Sacred Necessities

by Terry Hershey

What is it that makes life worth living? What makes the everyday, ordinary world extraordinary even sacred? If we want to be truly alive there are few things we really need, a few sacred necessities:... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1893732932
• ISBN13: 9781893732933
• Release Date: September 2000
• Publisher: Sorin Books
• Length: 190 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.3" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Sacred Necessities

I have received Terry's e-reflections for a few months and liked his stuff. This is the first book of his I have read. It is a quick read and very good. I recommend it highly. I have already passed it on to a friend.

Spiritual Well Being

In a wonderful way "Sacred Necessities" reads like the side panel on a breakfast cereal box. Nutrition Facts tell us what is included in the packaged cereal. It is a reminder that our human physical bodies need a constant input of vitamins and minerals. Likewise, Terry Hershey reminds us that our spiritual well-being has come essential sacred necessities to keep our lives functioning efficiently. In the book Terry limits these essentials to seven, acknowledging that there are others that might equally belong in the required reading. In my own spiritual journey I find what he says in the introductory chapter, "Leaning the Big Leaf Dance" to be totally freeing. In my early years, like many of us old-timers, we were not permitted to dance. It has been a regret that is hard to overcome. In any event, now when I sing the hymn "We're marching to Zion" I change the words to "We're Dancing to Zion." Marching feels more like keeping in step with the dogmas and creeds of the church. It is like taking another course in Systematic Theology. It that is heretical, then so be it. Theology, as I read it in "Sacred Necessities", is unfolding in the moments of Amazement, Sanctuary, Stillness, Grace, Simplicity, Resilience, and Friendship more than it is in the requirements to toe the line in theological necessities. I don't want to say that Terry Hershey would agree with me, but it is my inner feeling in reading his book. And I believe that is Terry's precise objective in leading us into self-enrichment times. I am a note-taker when reading books. But I had to give that up in reading "Sacred Necessities". Each page had something that I wanted to become a part of my life journey. Sometimes we hear about a person's "near-death experience". In reading this book I often had a "near-life experience." We read this though page 179 when Terry reports that "the religion of my youth taught me about life after death. I never heard one sermon on life before death. So, it is a challenge to every reader of this book to go through the necessities and not feel that there is certainly life before death. In eating an ice cream cone I am a "licker" not a "biter". I want to savor the experience and the taste. "O taste and see. . ." is the invitation in the reading of this book. Do not sit down and read it non-stop. Every day of my life I find that there is something like a battle going on that tends to diminish what I am as a spiritual being. And, in addition, I find that this usually does not come in dramatic or heroic moments of memorable accounting. It most often happens in the little things. When I live the sacred necessities the little thing have the greater control in my spiritual journey. The Divine provides in these moments what is needed to not only endure, but to insure a victory over the forces that are trying to diminish my inner growth. Arthur Campbell