Back in the 1980s, there was a series of coffee table books called A Day in the Life of _____. I think they started with Australia, but the series ended up showcasing a number of countries. The concept was that a bunch of photographers would go out on a designated day and capture shots of what was going on in that particular country. Well, in 1996, The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod borrowed the idea to commemorate their 150th anniversary and put out this volume. (I figure they had to do a week instead of a day because if you only did a day, you'd either have to pick Sunday and have 212 pages of people attending church, or you'd pick another day and you'd instead have photos of pastors working in their offices.)

I didn't think much of the book at the time. Twenty-some years later, I read through the book again. Although I'm a bit less scornful of the book now, I still found it lacking. In theory, it could have been a more interesting book if the editors had assigned photographers to capture certain events or ministries. Instead, they put out the call to any and all photographers to send in photos from the week. Perusing the result is kind of like looking through a friend's photo album--a collection of family snapshots. You might recognize a face or two, but it's mostly a bunch of strangers. Of course, a family album would be more interesting, as you usually see a bit of historical progression. Unlike the books that inspire it, the LCMS doesn't have the same variety of people and places as a whole country. Lutheran school kids in Florida weren't that much different from the kids in Nebraska. A home Bible study in New York wasn't substantially different than one in Seattle.
--J. ( )