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Mudhouse Sabbath Mudhouse Sabbath Lauren F. Winner Paraclete, 162 pp., $17.95

Although it's been seven years since Lauren Winner (Girl Meets God) converted from Judaism to Christianity, she confesses, "I miss Jewish ways." In this small jewel of a book, she looks at 11 things she misses about her old religion—and how they might enrich Christian practice.

Winner laces her explorations with humor and poignancy, whether she's lamenting her lack of furniture and its effect on hospitality ("if you drop by for a piece of pizza, I will crouch with you on the floor") or pondering prayer, aging, or the simple act of candle lighting.

She also examines the practice of keeping Sabbath, the "piece of Judaism I miss the most." She then shares her own small but important steps toward a deeper relationship with God—fasting more intentionally, forsaking shopping on Sundays, creating a place to live that allows for better hospitality.

"Most good and holy work … is sometimes tedious, but these tasks are burning away our old selves and ushering in the persons God has created us to be," she writes. Winner's warm reflections on her own journey of faith are as welcome and encouraging as a letter from an old friend.

Cindy Crosby is a regular contributor to Publishers Weekly

Copyright © 2004 Christianity Today.Click for reprint information.

Mudhouse Sabbath is available from Christianbook.com and other book retailers.

Also posted today is an interview with Winner.

An excerpt about hospitality from the book was published in CT sister publication Today's Christian Woman.

More information is available from the publisher.

Last year, CT published a review of Girl Meets God.

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January 2004, Vol. 48, No. 1