Time, Tilight, And Eternity [Hardcover]

The ancient rhythm of night becoming day becoming night again has always set the tempo of our everyday lives. The daily spin and tilt of the Earth rules our clocks and calendars as well as our human bodies. Yet our minutes and hours and days all too often slip away completely unnoticed. For generations and cultures around the globe and across the ages, though, the moments surrounding sunrise and sunset have been noticeable exceptions: believers and seekers have long gathered in the gloaming to pause and reflect on the notion that the sacred unfolds, if it unfolds anywhere, in ordinary time. In Time, Twilight, and Eternity, Thom Rock explores the rich tradition of that unfolding, not only through the physics and optics of any twilight hour or rising or setting sun, but also through the whispered prayers of so many faith traditions. An unforgettable journey through the mysteries and wonders of dusk and dawn--as well as the extraordinary gifts of common prayer, ordinary time, and everyday grace--this poetic and evocative work is ultimately about our own rising and setting . . . and rising again; the daily practice of resurrection and fully inhabiting our lives here and now. In their daily display of subtly graded beauty, the skies invite us to live time more creatively, no longer slaves of the clock. Theologians have neglected this sacred message. Renewing the tradition of American Transcendentalism, Thom Rock's guide for sky-watchers recovers a lost continent of contemplative thought, opening a dialogue with poets and thinkers of all ages and cultures. A wholesome and life-enhancing book. --Joseph S. O'Leary, Author of Conventional and Ultimate Truth Thom Rock is the author of A Table in the Wilderness: Forty Days of Forgiveness (2015), and Blueberry Fool: Memory, Moments, and Meaning (2011). He lives and writes in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont.