Find the beautiful and come alive.
We are all frittering away our lives—at least according to someone. They tell us to be productive and not waste our opportunities. In Ancient Extravagance, Ryan Snider shows us that life is more than our accomplishments and what we do. The key to a life of meaning is developing our spiritual senses, which only come awake when we worship with others. That might seem like a waste of time, but in fact, these ancient practices have the power to wake up all parts of our lives—not just Sunday morning.
Snider begins with a recovery of childlike wonder and story, reclaiming how prose, poetry, memory, and reflection heal and strengthen the soul. Next, he turns to melodies our grandmothers taught us, examining how they reach into our bones. He then reflects on what it means to eat meals with strangers and how a simple act of hospitality can gently inscribe love, generosity, gratitude, and hospitality in our hearts. These seemingly insignificant practices are mustard seeds that grow into trees to create shade for the world.
When we cease simply going to worship and start becoming the worship, we will discover the friendships, beauty, purpose, stories, and sacred moments that will save us and make us more human. Deeply meaningful and delightfully humorous, candid yet surprising, Ancient Extravagance will connect you with a more beautiful and meaningful life.
Ryan Snider is a writer, pastor, thinker, and educator committed to nurturing spiritual growth, fostering meaningful connections, and telling a more beautiful story. He has spent his career in the church and higher education. Ryan lives with his wife, Danielle, and two children in Atlanta, Georgia. He enjoys hiking, biking, and exploring the outdoors with his family. He also takes pictures and drinks a lot of Ethiopian Yirgacheffe coffee. You can find him at www.ryancsnider.com.
“Our lives have the potential, in the words of Dom Gregory Dix, to ‘take the shape of the liturgy.’ In Ryan Snider’s imaginative work, we discover that God’s story is our story, that worship is more than Sunday morning, and that in community, we become more human. A wonderful and sustained reflection on identity and purpose!”
—Bishop Ken Carter, United Methodist Church, author of 18 books, including God Will Make a Way
“Ryan Snider’s new book, Ancient Extravagance, aims at what many Christians badly want and need: a deeply Christian expression of our God-given humanity. That expression is imbedded in the ordered worship of God’s people. Snider encourages us by means of storied reflections and reflective stories toward a ‘better way’ of living the life God intended for all of us. This is an inspiring book.”
—Richard Lischer, author of Our Hearts Are Restless: The Art of Spiritual Memoir
“Ryan’s voice is winsome, wise, and kind. He brings academic theology into a more accessible place.”
—Jason Byassee, Timothy Eaton Memorial Church, Toronto, Ontario, author of Northern Lights, Better than Brunch, and Surprised by Jesus Again
“I was fortunate to read this book and was delighted at how Ryan turns his thoughts into language—he’s a strong storyteller. Through his writing, it is clear he shoulders a love and concern for the aims and practices of the church, and as a pastor in his family’s parish, these burdens are obvious in his life and engagement with his own faith community.”
—Derek Sweatman, Atlanta Christian Church, author of articles in Mockingbird and Christianity Today
“At first glance this is a deeply humane book that builds on our life experience and demonstrates how the Holy Spirit turns it from water into wine. But on closer inspection this is a profoundly incarnate book that inspires us through example, argument, anecdote, and timely quotation to see God in Christ entering the intricacies of our mundane existence and raising up that existence into the heart of God’s eternal essence. As you read you will find the exalted in your life humbled and the humble in your life exalted.”
—Samuel Wells, Vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square, London
ISBN 9781684260836
Pages 224
Dimensions (inches) 6 x 9
Weight (pounds) .5
