ERB, Vol 1 , #6
The
Vol. 1, No. 6 –
Diving for pearls in the endless stream of books (Eccles. 12:12B)
Chris Smith, editor
“Lent: A Season for Prayer”
A review of
Scot McKnight’s
Praying with the Church
and
Phyllis Tickle’s The Divine Hours.
By Chris Smith.
On Wednesday of this week, the Church celebrated Ash Wednesday, the day that marks the beginning of the Season of Lent in the Church calendar. Lent traditionally is a season marked by prayer and fasting. In 2008, this week also coincided with the starting of a new book (Prayers for Springtime) in the cycle of prayer laid out in Phyllis Tickle’s The Divine Hours. Thus, I thought this would be an ideal time to review Scot McKnight’s recent book Praying with the Church, which not only makes a case for practicing a rhythm of prayer like that given in The Divine Hours, but it also serves as a wonderful introduction to The Divine Hours.
I don’t know about you, but prayer has been a difficult issue for us here at Englewood Christian Church. We know that we have been called to pray and that the history of God’s people provides plenty of examples of lives of prayer, but we also see the many ways in which prayer has been abused in our own congregation and in many other sectors of the Evangelical world. We have seen the many ways that prayer is used to beseech God for our selfish desires. In praying together, we have seen prayer sometimes become a means to highlight (if not also to entrench) divisions in our midst: e.g., “We pray for our troops as they invade
Despite all these difficulties in prayer, several of us began a couple of years ago to pray together using a selected cycle of prayer, or in other words to do what McKnight calls “praying with the Church.” He defines praying with the Church:
“We pray with the Church whenever we read or recite the Psalms, whenever we utter the Lord’s prayer (the Our Father) aloud, and whenever we learn to use the prayer books of the Church. That is, we pray with the Church, when we pray at fixed times with the Church” (12).
In this way we are joining our prayers with those of the faithful ones who have gone before us. This historical connection is, for me at least, one of the strongest arguments for praying in this manner; the focus of prayer is no longer my own needs or desires but rather those of God and his coming Kingdom. Certainly there are times in which it is good for us to offer up our own needs, wishes, fears, etc. to God, and McKnight dubs this sort of personal prayer: “praying in the church.” We have found that the sort of “praying with the Church” that McKnight describes here is a healthy way for us to begin praying together.
Perhaps the most challenging aspect of “praying with the Church” is that – if taken seriously – it provides an order or a rhythm to daily life. I was discussing this with an acquaintance recently who helps manage a monastery, and she remarked to me that the monks cannot take up jobs outside the monastery because they would regularly have to interrupt those jobs to go and pray with their brothers. There is a lot for us to consider about the priorities and the economic implications that are illustrated in this sort of monastic prayer. However, the bottom line is that we are human beings, who are “prone to wander,” and a daily rhythm of prayer helps us to return our focus at regular intervals to its proper place in following the way of Jesus. McKnight spends a chapter illustrating the importance of such “sacred rhythms” in the life of Jesus, and of course if this practice was meaningful for Jesus, it should at least warrant some consideration from his people today. In the following chapters, McKnight then proceeds to explore Jesus’ reliance upon the traditions of prayers that he inherited as part of the Jewish people. Of particular importance was the cyclical praying of the Psalms in the worship of the gathered Jewish people.
As the Church progressed through history and was divided into a number of different traditions, many of these traditions formed their own interpretations of how they would pray the Psalms, the prayers of Jesus and those of the early Church together. Despite the differences that arose between the traditions, the basic intent of praying with the faithful ones who have gone before us remained across the traditions. McKnight spends several chapters introducing the prayer books of the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican (Episcopal) Church. Afterwards, he introduces Phyllis Tickle’s The Divine Hours, which attempts to draw from all of these traditions. McKnight also notes that Tickle’s work is not only ecumenical, but also comprehensive; that is, it offers a cycle of prayer that “covers the whole day and the whole Christian calendar” (147). Since we at
As part of the introduction to The Divine Hours, Ms. Tickle offers a “brief history of fixed hour prayer.” This history (of which a copy has been posted online) is well-worth reading for anyone considering taking on a practice of “praying with the Church.” Finally, for anyone who wishes to introduce their children to the historical rhythms of prayer, there has recently been published a children’s version of The Divine Hours entitled This is What I Pray.
Praying with the Church:
Following Jesus Daily, Hourly, Today.
Scot McKnight. Trade Paperback. Paraclete. 2006.
Buy now from: [ Doulos Christou Books $13 ] [ Amazon ]
The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime.
Phyllis Tickle. Paperback. Doubleday. 2000.
Buy now from: [ Amazon ]
This is What I Pray: The Divine Hours for Children.
Phyllis Tickle. Hardcover. Dutton. 2007.
Buy now from: [ Doulos Christou Books $13 ] [ Amazon ]
[ A note on buying books: We offer you the opportunity to buy the books listed here, either directly from our little independent bookstore (Doulos Christou Books), or through amazon.com. The prices listed for our bookstore do not include shipping or
Used Book Finds
The bread-n-butter of our bookstore business is the sale of used books, and we do a fair amount of scouting around for used books each week. In this section we will feature some of the interesting books that we have found in the past week. Generally, we will only have a single copy of these books, so if you want one (or more) of them, you’ll need to respond quickly.
( Just in time for Lent!!!
From the author of The Divine Hours… )
Final Sanity:
Stories of Lent, Easter, and the Great 50 Days.
Phyllis Tickle. Trade Paperback. Upper Room. 1987.
Very Good. Clean pages / Minimal wear.
Buy now from: [ Doulos Christou Books $6 ]
Front Porch Tales.
Philip Gulley. Hardcover.
Multnomah. 1997. Very good.
Clean pages / Minimal wear.
Buy now from: [ Doulos Christou Books $5 ]
Preparing the Eucharistic Table.
Barry Glendinning.
Trade Paperback. 1996. Very Good.
Clean pages / Minimal wear.
Buy now from: [ Doulos Christou Books $4 ]
Reviewed Elsewhere
David Stewart reviews The Book of Buechner,
Dale Brown’s new introduction to
Frederick Buechner’s Fiction.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/books/features/bookwk/080204.html
“Readers of Frederick Buechner have waited a long time for a study of his work on the scale offered by this volume, and Dale Brown (formerly of Calvin College) is in as good a position as anyone to take on the project: he has written on Buechner extensively, and has recently launched the Buechner Institute at King College in Tennessee.
Two primary convictions guide Brown’s explorations: first, that Buechner’s own life story can be fruitfully explored through his fiction (“all approaches to Buechner have to pass through the novels”); and second, that there is an essential unity of theme and purpose throughout Buechner’s novels (“Buechner’s attention to the ambiguities of human existence is the persistent chord echoing throughout his work, and the infrequent glimmering of hope is the persistent conclusion”). …”
Read the full review:
http://www.christianitytoday.com/books/features/bookwk/080204.html
Dale Brown. The Book of Buechner.
Hardcover. WJK. 2008.
Buy now from: [ Doulos Christou Books $20 ] [ Amazon.com ]
Scot McKnight reviews The Dictionary of Mission Theology.
http://www.jesuscreed.org/?p=3371
“The word “missional” is in the air, and I’ve taken a stab myself at defining it (Bloglossary). The word to use for many of those using this word is “muddle.” What to do? I believe every pastor and every church needs a copy of John Corrie (ed), Dictionary of Mission Theology
How do you define “missional”?
This new dictionary from IVP is edited by and through the lens of missional theology, and the opening essay by John Corrie explains the volume as integrating theology and mission, contextualizing (sensitive term) theology and mission, and providing evangelical foundations for theology and mission. Mission is not something separate from theology; all theology is missional or it isn’t faithful to the Bible, to the early church or (to be blunt) evangelicalism.
Who are the authors? It’s a who’s who collection of professors and missionaries. From all over the globe — co-editors are J. Samuel Escobar (
Read the full review:
http://www.jesuscreed.org/?p=3371
The Dictionary of Mission Theology.
Buy now from: [ Doulos Christou Books $25 ] [ Amazon.com ]
The Emerging Parents’ blog features a brief review of
David Jensen’s Graced Vulnerability: A Theology of Childhood.
http://emergingparents.blogspot.com/2008/02/graced-vulnerability-theology-of.html
“Taking seriously children qua children, Jensen issues a clarion call for Christians—theologians and others alike—to do the same. Tracing their place in the tradition, he notes the comparatively little attention afforded to children in theology and church. Cast as corrupt bearers of original sin, as those whose wills require breaking and reshaping, or as less than fully human entities on their way to personhood, children have been depicted and treated in ways that fall short of ancient Jewish and Jesus’ own norms and practices. …”
Read the full review:
http://emergingparents.blogspot.com/2008/02/graced-vulnerability-theology-of.html
David Jensen. Graced Vulnerability: A Theology of Childhood.
Buy now from: [ Doulos Christou Books $16 ] [ Amazon.com ]
