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The Sacred Ordinary - Embracing the Holy in the Everyday

Author:	Leigh McLeroy
Published By:	Revell (Grand Rapids, Michigan)
Pages:	238
Price:	$12.99
ISBN:	978 0 8007 3143

Reviewed by Alun Brookfield.

This book consists of a series of 112 daily meditations based on very everyday objects, people, words and events. I wonder why 112? Did the author run out of ideas? Did the editor run out of budget? No explanation is given in the book.

The idea of this book is laudable. Unfortunately, for those of us who learned our spirituality with God Thoughts by Dick Williams and Prayers of Life by Michel Quoist (both of which are still on my bookshelves nearly 40 years on), McLeroy’s meditations are decidedly ‘clunky’. Sadly, too many of them come across like those bad children’s talks which start with a really good story and are ruined by a sentence such as “That’s a bit like God ...” - the shift from the mundane to the divine is about as subtle as a brick.

There are a few gems, most of which either begin with God or don’t mention him at all. Just Dessert (p.177) is beautiful, as is The Bread and the Wine Came to Me (p.155).

But overall, as a devotional volume, this doesn’t come anywhere near the sheer poetry of the Williams or the Quoist - perhaps I’m being unfair to make the comparison. But there are some good stories here, which would make useful sermon illustrations or starters. This book will find its place among my preaching books, not the devotional ones.