Inspiring, creative, biographical and immersed in Creation Theology – these elements are the takeaways that this reader identifies after reading Dancing with Creation: Living Mindfully Through the Hours of Each Day. Throughout the book, Michael Mercer consistently describes and considers each of the “Hours” of the traditional Liturgy of the Hours through the lens of the successive hours of the day and includes the various human experiences and responsibilities that often accompany those hours. Each chapter ends with a concise summary and thoughtful questions which could work well within a group discussion or even a personal prayer journaling experience.
Mercer also weaves a wide range of Scriptural quotations and many short excerpts from literature and poetry. This litany of noted authors includes Thomas Merton, Teilhard de Chardin, Walter Brueggemann, Parker Palmer, C. S. Lewis, Macrina Wiederkehr, Kathleen Norris and Mary Oliver, to name a few. Although Mercer’s faith journey has not included liturgical prayer or Liturgy of the Hours in particular, he visited the Gethsemani Abbey in Trappist, Kentucky,
to acquire some firsthand information and hands-on liturgical prayer experience.
All in all, I must admit that my expectations for the contents of this book were not met. However, I must also admit that Michael Mercer did adhere to the overall framework which he established at the beginning of the book; namely, that all of life is like a dance and that just as a ballet has a progression of movements throughout the performance, so do we live out the hours of the days of our lives.
Personally, I found myself missing the Trinitarian and Christological dimensions of all liturgical prayer, and the Liturgy of the Hours in particular. I was hard-pressed to find a sentence which referred to Jesus Christ and his life, death and resurrection. There is no mention of the Paschal Mystery, only that, “each day represents the blessings associated with Jesus’ story” (p. 57).
As I stated in the beginning of this book review, the contents of this book did supply inspiration; its message was creatively conceived and presented; the reader got to know a certain hospice chaplain (Michael Mercer) and the good work he does in ministering to people so in need of compassionate care; and God’s Creation was interwoven throughout. It was a good experience for me to read this book and then to prepare this review because it provided me an opportunity
to clarify my understanding of and appreciation for liturgical prayer when we, as members of the Body of Christ, pray to the Father, with the Son, and through the Holy Spirit.
Michael Mercer. Dancing with Creation: Living Mindfully Through the Hours of Each Day. Twenty-Third Publications, 2025.
Book Review submitted by: Sister Marjorie M. McCall