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Sacred Pause: A Creative Retreat for the Word-weary Christian
Even though our lives are full of words, we rarely pause to attend to them – to revel in the sights and sounds and dynamics of what we too-easily say about God. Rachel Hackenberg offers the word-weary, the writers-blocked, and the spiritually stagnant to explore the words of faith anew and thereby meet The Word afresh. Through twelve deceptively light-hearted chapters on letters and definitions, grammar and poetry, this book sparks the spiritual imagination even as it provides practical exercises for an inspired retreat experience!
190 pages, Hardcover
First published November 1, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 28, 2015
Around our house, Paraclete Press is known as a publisher of pretty books. Paraclete is responsible for the lovely Advent and Lent devotionals that I use, books with thick pages, ribbon bookmarks, and full-color representations of sacred art. Paraclete takes the physicality of books seriously.
And so it is with Sacred Pause: A Creative Retreat for Word-weary Christians. The book has a beautiful, airy feel to it, with wide margins and color on every page. And indeed the book has to be beautiful if it is to live up to its promise---after all, it is a collection of words promising to help us recover from other words.
In order to rouse the word-weary, Rachel Hackenberg (a minister in the United Church of Christ and author of Writing to God) sets out not to remove us from words but to help us consider them anew. She writes, "Sacred Pause is your invitation to approach the words of faith with curiosity, to seek out fuller understandings of our religious vocabulary, to adopt childlike wonder for the sights and sounds and even colors of words, to marvel at the breadth of meaning that words convey, and to make use of words for spiritual renewal and growth."
In each of the twelve chapters (which constitute twelve individual "retreats") there are guided exercises, such as using mandalas to explore word associations, illustrating the individual sounds words make, and creating "MadLib" psalms (less cheesy and more beautiful than it sounds!). Visual, creative types will no doubt find the connections that Hackenberg makes vivifying, and they will feel at home in the careful design of each page.
As someone who is neither visual nor creative, what I appreciated most about the book was Hackenberg's understanding of the religious language that we use to talk about God; she sees it as essential but ultimately only an imperfect attempt to describe a God beyond our comprehension. Without any hint of jadedness or disillusionment, Hackenberg warns against the idolatry of words, against the false belief that we can completely and certainly contain God within doctrine, liturgy, and religious vocabulary. She writes, "If anything remains with you from your retreat with this book . . . I hope it's the understanding that religious language is always and only an attempt to translate a Word that is beyond complete translation."
I tend to seek my word-therapy in poetry, so I don't know how often I will return to this book. That being said, I thought of several friends for whom this book would be the perfect resource, friends who are more creative than I am and who long for the open-ended exercises that Hackenberg has provided.
Full disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of Sacred Pause from Paraclete Press in exchange for an honest review.
And so it is with Sacred Pause: A Creative Retreat for Word-weary Christians. The book has a beautiful, airy feel to it, with wide margins and color on every page. And indeed the book has to be beautiful if it is to live up to its promise---after all, it is a collection of words promising to help us recover from other words.
In order to rouse the word-weary, Rachel Hackenberg (a minister in the United Church of Christ and author of Writing to God) sets out not to remove us from words but to help us consider them anew. She writes, "Sacred Pause is your invitation to approach the words of faith with curiosity, to seek out fuller understandings of our religious vocabulary, to adopt childlike wonder for the sights and sounds and even colors of words, to marvel at the breadth of meaning that words convey, and to make use of words for spiritual renewal and growth."
In each of the twelve chapters (which constitute twelve individual "retreats") there are guided exercises, such as using mandalas to explore word associations, illustrating the individual sounds words make, and creating "MadLib" psalms (less cheesy and more beautiful than it sounds!). Visual, creative types will no doubt find the connections that Hackenberg makes vivifying, and they will feel at home in the careful design of each page.
As someone who is neither visual nor creative, what I appreciated most about the book was Hackenberg's understanding of the religious language that we use to talk about God; she sees it as essential but ultimately only an imperfect attempt to describe a God beyond our comprehension. Without any hint of jadedness or disillusionment, Hackenberg warns against the idolatry of words, against the false belief that we can completely and certainly contain God within doctrine, liturgy, and religious vocabulary. She writes, "If anything remains with you from your retreat with this book . . . I hope it's the understanding that religious language is always and only an attempt to translate a Word that is beyond complete translation."
I tend to seek my word-therapy in poetry, so I don't know how often I will return to this book. That being said, I thought of several friends for whom this book would be the perfect resource, friends who are more creative than I am and who long for the open-ended exercises that Hackenberg has provided.
Full disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of Sacred Pause from Paraclete Press in exchange for an honest review.
April 10, 2015
This is a gorgeous book full of varied ways to see, hear and feel words anew. The book itself feels beautiful to the touch and is appealing to the eye. Rachel Hackenberg has a gift for being light and whimsical at the same moment she is utterly serious. I highly recommend this book for all people of faith who need some mental and spiritual fresh air.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews