Bless Us, O God: Services and Prayers for Special Days
by Dorothy D. France
ISBN 978-0-8272-0237-5
Chalice Press
by Clint Walker
Lately, as some of my readers may have noticed, I have been working on bringing together some prayer and devotional resources to add to my library. I recently ordered, Bless Us O Lord, and have gotten a chance to look it over. What I discovered was an excellent resource for church leaders, especially lay church leaders who might be charged with leading a meeting with a devotion, or planning a special worship service of some sort.
The book is separated into four parts. The first part has devotions for different moments of the Christian year.This includes moments such as Advent and Easter, and also less prominent moments in the church year Each devotion is followed by a brief prayer. The second part of the book has devotions and prayer for moments of the civic year, including holidays like New Year's Sunday and Labor Day Sunday. Then there are a few meditations for other "occasions" that may not show up on the calendar.
The final section of the book is an organization of special services at different occasions in the life of the church. Some of these services are unique to persons in the Christian Church/Disciples background. Many other services, in fact most of them, are useful in most denominational settings.
Some of the resources in Bless Us, O Lord I will find extremely helpful. Others I will probably not use. Where I will find this most helpful is as a resource to share with lay leaders in my congregation. There are several moments in the life of the church where lay leaders are called on to share devotional thoughts, and this is an easy plug and play resource for such events.
Bless Us O, Lord will be a helpful reference item on my bookshelf in my office. I imagine it will be an equally helpful resource for others.
(Chalice Press has given me this book in exchange for an honest review)
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