Marking Time: Christian Rituals for All Our Days

Extraordinary life changes are frequently signaled by such ordinary experiences as the birth of a child, a child’s first day of school, a teenager’s acquisition of adult driving privileges, a career change, moving into a new home, and retirement from one’s life work. Marking Time provides readers with simple rituals that invite mindful, in-the-moment reflection on the significant moments in life and helps to frame them within the perspective of Christian faith and values.

Encompassing a broad range of life-cycle experiences from birth to death, Linda Witte Henke offers readers fully developed rituals suitable for reproduction and immediate use. Each rite includes an introduction with directions for preparation and use of the ritual, making the book useful even for those who have never participated in or led a ritual before. Marking Time includes ceremonies to mark important life events, such as pregnancy, the first day of school, children leaving home, and marriage, plus rites that mark the more difficult times, such as the death of a pet, times of unemployment, suffering due to natural disasters, the moving of a loved-one to an assisted-care residence, and many others.