Flunking Sainthood: A Year of Breaking the Sabbath, Forgetting to Pray, and Still Loving My Neighbor

First I have to admit two things This book was on a pile of books that may partner brought back from the US on the last trip I thought it was a novel and grabbed it off of the pile By the first page, I knew it was not a novel, but that it would be a fun read.The author decides to read religious classics and then follow one practice each month This was a set up for writing the book, but she could have titled it Creating Sainthood Just about each month she flunked out on her chosen month of practi [...]

In the prologue, Ms Riess mentions how when she presented her editor with the result of her year of trying out a dozen spiritual practices, none of which she felt she successfully completed, she felt dejected because of her failures Her editor encouraged her to view her experiences in a different light and shift the focus of the book to exploring the wild acceptability of failure Which I like But after reading the book, I don t think she was a failure at all Ms Riess may not have perfected any o [...]

I kept having fantasies about having lunch with Jana and A.J Jacobs author of, Year of Living Biblically, to hear about their years of following various religious practices Both of these books rank high in books that motivated me to be a better person and kept me laughing all the way through This book was very conversational in nature It truly felt like I just might be able to invite Jana Riess to lunch because she seems down to earth and is honest in a self depricating fashion It seems importa [...]

I am giving it 4 stars because I like her humor, I like that as a Mormon she maintains a healthy critical perspective without being irreverent to her faith or to other faiths and I like the concept of the book I also like that she failed, ergo the name , at most of her prescribed spiritual practices but not because I am cheering for such failure, or because misery likes company, but because I am at a place personally where spiritual practices can t be prescribed, IMHO, they must be learned and t [...]

I can t overstate how surprised and disappointed I was by this book Having read a few things on Riess s blog and general love of her and this book around the internet, I fully expected to love it also The idea of following various spiritual practices for a month to deepen one s relationship with God is an interesting idea But from the outset I was already a bit concerned spiritual practices are generally a form of discipline that slowly change people, not a magic trick with guaranteed results, a [...]

Read this in January of 2012 Review from Journey with Jesus We hear a lot today about the spiritual disciplines, the effect of which, I suspect, is to make the Christian life feel like a very serious endeavor Jana Riess s contribution to this burgeoning literature takes a different tack She decided not only to read about the spiritual disciplines but also to practice them So for a period of one year, each month she read a spiritual classic and practiced the corresponding discipline Her whimsical [...]

This witty, wise, and wonderful book is my favorite faith related title I read this year and I read a lot of faith related titles I follow Jana Riess s blog and Mormon related podcast appearances, so I knew going in that it was likely to resonate with me I wasn t disappointed Her tone is light and accessible, and her central message that there is value in establishing a habit of consistent spiritual practices, even when they re not performed perfectly is hopeful and encouraging She speaks as som [...]

This was a fantastic book I learned I laughed I want to do better The author is the perfect Mormon in my opinion although she never mentions her own religion I call it S mormonism It means you are a Mormon, but also so much mother, friend, sister, wife, teacher, hoarder of Oreos, etc The book doesn t focus on any one religion, but rather the author focuses on a specific religious practice each month of a year I knew I d be able to relate to her when she summed up her relationship with God as ol [...]

gerberadaisydiaries 20If you had a plan to increase your spirituality over the course of a year what would you do Jana Riess, in her book Flunking Sainthood decides to seek out reading ancient texts and embracing religious traditions everything from a month of fasting to strict Sabbath day observance to rigorous daily prayer a journey she expected to succeed at on a monthly basis.What she realizes is that each of her endeavors are much difficult and need a LOT time to accomplish and master At [...]

The second half of this book is better than the first, but overall this felt very surface y to me Riess discusses the motions of religious observance, without a lot of the content and depth the why of religious observance For me, it felt like she was reducing religion to a to do list She seems to say that she wants to go about knowing God better, but then she simply knows of Him Or, that s all she chose to write about anyway For example, can one really study scripture while walking the dog I d a [...]

I really enjoyed the premise of this book, the idea to try a new spiritual practice for each month for one year I liked learning about the diversity of practices within Christianity and it helped me discover further that the methods I was trained in represent a tiny window of ways to worship The author had a humorous approach too, but sometimes I was a little vague on exactly what she was trying to do each month, and also sometimes all this talk about other Saints or Christian writers on each su [...]

Many books on spirituality are serious to the point of being humourless and intimidating to the point of dissuading the seeker from every beginning Few begin at the level of Spirituality for Dummies Jana Riess memoir of her year of seeking saintliness succumbs to neither of those faults and seems a good place for dummies to begin She contrived to create for herself a sort of Spiritual Practice of the Month Club Despite coming from a low church evangelical upbringing, she bravely looked at catho [...]

I really enjoyed this book Riess chooses a different spiritual practice each month to explore along side reading various Christian classics Some of the practices were a bit extreme I don t know of any Christian religion that has a Ramadan style fast from sunup to sundown, and even she admits that a fully orthodox observance of the Jewish Sabbath is not the norm among American Jews , and I m still not sure I entirely buy the concept of vegetarianism as a spiritual practice, but it was an interest [...]

I really wanted to like this book The author intended to read the works of great spiritual leaders and saints and implement some of their practices in hopes of strengthening her relationship with God And I went into the book knowing upfront that she failed yet still learned spiritual lessons.And I get that concept As a Southern Baptist who converted to Catholicism and often understands New Age and Spiritual as beliefs, I know that trying on new spiritual practices can open your mind and heart to [...]

I loved this book finished it in one sitting it s fairly short.One of the things I loved was though it was written by an LDS Mormon writer, it doesn t have that feel Often LDS writers use a language that is recognizable only to other Mormons, but Riess uses a much universal tone to which all can relate I would feel comfortable both using this book in an LDS book club, then passing it to my Baptist friend, then lending it to my Catholic neighbor A great read and very inspiring.

