Paul Luckraft reviews 'The Day is Yours' by Ian Stackhouse (2008, Paternoster)

Rooted in the monastic liturgy of the hours, this book aims to help Christians find a "slow spirituality in a fast-moving world", as the subtitle indicates. The central thrust is that living each day as it comes, with contentedness and gratitude, is vital in our modern society if we are to avoid succumbing to the distractedness and pressures of a 24/7 world.

Stackhouse skilfully demonstrates that 'one day at a time' spirituality is not sophisticated but it is important. It provides a tool for survival which delivers us from the anxieties of a future that may never exist and places us firmly into the particular reality that is definitely in front of us.

He explains the distinction between chronos (clock time and schedules) and kairos (God's moments, the rhythm he has placed into the time we experience). The art of living is not to be hurried by the former, but to enter and enjoy the latter.

Important Resting Points

There is a good discussion on the Sabbath rest, the need for a punctuation point somewhere in the otherwise relentless sequence of days in the week. Embracing a different kind of day from the others is a celebration of freedom over necessity, a recognition that we don't have to keep going in exactly the same way day by day. To embrace the Sabbath is to "enter a different construct of time" (p34) which can dominate other days.

Stackhouse skilfully demonstrates that 'one day at a time' spirituality is not sophisticated, but it is important.

Part Two (the central three chapters of nine) is devoted to the monastic 'Liturgy of the Hours'. The author realises that it is not realistic in modern life to embrace all the monastic hours and offices, but he does insist that some of them can, and should, still be appropriated nowadays. He focuses on three of them: morning, noon and evening. His exploration of 'evening' is particularly instructive, asserting that ending the day well is as important as starting it well, and offering (perhaps uniquely) a theology of sleep.

Each Day is Given

For all of us, time is a mysterious entity. We talk about making time, losing time and managing time, all from our own perspective (which may not be the best). We may never fully understand what time is, but we still have to recognise it, respect it and live within it.

Here we have an honest appraisal of the problems that living within time throws up, together with good advice on countering these problems, though the author always accepts that there will be difficulties putting his advice into practice. However, it is not difficult to agree with his overall proposition that each day is not a "vacuous hole waiting to be filled" (p81) but is given to us already shaped according to God's purposes, full of rhythm and moods waiting for us to step into and live through.

Here is an honest appraisal of the problems that living within time throws up, together with good advice on countering them.

The book is very well written in an easy style, with good endnotes and a comprehensive index. The author has thought through all the issues he brings before us, and brings us wisdom and insight from his own years in ministry. Ultimately, though, it is God who must write this on our hearts and make it effective in our lives.

Ian Stackhouse is the Pastoral Leader of the Millmead Centre, home of Guildford Baptist Church. The Day is Yours (158 pages) is available on Amazon.