Flunking Sainthood, or, as
on the cover “fLunking sainthooed”-except the “e” in sainthood is “x’ed” out, not doubly struck through, which was
the closest I could find in Word-by Jana Reiss is a memoir in the style of a
couple other books I have read about doing “biblical” or “Christian” things for
a fixed period, for a year.
One of them is The Year of
Living Biblically by A.J. Simpson, taking the Scriptural law and applying
it to how a man should live today. The
other, which I read with the mindset of being ‘a female response’, is A Year
of Biblical Womanhood by Rachel Held Evans.
The call and response between these two volumes was a delight. The Bible is a sexist book, written in a time
when there was not even the conception of something called sexism. In each one I found new insights into
studying the Bible, or “Christianity: The Sinner’s Manual”. Jana Reiss offered something different.
According to the rear blurb, “…Jana
Reiss shares a year-long quest to become more saintly by tackling twelve
spiritual practices…” and then going on to list them, one per month. The result of this year-long experiment is
evident in the bio, also on the back cover.
“Jana Riess is the author or editor…so on and so forth… Although she is
a spiritual failure…she has a doctorate…”
This is highly selective, but measures the success of the experiment.
Another measure of the success
comes on the front cover, in considering the extended title of this volume: Flunking
Sainthood: A Year of Breaking the Sabbath, Forgetting to Pray, and Still Loving
My Neighbor.
So monthly for a year, she pursued
a different ‘spiritual discipline’. Each
chapter relates the events of each month.
She provides us with the resources that she curated for each discipline,
describes her methodology, and her results.
As I read it, it reminded me of applying ‘the scientific method’ I
learned long, long ago to each of these disciplines, essentially seeking its
effectiveness in an attempt, I presume, to reproduce the effectiveness among
its original adherents. Except that it
never quite worked out that way. Which was the delight of science. Even a failure added to the sum increase of our knowledge and wisdom.
I was frankly relieved, having tried
and failed at a few of these practices myself.
If there is one thing that pastors are good at, it is not necessarily
spiritual disciplines. It is the sure
and certain knowledge that we humans are highly fallible and in need of God’s
grace. This book is an honest expression
of the human being, humorous and touching and redeeming in turn.
I came away with three things. One is an instant reference to where to start
learning about any of the disciplines from her year. She’s picked winners in these areas of
life. The second is that spiritual
disciplines do not and are not meant to ‘fix us’. This is NOT a self-help regimen, these
disciplines have been developed to bring Providence more meaningfully into our
existence. And finally, while Jana Riess
had her racked up a perfect record of failures in keeping the disciplines, it
is evident that they did what they were supposed to, bringing one searcher a little
deeper into the joy that is our relationship with God.
The Book: “Flunking Sainthood”, by Jana Riess. Brewster, Massachusetts, Paraclete Press,
2011. I finished it mid-September of
2021.
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