I enjoyed this book so much The author s style was so honest and real that it made me want to go and friend her on Facebook Though a little whiny than i thought necessary, I thought she explained resolved the reasons for that well and made some solid theological observations along the way Definitely a fun memoir, surrounded by insights about the challenge of dabbling in spiritual practices that made me smile.

It has been said that the road to Hell is paved with good intentions If this is true, then I ve left my fair share of parched pavement on Interstate 666 in my well intended but poorly executed interest in traditional Christian spiritual practices.For me, the spiritual disciplines always sound great in theory It is the practice of these disciplines over, the consistent practice that I find difficult I can talk well about the spiritual disciplines, but my execution is often, at best, spotty and un [...]

partway through the book, I became annoyed at Jana Riess, wondering why she ever thought she could master a spiritual practice in a month, and what even gave her the impression that the idea was to master them I even thought for a moment that she knew all along that she would be a failure Her mostly self deprecating humor, though disarming, also made me think that she had to have known that spiritual practices wouldn t be that easy I also thought it was weird of her to try to take on a spiritual [...]

I wanted so badly to love this book The premise sounds like exactly my kind of book This is another one of those set a goal every month for a year sorts of books Is there a name for this sub genre Because if there s not, there should be In this particular book, the author challenges herself to try different religious practices every month representing several different religions It s a fascinating concept, and it made me wonder which practices I d try if I were inclined to do the same thing.But [...]

The premise of this book is that the author was to try a different spiritual discipline every month She failed at each, if I understand the back of the book and the title properly However, it seemed an interesting read if for no other reason than to read her quotes from other sources and for her take on the various disciplines.I dipped into this a while back when I received it and found it an easy read but the author came off as really whiny they call it wry, but whiny was my reaction, especiall [...]

The author shares her failed experiment at challenging herself to focus on a specific religious practice e.g fasting, centering prayer, Sabbath keeping, charity, and generosity each month of a year In reality, her experience resulted in increased spirituality so she only failed at perfection Her keen sense of humor made the reading not only enjoyable, but easy for the reader relate All of us have at sometime vowed to be better and not met our goal completely.Favorite quotes from the book ose att [...]

I always find it difficult to review memoirs seeing as how any review is, in some shape or form, an indictment of the memoirist s experience Reviews just seem so much personal.Fortunately, I found this to be an enjoyable memoir if perhaps a bit short I feel that there was just so much , particularly from Riess s personal experiences, that could have been included to truly flesh out and shape the reading experience I will say that Riess has a pleasant voice and a touching sense of humor And, aft [...]

Third Reading, August 2017 Reading this again for book club, and I still just really like it I like the way she approaches things and the realistic approaches she takes to a faith both believed and lived Solid four stars I m also reading her Flunking Sainthood Every Day A Daily Devotional for the Rest of Us on the daily, and I love the little pick me up it gives me every morning.Second Reading, May 2012 I m upgrading to 4 stars, because of the way this book helps me reexamine my own faith practi [...]

There ought to be a genre for this by now I m going to do this for a year and write a book on it Only, this one is a bit worse I m going to do one thing for each month that has to do with a religion and then move on to the next one each month for the whole year and write a book on it How the author expected to get anything substantial in one month is beyond me Most of the book felt like her saying, This is hard and I m not good at it and I didn t do it right Well, yeah You only gave yourself a m [...]

I thought this book was refreshingly honest and laugh out loud funny Some people might find it lacking in spiritual earnestness, but I deeply appreciated the author s growing understanding that being a super saint is not attainable through human will or, frankly, even a desirable goal She repeatedly fails at the spirtual program she designed for herself and learns some valuable lessons about her heart For example in practicing gratitude month 8 , she learns that instead of feeling thankful for h [...]

Reads like a blog that s in love with it s own sardonic humor than a study of religious practices The substance that other positive reviewers rate is largely self inferred Two other readers I know couldn t make it thru and skipped to the end However on the positive side, it is a refreshing look at what are often overly revered subjects Some would be saints are merely trapped by their own religion and traditions The author provides a few insights that reminded me of what I already know from my o [...]

I m keeping this book around so I can refer back to it there is so much great stuff in there I love Jana s ability to make me laugh, even while she s making me think seriously and deeply about the things of the spirit I ve been trying to implement some of her practices the Jesus prayer has been going through my head a lot, and I ve been trying to figure out a way to fast I have one kidney, so I m pretty sure I m not supposed to go without water, and as for food, I m on some meds that I ve assume [...]

This was a fast read and a fun read with some serious points Jana spends 12 months trying a new spiritual discipline each month, mostly without success Of course, it takes than a month for a discipline to soak into your being, and she recognized that at the end of her year She tried Lectio Divina, Centering Prayer, Sabbath, etc Each month she read a book to help her understand the discipline she was focusing on In the end, they all had subtly shifted her soul It has inspired me to tackle some o [...]

I picked this one up because she s a woman after my own heart she makes up ridiculous goals for herself and inevitably fails at them There are companion works of literature to every discipline she tries to master in a month and there are many good quotes and selections out of them I was going to give it three stars until I read the epilogue After the writing of this book, she went through an incredibly emotional and trying ordeal and found that even though she failed at all the disciplines she t [...]

Of course there were parts that drug on a bit, but, I loved the book overall It was refreshing to be inside her head as she tried different practices and techniques from so many points of view to draw closer to God.I suppose that is the quest we are all on if we are God fearing people discovering how we individually go about drawing closer to Him In this book she finds practices that work well for her and others she fails miserably at The overall tone that I took from it is that it is okay to fa [...]