11 Illuminating Books on Sacred Time

Sacred time is all around us, though we are often too distracted to notice. The standard increments of time as we know it in our modern world — seconds, hours, days, months — are tools that help us mark our place in both our own personal experiences of reality and the collective human story. Indeed, these measurements of time are tools which have been formed and modified for thousands of years. Sacred time, on the other hand, is something we can’t change, only observe.

Sacred time includes paradox and mystery. It’s eternal and temporal. It’s unusual and ordinary. It’s slow and instantaneous. It awakens us to greater meaning, or rather a larger story of God and God’s people. This story is ever expanding. (It is both internal and external reality.)

“Sacred time is time governed by the rhythms of creation, rhythms that incorporate times of rest as essential to our own unfolding. Sacred time is spent being present to the moments of eternity available to us whenever we choose to pause and breathe.”

Christine Valters Paintner, Sacred Time: Embracing an Intentional Way of Life

The question then becomes, how do we engage with sacred time? Or as Mary Oliver puts it in her poem, The Summer Day, ” Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”

We are each left to answer this question for ourselves.

The following books are those I’ve found to approach time with reverence. The authors offer theological wisdom, personal experiences, and historical knowledge that point to Not all of them are based in the Christian faith, though they are all rooted in spirituality. Many discuss time through the church year, others offer a message through their own experience or their connection with creation.

Books on Sacred Time

• How to Inhabit Time: Understanding the Past, Facing the Future, Living Faithfully Now by James K.A. Smith
• The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel
• Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer
• Sabbath as Resistance: Saying No to the Culture of Now by Walter Brueggemann
• Sacred Time: Embracing an Intentional Way of Life by Christine Valters Paintner
• Braving the Thin Places: Celtic Wisdom to Create a Space for Grace by Julianne Stanz
• Sacred Time and the Search for Meaning by Gary Eberle

Books Specific to the Liturgical Year

In this brief list I’ve included Dr. Wilda Gafney’s lectionary series because it offers a necessary perspective in liturgical time. An expansive view of sacred time includes the stories of all people, including those historically forced into the margins. The church year uses the traditional lectionary, or weekly scripture passages, to pull us into the story of God during personal study or corporate worship. This particular series of lectionary texts (for each year of the church calendar) focuses on the presence and wisdom of women in scripture. Her work is a rich resource for the contemporary church.

• The Liturgical Year: The Spiraling Adventure of the Spiritual Life by Joan Chittister
• A Women’s Lectionary for the Whole Church: Year A (and Year B, C, and W) by Wilda C. Gafney
• Seasons of Wonder: Making the Ordinary Sacred Through Projects, Prayers, Reflections, and Rituals by Bonnie Smith Whitehouse
• The Circle of Seasons: Meeting God in the Church Year by K. C. Ireton
• Other resources related to the liturgical year may be found in previous blog posts, here and here.

Reflecting on Sacred Time

As we near the autumnal equinox on September 23rd, I invite you to consider how you interact with sacred time. Two practices that help me reflect on my posture towards time are seasonal reviews and a rhythm of life.

You may also enjoy taking a few minutes to welcome the new season by enjoying a warm beverage and considering the following prompts:

• Where have you noticed elements of eternity in your day today?
• Where have you noticed opportunities for rest or a slower pace?
• What is your relationship to time management or productivity?

As we cross the threshold from summer to autumn, may this new season offer new experiences of sacred time!