I am not always a fan of "scripts" in my life, but when it comes to my quiet times I enjoy using prayer books to guide my time of prayer. This year I have experimented with several different prayer books, and I wanted to share about each of them with you.
Common Prayer by Shane Claibourne et all----This is a stellar resource that is jammed full of good stuff. Although there is some resourcing, it appears that much of this prayer book has been created by the authors, which is impressive.
What I don't like about the book is that the Scriptures are just referenced, with the expectation that you will go from praying through the prayer book to reading your Bible and back. This seems very inefficient.
It is also challenging for personal devotions because it is written to facilitate a group of people sharing in prayer.
Neverthless, it is smart, creative, well-researched, and has touched my heart several times.
B+
Seeking God's Face by Phillip A. Reinders
I love this prayer book. And I should, because it is the most expensive of all of them that I own.
It is centered on the liturgical year, which is wonderful in my opinion. It is also brief and simple in layout, which makes it much easier for me to get wuicker use out of it. And as shallow as it seems, I love the faux-leather cover. It feels good in my hands while I pray, and it makes it feel like it is a set-apart time when I use it.
It is by far the shortest resource of my prayer books, and has the least other resources available.
A-
The Divine Hours by Phyllis Tickle--
The Divine Hours is the gold standard of 21st century prayer books. It is affordable, fairly easy to use, and well-resourced. I love it.
Yet, I have a few struggles with it. The suggested usage of the material seems impossibly frequent for me to keep up with. Also, the "closest Sunday to _____" makes me wonder if the closest Sunday for the week makes me wonder if it is referring to the Sunday for the week previous or the week after.
Nevertheless, Phyllis Tickle does a great job with this.
B+
What other prayer books have you used. Why do you like them and what struggles do you have with them.
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