I’ve been dabbling in new spiritual rhythms these last few years, from meditation to examen to more somatic connection in worship. I find it beautiful and fascinating how different people connect to Christ and use such a wide array of tools to connect and grow closer to him!
One of my favorite practices I’ve been introduced to is “borrowing prayers”. I, too, am borrowing this concept from the lovely Emily P Freeman, who put a name to this concept in the podcast “The Next Right Thing”, one of my favorites. Essentially, borrowing prayers is just using prayers written by others to help give words to your longings and emotions. When our lives become overwhelming or feelings become hard to label, borrowing prayers can be a beautiful bridge to healing and connection to Christ,
Today, I want to help you on this journey by sharing by very favorite prayer books with you. I’ve become somewhat of a hoarder of prayer books (I know, what a problem to have) and these are the ones I return to again and again. I hope you enjoy!
First: To Bless the Space Between Us by John O’Donohue. This was the first prayer book, the one that started my collection. It has beautiful prayers for a number of different occasions and seasons. It’s a great first pick. O’Donohue is am Irish writer and poet, and has created a book of really beautiful prayers to mark many of the thresholds of life. These are prayers, not liturgies, so they are perfect to be read by one person.
Next: a set of two books, really: both volumes of Every Moment Holy. These are books of lituirgies- so they are written most often to be prayed with a leader and a group, but I still find them to be very enriching for my own prayer life.
The first book, Volume 1, is absolutely fabulous and includes liturgies for so many different moments, from a daily table blessing to marking times of transition to a liturgy for morning coffee. There are also beautiful liturgies for married couples to pray together to start and end the day- my husband and I use these (a few times a week, to be reasonable) and we have found them very powerful.
The second volume is “On Grief, Death, and Dying,” and though I pray you never have to use it, it’s such a gift when you do find yourself walking through a dark season. Many of these prayers were a balm to me as we walked through my mother’s cancer fight this past year, and I was grateful to have the book as a companion when I needed it. I’ve also sent this as a gift to others who have lost loved ones, or who are going through a trying season of illness. It’s wonderfully done, and really captures the heart of those difficult times, and shines a light of hope into both the mundane drudgery of prolonged illness and the profound grief of death.
Next favorite: Liturgies for Parents by Kayla Craig. This is a prayer book absolutely full of prayers for every season and challenge and joy of parenting- seriously, I think she thought of everything. I have adored using this book over the last few months, and it will be a go-to gift for mamas of new babies from now on. Sometimes, as parents, we find ourselves too exhausted to form our own prayers about things, and this fills the gap for me. This book includes prayers for specific holidays (we loved the Prayer for the Feast of St Nicholas this past December), but also more nuanced subjects, like a Prayer for Talking about Racism with Children, or when your child sees something scary on the news. There’s also a whole section of breath prayers, which you know I love!
A related book: Praying the Scriptures For Your Children by Jodie Berndt. A friend recommended this to me a few years back, in what felt like a trying season of parenting. This book walks you through different principles we can pray over our children, and provides scriptures to pray from directly. Berndt also has scripts at the end of each chapter, where you can insert your children’s names into the Scripture and really make them personal. This was really inspirational to me the first time I read it, and really helped me pray more fervently and specifically for my children.
Finally, a newer favorite, called “A Rhythm of Prayer” by Sarah Bessey. This is actually a collection of prayers written by diverse women of all walks of life. The themes of these prayers are a bit more abstract and vulnerable, and can be quite challenging at times. I will be totally honest, this book does get mixed reviews as it is quite progressive and diverse, so be ready to read with an open heart, or maybe skip this one (but I feel like, if you’re reading this, you will like it.) I found a lot of truth, challenge, and hope in the words of these women when I ran with what resonated with me and left behind what didn’t. My favorite prayer of them all is “For All the So-Called Lost” by Emmy Kegler. If you’ve ever felt like your faith has made you a bit of an outsider, this one’s for you.
Friends, prayer books have been an incredible resource for me as I have walked through various seasons and sought to grow my faith along the way. They have given me words for my deepest groanings, painted hope over the darkest seasons, and kept me strong when I was overwhelmed.
Do you have a favorite book of prayers you pull from? Or a writer that has put words to your own longings that I should check out? I’d love to hear!
Praying for you all this week. May the peace of Christ dwell in you richly.
Karli
A Rhythm of Prayer seems right up my alley! I've checked out the Amazon preview and think I'm going to need to purchase a copy!
A prayer book that I discovered in 2022 that I love is called "She Who Prays: A Woman's Interfaith Prayer Book" by Patricia Harris-Watkins and Jane Richardson Jensen. It's similar in format to the Anglican/Episcopal Book of Common Prayer and while it's interfaith it is Christian-centric, which is a big deal for me as someone who still leans heavily on Christian practices as a Unitarian Universalist. The women who wrote it are/were Episcopalian chaplains (Harris-Watkins passed away in 2017).
They provide a very generous excerpt on Amazon so if it is too progressive then you can pass on it. https://www.amazon.com/She-Who-Prays-Womans-Interfaith/dp/0819221139
Some gifted me a book of puritan prayers that I have really enjoyed “the valley of vision - a collection of puritan prayers and devotions” super old school language but really beautiful prayers! Excited to look into some of these you have suggested!