, The Liturgical Year and Pilgrimage, which all have a unique book and author for each practice. I have always found Brian's writing so encouraging and yet it has such a generous amount of challenge within it, and that is definitely the case with this book. Although I have noticed other reviewers negatively speaking about Brian's use of other religions and their approaches to some of the same practices, I found it helpful and broadened my perspective. I love the metaphors and stories Brian uses to help illustrate a point, or paint a more colorful picture. For example, in the chapter 'Shallow Trouble Deep Trouble,' his metaphor of a firefighter, a health physician, and a social worker gave a clear picture of the danger of an afterlife destination being the goal, rather than a engagement and participation in the here and now approach to the gospel. A firefighter doesn't love fire, he hates it and the damage it does to people's lives, so he is trained how to go into burning buildings in order to fight the fire, for the sake of safety. If he loved fire, he'd be more inclined to be a pyromaniac, and if he was afraid of fire he would be inclined to be a pyrophobe. He neither loves it nor is afraid of it, instead he is trained to eliminate it for the betterment of all. This was just one of many pictures that I found helpful for intelligent dialogue with others, as well as helpful in my own journey with Jesus. This went along well with stories of how people of different denominations and religions approached the ancient practices, and help show the beauty of the practice from many angles. I think Brian paved a way for people to re-engage with ancient practices so as to return us to a path that we might have drifted off. I am looking forward to the remainder of the series and how the unique voice of each author tackles each discipline/practice.